Dr Asangba Tzudir
Will it be better to educate people or responsibly self-translate the intended education? Looking at our land, it is indeed painful to see places littered with all sorts of waste, and except for those who not only keep their house and surroundings clean but also care for the sustenance of the larger environment, the rest simply litter unmindful of what they are doing and the consequences of their inhuman acts on the environment. Like the little grains of sand that makes the pleasant land, the little grains of waste from various quarters that litters our land. It is that one sweet wrapper or empty sachets that add to the amount of garbage dumped which ends up polluting and harming our environment. And with the festive season bringing people from different places to the commercial city, expect our city to get more dirty and smelly. Ultimately, our unmindful acts are only making us suffer from the consequences of our own actions.
So long as there are people who simply dump their household garbage right in front of posters or banners prohibiting waste disposal, it only attests to the years of education simply going down the drain. There is also a category of litterers who think that the world outside of their ‘luxury’ vehicles is a dumping ground, and so the journey of the garbage dumped by them takes a different route, and we all know too well where it finally lands and not at the designated places.
Taking the case of Dimapur, there are many shops or stores that do not keep waste bins outside their shop. In the entire stretch of the new market, one will hardly see any waste bins. Not having waste bins in the right places also contributes to enormous littering, and though it may not solve the problem entirely, keeping waste bins outside shops or stores can greatly contribute to reduced littering. It is also about convenience where people can be greatly encouraged to use waste bins if it is easily available and thereby contributes to proper disposal.
However, it simply not the lack of waste bins but littering also results from behavioral issue of being careless or senseless or being ‘civic non-sense’. Though very challenging, this is where education and creating awareness through various mediums, platforms and formats can create an impact. In particular, school and college students need to be sensitized on the harmful effects of waste disposal so that they can connect with the environment and the need to save it from further deterioration. Authorities of Schools and colleges can also make students pledge not to litter. This will also inculcate a sense of responsibility in their heart and mind thereby creating a healthy relationship with the environment.
Yet, there will always be some people who will senselessly or conveniently dump right in front of a ‘no dumping zone’ or simply litter instead of using the waste bins. So to say, these are people that go beyond any scope of education and awareness and so some degree of enforcement should be in place through fines or penalties for littering. If educative measures do not work, then deterrence through fines or penalties should be enforced.
A clean city and a clean environment calls for inculcating a sense to hate garbage collectively, and this will also come through continuous community engagement through regular cleaning and maintenance activities. This will serve as a catalyst to augment responsible change. Finally, combating waste is paramount as well as a primary challenge especially for the commercial hub of Nagaland. That, the journey of waste should not start from the roads or open spaces to the drains, but within the real-time process of proper waste disposal starting from waste segregation at source. In combating Garbage, it comes directly connected with ‘Infrastructure’, ‘Education’, ‘collaborations’ and ‘Enforcement’. These four aspects should become the three-pronged foundational pillars on which policies should be formulated towards creating the process of combating the menace of garbage.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be emailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
