The question that people living in village around Saligao and along the North Goa coast is: do we want the garbage treatment plant to succeed? Because, if the answer to this question is, ‘yes’, then everyone will have to do his or her bit to make it happen. After visiting the plant on Monday Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar made an important observation. He said the composition of the garbage being received at the plant was complex. It contained building debris, glass bits, plastic etc and this will naturally slow down the process and make recycling difficult. This problem can go away if segregation at sources is undertaken with greater earnest by people living in villages which will be served by the plant.
The Rs 146 crore plant constructed at Saligao is designed to handle mixed garbage and the impression given is that it process literally everything. In other words, the general view is that the plant should be a panacea for all garbage woes. In reality, it is only the wet waste that gets processed into manure. The dry waste, if not separated will make its way into a landfill, which is similar to a dump, but hopefully, better looking. Theoretically, the amount of garbage going into a landfill can be further reduced if the part that can be recycled is removed and only the portion which cannot be reused is dumped. This means the landfill gets an extended lease of life. The greater danger is that if some of the non-degradable portions start making their way into the compost, the quality of the manure will drop and there will be no takers for it. Manure has to contain nutrients that promote plant growth for farmers and gardeners to pick it up.
Any garbage plant is the second-last leg of the treatment process and the starting point is segregation at source. Panaji claims that it has an effective method of enforcing segregation at source. Many villages echo this claim, but as long as the garbage is being dumped at unknown destinations there is no way of confirming the effectiveness of these claims. In Margao, segregation seems like a long way off since the municipal council keeps passing the buck to GSUDA which is supposed to supply bins. In Ponda though, the municipality has extended a helping hand to surrounding villages. People are aware that garbage needs to be segregated, but panchayats and municipalities need to step in to regulate and enforce until it turns into a habit.
For over 10 years, the State has battled the garbage problem with little success because it lacked land for dumping and all experiments with garbage plants met with mixed success. Besides, the NIMBY factor worked against a solution. The present plant faced a lot of opposition until the National Green Tribunal literally ordered the warring factions to sit across the table and sort out their differences. The plant, when it is inaugurated on May 30, will be the second major one, the first having been constructed at Sonsoddo. But it carries the hope of all Goa because it if turns out to be successful the people of Curchorem will definitely give the green signal to build a second one. This could start a chain reaction and Goa will be better off for it.
