THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City Corporation, in a bid to streamline plastic waste collection, has brought in changes in the timings of collection and segregation of plastic from households by the Kudumbashree units. The units have been directed to collect plastic waste once in three days and not to mix it with the kitchen waste. The plastic has to be transported to the compactor, which is the new vehicle bought by the Corporation to collect and crush plastic waste. However, the new directive which was served to the Kudumbashree units from this Monday has created confusion among many units, leading to accumulation of plastic and kitchen waste on roadsides in many wards. What was introduced with good intentions by the Corporation is seemingly producing opposite results.The Kudumbashree units usually pick up the plastic waste along with the kitchen waste and dump both into same cartons. With the new time table served to them, many units refrain from collecting kitchen waste on the day they are supposed to collect plastic waste. Or they do collect plastic and store it in heaps in some street corner, inviting protests from the nearby shopkeepers or residents. "The plastic waste must be transported to a common point; which means, on that day we are not able to collect kitchen waste. The residents get angry when we don’t collect kitchen waste, for it is a menace for them. Imagine keeping the fish and animal waste for two days in the backyard. After all, they are the ones who pay us and not the Corporation,’’ says a member of one of the Kudumbashree units in Sasthamangalam. Many units are under the impression that on the day reserved for plastic collection, they are not supposed to touch the kitchen waste. And some others still continue the old process, collect both and dump one on the road side. "It is to actually streamline the whole process that we introduced the timings. We have not asked them to refrain from collecting kitchen waste. It is a mere confusion which we will solve soon,’’ said Deputy Mayor G Happykumar.Earlier, the waste dumping on Karamana-Thamalam road, DPI Junction and other junctions in the city had created problems between the Kudumbashree units and residents even before the new directions were introduced. The new time table would require all support and coordination from the residents’ associations and Kudumbashree units. The confusion, if not sorted out, may topple the waste collection process as a whole.
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