In spite of the natural beauty it possesses, Kochi, a city in India, has been plagued by a long-standing problem – waste management. The city has struggled with dirty roadsides, stinking canals and piles of waste for years. Though some progress was made, the city is slowly returning to its former dirty state.
The latest incident to hit Kochi is the fire that lasted for 12 days at the Brahmapuram dump yard. The disaster made waste management in the city’s nine local bodies a mess, as the government and Kochi corporation could not handle the situation appropriately. The government’s immediate response was flawed, as it prevented waste from entering the dump yard and forced the nine local bodies to resort to disposing waste through alternative means without proper preparation.
The Kochi corporation stopped collecting waste for some time, leaving hotels and other bulk generators with no option but to dump their waste at roadsides. In a city where people have been disposing of waste in this manner for years, the expectation that they would switch to the new way of waste management overnight was utterly foolish.
The situation has been further complicated by the confusion among decision-makers on how to manage the city’s waste. The corporation has implemented a decentralised system, but it had abandoned this same system in 2011 when the Brahmapuram yard became available. Recently, the government announced plans to construct a 200-tonne biogas plant at Brahmapuram, which would require the people to adopt yet another new waste management system.
The collapse of waste management in Kochi, a disaster waiting to happen, was a result of years of mishandling of waste. Between 2008 and 2023, the government and corporation had introduced five waste-management projects, but none were commissioned. Today, the city has a crisis on its hands, which can’t be ignored.
The authorities cannot shirk their responsibility in ensuring that Kochi as a city is clean. Waste management at source, combined with educating the people, is a healthy practice, but it requires the authorities to provide people with the know-how and necessary equipment. The onus is on the authorities in Kochi to ensure the city’s waste crisis is brought under control and prevented from leading to another environmental disaster. Kochi deserves better than its current state, and the authorities cannot shy away from their responsibility to make it happen.
