San Francisco: It’s very difficult to convince people to segregate their waste at source in India, Pune mayor Mukta Tilak said while attending the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS)-2018 in San Francisco.Leaders from across the world are attending the summit to discuss ways to turn waste into a crucial resource.Talking about Pune’s trash management, Tilak said the city generates about 2,000 tonnes of waste per day. “About 60% of it is being segregated at source now. We provide different dustbins for ensuring that wet and dry garbage is segregated appropriately. I am talking about this especially because in my country, it’s very difficult to convince people to segregate their waste at source,” Tilak said, adding that they recently received an award from the United Nations, recognizing their effort for door-to-door waste collection.“This is like a women empowerment programme. Each of the women who are responsible for collecting the waste cover around 30-40 households every day. After collecting the garbage, the perishable items are given away by them to the secondary collection carried out by the municipal corporation, which is then taken to the landfill sites. The recycled waste like paper is sold by the women in the market, for which they get $1/month. This ensures that these women remain self-sufficient,” Tilak said.The other panelists discussing about whether a future without trash is possible included Giuseppe Sala, mayor of the City of Milan, Italy and Lesley Griffiths, cabinet secretary for energy, planning and rural affairs, Wales, among others.

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