It is time citizens took control of waste management, and innovators must help deliver urban services, said participants in a policy dialogue on ‘Accelerating Innovation – Water, Waste, Energy’ held in the city on Thursday. The dialogue addressed methods of finding sustainable solutions in the fields of water, energy and waste management.
Organised by the World Resources Institute (WRI) India Ross Center in collaboration with the CityFix Labs, it was one of many such dialogues in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. WRI officials said the aim of the dialogues is to invite applications from private companies and entrepreneurs for solutions that can be implemented to promote better infrastructure, long-term environmental sustainability, public health and quality of life.
“It is not necessary that only municipal bodies should take responsibility of cleaning up garbage. At some point, we should also take the initiative to keep our society clean. Citizens can take the first step by separating the dry waste generated in their houses from the wet waste. It is a basic task that every individual can undertake,” said Gurashish Sahni, co-founder, RaddiConnect. The initiative was started around a year ago. It connects individuals with scrap dealers in their areas and sends the dealers to people’s doorsteps, with the profits being donated to charity.
“The rate at which Indian cities are growing, there is an urgent need to move towards a sustainable future by changing the way we are building infrastructure today. CityFix Labs gives an opportunity for innovators to reach out to investors as well as to navigate municipal process to pilot and scale their solutions,” Sreekumar Kumarswamy, WRI India.
The event was also attended by Additional Commissioner Sameer Unhale, Thane Municipal Corporation. “Municipalities always had a monopoly in managing and delivering urban services. We want to invite innovators to dismantle this monopoly. We want ideas from innovators, and want to know what they expect from governments and municipalities so that better solution can be provided,” he said.