Festivals leave a trail of trash, overwhelming garbage management

Thiruvananthapuram: Last week, Malayalis celebrated their iconic festival, Onam, with traditional fervour, revved up by an overdose of crass commercialism.

An age-old celebration that venerates nature and commemorates the mythical utopia of an egalitarian social order, Onam has, over time, transformed into a big shopping festival.

Even flowers, the most sublime image of Onam, and the famed multi-course meal ‘Sadya’ now get delivered to millions of homes, packaged in plastic wrappers and containers.

There is nothing wrong with a festival imparting economic dynamism to society. But, as its downside, every festival throws up tons of polluting material, overwhelming even the well-managed waste management system.
What is true of Onam in Kerala can be true of other popular festivals in any part of the country. The situation makes a compelling case for adopting sustainable practices, both by people and governments, to make celebrations environmentally sustainable.

In recent years, Kerala has made major strides in adopting sustainable waste management practices. At the forefront of its efforts is the Kerala Solid Waste Management Project, a joint initiative of the state government and urban local bodies.

The project, supported by the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, is reinforced by the Malinya Muktam Nava Keralam campaign, a state-wide cleanliness and sanitation movement in which local communities play a key role.

These initiatives have, to a great extent, systematised the collection, segregation, processing and repurposing of garbage, including non-biodegradable material. A big contingent of sanitation workers, called the Haritha Karma Sena—a majority of them women who make regular home calls—has also been pressed into service. Its members, mostly drawn from the women’s self-help group Kudumbashree, collect and move non-biodegradable trash to processing units.

Also Read: Move to Hold Ayyappa Conclave Sparks Political Row

However, during festivals like Onam, the waste management system tends to collapse, resulting in huge quantities of garbage piling up for weeks without being moved to processing facilities.

The leftovers of festivities are thrown around with scant respect for civic responsibilities, undeterred even by the penal measures enforced to check irresponsible practices.

The situation grievously harms green spaces and water bodies. Air quality slides to dangerous levels when trash is burned in incinerators lacking safety standards.

Though rules insist on businesses avoiding polluting materials in packaging goods, these are often overlooked when demand for home delivery scales up.

The issue is especially grave in a state like Kerala where the urban-rural divide is virtually nil. However, despite rapid urbanisation, Kerala still retains its biodiversity, which includes hills, forests, wetlands, mangroves and marine ecosystems. Insulating this unique but already fragile ecosystem from further degradation is critical for the state, especially for the sustainable development of fisheries, tourism and farming.