As most of us hunker down in our homes to flatten the curve of Coronavirus infections, we’re letting India’s garbage collectors risk their lives every day! Garbage is still being collected in open bins, a surefire way of spreading the infection to sanitation workers and to anyone who comes in contact with the spillage from the trucks.
It has been alleged that due to eight years of “unscientific and unlawful garbage dumping” 22 deaths have taken place and 200 people have been taken ill in village Ganwri on the bank of river Kaali, creating a health hazard, in O.A. 77/2019 at National Green Tribunal, Delhi by the applicant.
I am absolutely sure you must have seen that decrepit garbage truck, with garbage spilling on the road, and the unbearable stench which you just can’t shake off even if you splash perfume in your nostrils. Imagine the plight of the sanitation workers who handle this garbage on a daily basis.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken countries world over and brought in the concept of Social Distancing. Today, most of India is sitting at home during the lockdown, distancing from neighbours and friends. But sadly, there is one aspect where the rules of distancing are not being (allowed to be) followed. Yes, it is the very mundane and common activity, generally not noticed, not at all conspicuous and it is the activity of garbage collection.
Garbage collection in India is done in open bins wherein the sanitation workers collect the garbage from door-to-door. Then this garbage is then transported in open trucks, many-a-times spilling a bit on the whole route taken by the vehicle. This is a surefire method of spreading the contamination while the whole nation is maintaining social distancing. Maybe the little bits of garbage here and there do not pose such a health hazard in normal conditions, but I strongly feel that during the COVID-19 pandemic, it poses a huge risk to all, and most of all to the sanitation workers who are collecting the garbage, loading it on the trucks, and driving those trucks.
The problem is dire in high rise apartments/houses/other places where the door-to-door collection of garbage is done by the sanitation staff or house-keeping staff, in large garbage tubs which are perfunctorily covered with lids. These garbage tubs are taken up and down in lifts and elevators and the sanitation workers are confined all this time in the closed space with the garbage effusing all kinds odours and germs. God forbid if there is COVID-19 contamination in any of the garbage.
Long time back, India banned the open carriage of night soil by the sanitation workers from open latrines because it was a health hazard for the sanitation workers and the surrounding areas. Today, with COVID-19, the collection and carriage of garbage in open is a large contamination hazard.
Therefore all wet and dry garbage from apartment/homes/other places be collected in sealed bio-degradable garbage disposal bags and then transported in sealed garbage transportation vehicles for final disposal in landfills or incineration.
The government should immediately stop open bin collection from apartments/houses/other places and enforce the use of sealed biodegradable disposal bags and sealed transportation vehicles for garbage.
My earnest request is for us to do our bit as we stay home, for our essential workers who can’t stay home!
Let us drive away the ugliness from our roads and from the daily routine of the sanitation workers. Let us protect them and us, not only from COVID-19 but all infectious diseases which may emerge in the future.