Pune: Despite the fact that we all are aware of segregation of garbage, often mixed garbage goes into the municipal bins. But technology expert and  environment-conscious citizen Sunil Bhondge is spreading the importance of segregation of garbage with a gaming application ‘Greeny’, which helps people learn about garbage segregation with some fun activities.

He said, “We aim to impose segregation of garbage as a habit for the people. In this generation, gaming can be highly addictive and influence a lot of people in many ways.

Segregation of waste at source is an important activity which can solve half of the city’s problem,” he said.

While speaking to Sakal Times, city activists said segregation is the key to proper waste management and it costs nothing and hardly consumes extra time. 

“On a daily basis, around 1,700 metric tonnes of garbage is generated in the city and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has attempted various strategies for+ solid waste management (SWM). But it still is the biggest problem in the city because garbage segregation needs to be done at source,” said Kishori Gadre, an enthusiast in SWM and former director of Janwani.

She added, “If people are well educated about dry and wet garbage and are aware of the importance of segregation then they will do it at their home. During my experience with Janwani, we were surprised that we were actually getting segregated garbage from slums. This was possible with proper awareness and programmes of garbage segregation.”

Aparna Sursarla, Director of SWaCH said, “If citizens segregate garbage, it will solve the problem of ragpickers, who suffer from several problems during segregation, composting and managing of the waste. Still, 90 per cent of the citizens do not practise ‘sanitary disposal with red dot’. If wet waste is not separated properly, then it can get mixed up with the surrounding items and is harmful when it leaks after a period of time, resulting in leachate or toxic fluid on the garbage bag.”

Bhondge added, “We are positive about the response to our campaign to educate people from small hotels, restaurants or meat shops on garbage segregation.”