Mysore: The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and WoW (Well-being Out of Waste), an initiative of ITC  Limited, launched the distribution of bags to collect dry waste on Uttaradi Mutt Road in Fort Mohalla here on May 30.

The event was inaugurated by MLA S.A. Ramdas in the presence of Mayor Pushpalatha Jagannath, MCC Commissioner Shilpa Nag, Corporators B.V. Manjunath and Chayadevi, Health Officer Dr. D.G. Nagaraju, WoW Mysuru Head Chandrashekar, Co-ordinators M. Shivaraj, Pandu, Ravi and others.

Waste management is a monumental task around the world including India where overflowing landfills are leading to air, land and water pollution in addition to loss of valuable wealth that could have been extracted from waste, said WoW Head Chandrashekar.

Further, he said, some of the valuable recyclable materials are paper, plastic, glass etc. The ever-growing problem of waste can only be solved by implementing scientific Solid Waste Management practices.

The bags with the information on recyclable waste and segregation of dry and wet waste printed, were distributed to houses by Ramdas and others.

Then the WoW stickers were stuck on the homes where the bags were distributed.

WoW plans to cover the whole city in a year’s time and those who want the bags may contact the MCC Helpline Numbers [0821-2440890 or 2418800 or Mob: 94498-41195/ 96].

The volunteers will come and explain about the segregation of waste, said Chandrashekar.

MLA Ramdas, speaking after inaugurating the drive, said that Mysuru city is considered clean and green city in the entire country as it had set standards in cleanliness and become a model to other cities.

Hence, it becomes the responsibility of not only the MCC and WoW, who have taken up this initiative to keep the city clean and green, but also the responsibility of the citizens to interact and participate in a big way to regain the Cleanest City tag in the country, he said.

MCC Commissioner Shilpa Nag said that the Pourakarmikas come every morning to collect waste but unfortunately people rarely segregate dry and wet waste. Hence, it becomes a big task for them to once again segregate them. Dry waste like paper, plastic, iron can all be recycled. Otherwise, it gets buried in the soil leading to dangerous consequences, she added.