Bharath had to only look around the corner of her house for the answer. Piles of garbage — both dry and wet — lay unattended on the roads. While stray animals nosed through the plastic covers in search of food, mosquitoes bred in coconut shells filled with rainwater.

As elsewhere in the city, this rather familiar sight was something that most of Malleswaram, a suburb in northwest Bengaluru, would look past. Bharath, though, was not ready to overlook the problem of waste management any longer. Instead of hoisting the responsibility on civic bodies, she was ready to dig her hands into the mess. A little bit of digging around did help. She soon had a list of people, in other parts of Bengaluru as well her own, working on the issue — albeit separately.

Word of mouth and a few phone calls helped bring some of them together for the first time. Over the years, various organisations, all founded and led by concerned citizens, joined hands and resources under the umbrella of the Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT). Bharath, a founding member, is still as actively involved. And what is unofficially known as the Bengaluru model of SWM — solid waste management — has become an example of what awareness and initiative among citizens can do to support sustainable living. It is also the subject of case studies and reports on waste management.....Read more

Source web page: Business Line