REZA PRADHAN
http://www.telegraphindia.com
Kalimpong, Aug. 28: The town is all set to sport a new, cleaner look. On Friday, the Himalayan Organisation for People’s Education (HOPE) — an NGO — launched a project on solid waste management, titled “Wealth in Waste”.
Speaking about the project, HOPE’s president C.K. Shrestha said various local NGOs had earlier come up with similar plans for managing solid waste and keeping the town clean. “But their efforts did not yield results because they were not able to sustain it properly, ” Shrestha said.
“We feel that it should be a long-term programme for which funds are required,” he added. According to Shrestha, HOPE has already started generating funds by collecting plastic bottles from hotels and houses and selling them to North Bengal Plastic Federation, with which the NGO has a tie-up.
In the first phase wastebins of two different colours will be placed in various parts of the town — green bins for biodegradable waste and red ones for non-biodegradable waste.
HOPE will also join hands with other NGOs to organise awareness programmes on waste management. “These will be organised at different places so that people develop the habit of keeping their area clean and know the difference between degradable and non-degradable waste,” Shrestha said. Similar awareness programmes have already begun in schools here.
Shrestha said HOPE would first implement their plans in one area before moving on to other areas. “It will be a model zone other people can look up to,” he claimed.
“Right now, the waste which is collected in the dustbins will be taken by the municipality garbage collectors,” Shrestha said.
Later on HOPE plans to convert the biodegradable waste into manure and sell it, he said. “We will also have a talk shortly with the municipality about how to dispose of the non-degradable waste,” he said.
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