Dr Moa Jamir
The daily collection of garbage in Dimapur averages almost 115 Metric Tonnes (MT) and added to the existing 50 lakh MT of waste at the city’s dumping site, The Morung Express reported on February 26. The collection, however, pertains only to 96 colonies under the Dimapur Municipal Council’s (DMC) jurisdiction and excludes ever-expanding localities in the city’s periphery.
This explains the enormity of the challenges associated with waste management despite several efforts had have been implemented in recent years to discourage, among others, waste generation in the state in general and the city in particular.
The latest endeavour was Nagaland’s ‘Policy for Restricting the Use of Plastics in Nagaland’ published in the Official Gazette on June 17, 2019. As per the notification, the ‘Total Ban on all Single-Use Plastic in Nagaland’ is effective in Nagaland since September 17, 2019, on paper. However, the implementation, at best, remains scrappy in reality.
The first problem, of course, is effective enforcement and monitoring policy, which seem to have lost steam after an initial flurry of activities. Go to any market area in Dimapur, the business is as usual. Elsewhere, including the state capital Kohima, markets are being flooded with single-use plastics once again, this newspaper reported last October. (The Morung Express, October 21, 2020).
The same was reiterated by another local daily last week observing that single-use plastic items have resurfaced in Kohima with plastic bags floating the market places and usage of water bottles are becoming common sights at functions and gatherings organised by the government as well as the citizens. (Eastern Mirror, February 24).
Numerous awareness programmes, workshops and seminars as well as the creation of Task Forces across the State, evidently are not generating positive outcome and appear to be ‘waste.’ Perhaps, the challenges associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in certain laxity. However, it further reaffirms a recurring theme in State governance that rules and regulations, as well as policies, are mostly implemented only on paper; their implementation, situational and rare.
It is to be noted however that effective implementation of any policy is not dependent on strict enforcement alone, but requires active participation of every stakeholder. The Nagaland Government‘s June 17, 2019 notification on single-use plastic called on every individual, institution or commercial establishment to abide by the total ban while District Administrations and local bodies were given the right to, “decide and levy penalties against the defaulters in their jurisdiction.”
Lack of alternative measures in the transition period can further limit the impact. Besides the availability of other convenient materials, it entails the creation of an alternative collection mechanism of waste.
For instance, door-to-door collection, a method adopted in Dimapur and elsewhere, is dependent on the efficiency of the collection mechanism. Devoid of this, people might choose other alternatives as waste, particularly vegetables and food, cannot be kept beyond on a certain point. Ironically, plastic also becomes a necessity for such storage.
The system is also highly inconvenient for those with limited resources to even pay the minimal user fees, particularly in colonies. Consequently, if the concerned authorities fail to improve the efficiency of the collection, an alternative would re-introduce garbage bins in street corners. It would also stop the ubiquitous nullah from being used as a convenient dumping site. A bigger concern is also areas that are outside the purview of any local bodies’ authority; for instance, those areas outside DMC’s jurisdiction in the case of Dimapur.
Along with the ban, a policy to effectively discard the existing trash with the individual households should be in place by now, giving certain incentive for the action. The decision by the Kiphire Town Council (KTC) to buy plastics every Saturday in December 2020 is one such step. On the supply side, approaches or incentives must be offered to producers to ensure wide availability of cost-effective alternatives to plastic.
As such, without alteration of behaviour and incentives, the drive for effective waste management would remain a futile exercise, given the laxity in implementation. They re-enforce each other and is a perfect recipe for a 'disaster.’ Along with an effective enforcement and monitoring policy, it is imperative to generate behavioural changes through awareness while alternative preferences and incentives are offered to the citizens. The State Government needs to re-strategise and revamp its efforts if it truly intent to tackle the problem of plastic pollution effectively.
For any comment, drop a line to jamir.moa@gmail.com
