Goa government's move to make four-way segregation of household waste mandatory across urban and rural local bodies is a welcome and necessary step towards better waste management. Shifting from the existing two-way system to separate handling of wet, dry, sanitary and special-care waste can improve collection, recycling, treatment and safe disposal. However, the system must be designed to make segregation simple. One of the most important requirements is the introduction of different-coloured garbage bags for the four categories of waste. Each colour should be standardized across the state and clearly associated with a particular type of waste. This would make segregation easier for households and enable waste collectors to identify and handle the waste differently. Civic bodies, city corporation and panchayats should therefore ensure adequate and regular supplies of coloured bin bags at subsidized rates. Under a two-way system, households can manage with separate bin bags for wet and dry waste, and colour coding may not be essential. But with four categories, relying on ordinary bags can create confusion and result in mixing at the source itself. Goa can establish a waste-segregation system that is both efficient and citizen-friendly.
ADELMO FERNANDES, Vasco
