Garbage? Oops! Sorry.

Charity begins at home, so they say. Yet, the much harped on adage more often than not finds itself being conveniently discarded into the waste bin when it comes to garbage disposal. No one cares two hoots about what happens to their litre as long as it is off their premises; out of sight, out of mind and the matter ends there. Many have opted to live in blissful oblivion as to the enormous health risks caused to their loved ones and neighbourhood as a result of their callous disregard for environment.

For many years now, inefficient garbage disposal has been the bone of contention between the concerned public and the authorities tasked with keeping the respective localities clean, each passing the buck to the other in turn. Sky-high mounds of garbage are a common sight not only in the city but also in the suburbs, making the entire country a sore eye to the passers-by. Even the countryside is not spared mostly by the city dwellers picnicking at weekends to their heart content and leaving an unsavoury trail of empty cans, empty bottles, boxes and what-nots behind in the process. Stench reaching high heavens makes one dizzy and wish that the sense of smell was one endowment they could do without at this birth. Yet, the pleas for effective action go unheeded triggering a snowballing impact and knee-jerk response only adds fuel to the raging angers due to the ad-hoc measures that are no permanent solutions to the issues at hand. 

Since the menace of garbage has engulfed all nooks and corners of the living space, the dreadful spectre must be combated from all fronts both individually and collectively, leaving no room for a recurrence, which will undoubtedly pose a constant drain on personal and societal resources lest lapses should be allowed to mar the success of combined efforts. Everyone must hold themselves accountable irrespective of their social standing and should make it a point to keep the immediate environs clean and free of litre without wasting any more time in blaming the other.

Simple and easy-to-adopt measures abound if only one cares enough to open one’s eyes and take a lesson. Waste separation to enable their proper disposal, minimising the left-overs to reduce household garbage and in-situ burning of light litre at regular intervals are but a few options that will go a long way. Everyone will be doing a good service to humanity if they make a conscious effort to abide by the three-Rs i.e. reduce, reuse and recycle, in waste management whenever possible.

It is time we cleaned our act up and took the self-initiative to create a cleaner and greener neighbourhood for the benefit of our loved ones as well as others. The blame game must end and consorted efforts be taken to arrest the ever rising threat before it swallows all of us.