The Belagavi City Corporation has started a 3R centre to enable residents to reduce, reuse and recycle waste. These centres will be the hub of waste collection and management in the city.
The centres will accept household waste such as old books, footwear, furniture, plastic and clothes. Residents will be encouraged to return materials like e-waste, clothes, household and office items of metal and wood. Those who deposit reusable items will be given some items like T shirts or items made of paper or other recyclable materials.
Mayor Shobha Somanache inaugurated the centre in Bhagyanagar 5th Cross. She said that this was a part of BCC’s comprehensive waste management programme and was being taken up under the Centrally sponsored scheme. She said such centres will be set up across the city. Ms Somanache said that BCC will take up a public awareness campaign about the 3Rs. We will promote the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle habit by highlighting its benefits by telling people that when we practice RRR, we contribute to making our cities clean and garbage-free, including contributing to the well being of our environment, to promote recycling ethically, legally, and purposefully and to encourage others to practice RRR and make it their mission.
She said that efforts will be made to involve women’s self help groups in the running of the centres or the waste management.
BCC member Vani Vilas Joshi said that the centre was based on the concept of `Achieving Clean Water, Clean Land and Clean Air through 3R and Resource Efficiency’. “The Union government is aggressively pushing this in all the cities covered under the Swachh Sarvekshan survey. Following this model, India’s cleanest city Indore has successfully achieved the top slot since 2018,” she said.
Anil Borgave, waste management officer, said that the centre is expected to be self sustainable in a few months.
The different items collected at R3 centres will be processed to enable reuse and recycling of the materials. This is expected to reduce the load on the BCC’s solid waste management process. Obviously, 3R practices will contribute towards conservation of natural resources, money and energy, he said.
Similar centres are being opened in various towns and cities in the district in the future, officials said. In the first phase, a drive to segregate waste and to adopt the 3R practices will be taken up. The ‘Mera Life Mera Swachch Shahar’ will encourage the practice reduce, reuse and recycle among urban residents. Municipal officers in Mudalagi, Haroorgeri and Mugalkhod have issued advisories to the public to reduce, reuse and recycle materials. This drive will be held from May 20 to June 5.
