Waste management across Meghalaya has failed miserably. Earlier Jowai town was in the news for not having a garbage dumping ground and because of which waste was dumped anywhere and everywhere. The problem with tackling garbage disposal and subsequent reduction of garbage into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste which can be recycled, is that it requires a common space where the garbage can be segregated by Municipal workers into the different categories. But the government is unable to find the space for a dump yard. Marten, the biggest dumping ground for garbage, had reached its shelf life about twenty years ago but every time the Government tries to acquire space elsewhere it comes up with an insurmountable problem – the problem of land. No village authority is willing to part with land for a landfill. Marten has become such a poor model owing to the pollution that emanates from the garbage incinerators that no locality/village is willing to take such risks in their vicinity.
So is there a solution? The entire Greater Shillong area has only one garbage dump – Marten. This is no longer tenable and that is more than evident at this solitary dump yard. Much of the garbage that now takes the shape of a mound actually overflows during the monsoons and finds its way in to the Umiam Lake. The solution is to democratise waste management. Let the Dorbar Shnong also exercise their minds on how to manage waste within their respective jurisdictions. Garbage cannot be the brief of only the Government. It requires that the citizens within the Dorbar Shnong also exercise their minds on this matter since the Government does not own land in this State. Interestingly although the District Councils are inextricably linked to the Dorbar Shnong the issue of waste management has never been a discussion point between the two entities. Fact is garbage management is not the sole duty of the Government. Other institutions too have responsibility. Its time the state government gets the ADCs also to engage with this critical agenda.
Coming back to democratisation of waste, all Dorbar Shnong must be told to address the problem at their own levels and find the dumping space for garbage within their boundaries. This of course is a bold decision and the bureaucracy has to implement it and not allow any political pressure to create roadblocks on this. Too often politicians are unable to take hard decisions and therefore prefer to leave things undecided. But that is no longer feasible since Marten is in a major crisis and solutions are needed which require hard decisions.Citizens too cannot wash their hands off their own garbage. They must be accountable for the garbage they generate. The earlier 3 Rs of garbage management – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle have four more ‘Rs’ added – Rethink, Refuse, Repurpose, Rot. The last word means that families ought to have enough space to turn biodegradable waste into manure after the garbage rots.
