The trees are already shedding their leaves and it is getting warmer in Jaipur. Every morning the streets and home courtyards are littered with fallen leaves. People gather them up and throw them in the nearby dumpster, thinking their duty is done. What happens next is the dumpster overflows and there are heaps of dry leaves all around the dumpster. And some kind soul comes along and sets fire to the piles creating a huge bonfire which burns with huge bursts of flames and later on smokes for hours making breathing difficult for hours in the surrounding area. The dumpster, a valuable public property, is in the middle of this conflagration and becomes useless after a few of such episodes. Furthermore there are strong winds in summers and the ash left behind is blown away further polluting the atmosphere.
The point is we have to change this mind set of burning trash. It surely is the easiest and the cheapest way out in the short run. And the trash might belong to you and you might think you are the best judge of disposing it off. We have to relegate the idea of burning trash to the dust bins of history.
We dispose off all sorts of things in trash. More often than not now a days even chemicals are thrown away like this. What if we burn some chemical like this and cause a health hazard.
There are some waste water purification plants in the pipeline in Jaipur for providing water to the gardens of Jaipur. There is one in operation at the Man Sagar Lake already but in my humble opinion we also need a plant which will process these leaves and other bio-degradable wastes because disposing off trash by burning has to go. As this option is expensive our Rajasthan Government will have to help in implementing it. But if you are a do it your self enthusiast and have some space in your garden you can compost the leaves and use it as organic manure in your garden.
Please visit the links given here below for some more information.
A Guide To Managing Organic Yard Waste
Options For Disposing Of Leaves
Daily Dump Compost At Home An Indian Initiative
This Jaipur! 