GURUGRAM: On Friday, over 150 resident welfare associations (RWA) learnt ways to manage waste in the societies. A workshop on 'Waste Management" was organized by Paras Hospitals , Gurugram in collaboration with the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and Gurgaon First , a NGO.The issues surrounding the problem of waste management were discussed in the workshop. Waste management is currently a menace and a major challenge for city authorities in India owing to the increasing generation of waste, increasing budgets for management of the same and costs associated with it. The lack of understanding of the diverse factors affecting the different stages of waste management and linkages required to enable the smooth functioning of this system poses another challenge.Dr Jitender Kumar, Medical Director, Paras Hospitals, said that "Waste dumps have an adverse impact on the environment and public health. The burning of this waste adds to the increasing pollution and smog levels causing respiratory diseases. Problems associated with odour and migration of contaminated water to clean waters also arises. These waste dumps also pave a way for mosquitoes to breed, increasing the risks malaria, dengue, and chikungunya".These conditions increase incidences of nose and throat infections, breathing difficulties, inflammation, bacterial infections, anaemia, reduced immunity, allergies, asthma and other infections.Source segregation of waste needs to be insisted and pressurized with residents where a house-to-house collection system is introduced. This can also be achieved by placing separate bins for each category of waste. However, this objective of waste segregation can only be achieved when facilities are provided for the treatment and processing of the segregated wastes. This practice would go in vain if the segregated wastes are mixed up again at the time of transportation and disposal. Steps to successfully transporting waste also need to be taken by the authorities. Municipalities need to be well equipped with waste transporting vehicles and follow the waste transportation norms like - transporting waste under covered conditions so that littering does not occur on the way and it should not be exposed to the public."Our priority is to have transition from being reliant on waste dumps that offer no environmental protection, to waste management systems that will retain useful resources within the economy. Waste needs to be segregated at source with specialized waste processing facilities. This will separate recyclable materials and dispose residual waste after extraction of at landfill sites. The potential to generate energy from landfills is a major opportunity but the shortage of qualified engineers and environmental professionals to deliver improved waste management systems is a huge barrier for us," said Naresh Kumar Pankaj, Consultant Sanitary, MCG.

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