As part of a pilot project, Udupi City Municipal Council (Udupi CMC) in Karnataka will soon introduce waste segregation at source in 3,500 houses. While the city generates about 55 tonnes of garbage daily, the council has decided to select 100 houses in each of the 35 municipal wards in the city. These houses would be given two buckets – green for wet waste and red for dry waste (minus plastic waste, which will be collected once a week). The capacity of both these buckets will be 16 litres. The waste will be collected by self-help groups (SHGs).

With a minimum fee of Rs. 30 per house per month, in the initial phase, the waste will be collected under the present mechanism. Within two months, a Rs. 27-lakh vermin-compost plant will become operational at Alevoor, requiring at least two tonnes of wet waste per day. Udupi CMC will print handbills to inform the targeted households about the scheme. Councilors will also be involved in informing people about this scheme in every household. Local committees along with councilors will monitor the same.

Looking at the urgent need of a litter-free city and Udupi CMC’s efforts, this should be a wake-up call for other, larger cities in the country to follow suit.