[Reader-list] Journey from Waste-picker to Urban Farmer- Small Steps towards Circular Economy

[Kabir Khan]

*Journey from Waste-picker to Urban Farmer- Small Steps towards Circular
Economy*
<http://wastenarratives.com/2015/10/30/journey-from-waste-picker-to-urban-farmer-small-steps-towards-circular-economy/>

Lakshmi was just like any other waste-picker. She looked for items of value
in the trash. Hailing for Tamil Nadu, she landed in Bengaluru. She became a
waste-picker to take care of her 5 children. After wastepicking for more
than a decade, she realized that much valuable waste is not available on
the streets any more. To better her livelihood she started managing the dry
waste collection center (Municipal Corporation installed inorganic waste
aggregating and sorting units). This was a loss making venture for her. She
needed a better source of income. After eighteen years of sorting and
aggregating dry waste, she had farming tools in her hands. No she didn’t
return to Tamil Nadu. She became an urban farmer in Bangalore.

A lot of old and retired Bangaloreans always talk about the age bygone- an
era when Bangalore was a garden city. IT Boom was yet to be experienced.
People grew food in their back and front yards. There were tomatoes,
spinach, beans, cauliflower and chillies growing in the small patches
around the place of residence. There were vines of grapes covering the
walls and going beyond the roof. Slowly- slowly the landscape changed.

Glass buildings came up. More than 20 storey apartment buildings are
blooming in the skyline of the city. Road network is being expanded. More
people are moving in for search of better opportunities.  Bangalore like
any other city in India was and still is unprepared for the adventures of
urbanization. Infrastructure and environment services are insignificant.
Consumption is growing, so are the heaps of waste. Garden city has become
garbage city.

Once known as garden city, Bangalore is becoming garbage city. This is
unacceptable to many citizens. Lot of brainstorming is going on both in the
minds of government officials and civil society, many solutions are being
proposed. One of it is door step waste collection of segregated waste and
its aggregation and processing in neighbourhood Municipal
installations. Continued
here...
<http://wastenarratives.com/2015/10/30/journey-from-waste-picker-to-urban-farmer-small-steps-towards-circular-economy/>


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कबीर/کبیر

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