For a clean environment

For a clean environment
The Hindu


WASTE MANAGEMENT is his passion and environmental engineering his inspiration. Dumping yards and landfills cast a spell on him.

This person is one among the few who decide to take the road less travelled. He wants to get garbage disposed of in a scientific manner leaving no chance for people staying near the landfills to complain of the resultant stench.

Meet N.C. Vasuki, president of International Solid Waste Association and Chief Executive Officer of Solid Waste Management Authority, Delaware, U.S.

His inspiration? Mr. Vasuki says it was a "garbage dump" that polluted groundwater in a remote corner of Delaware. "This was when I was working for the water and air quality programmes for the state of Delaware," he says. "When I realised that the dump had contaminated groundwater in the area, I took it up as a challenge to find ways of disposing of waste in such a way that it does not cause pollution of any kind," he says.

Mr. Vasuki's exposure to environmental engineering came through his grandfather N. Krishna Iyengar, who was a well-known civil engineer and a specialist in sanitary engineering in Mysore. He had early aspirations of a career in marine engineering and was selected by the only school in India that offered such training, but was convinced by family members to pursue a career in civil engineering.

He applied to various schools for graduate studies, including the University of Delaware.

In 1960, he entered the University of Delaware to specialise in pre-stressed concrete structure engineering, but was encouraged by the Chair of the Civil Engineering Department to pursue environmental engineering.

After assuming various roles, he became Director of Division of Environmental Control for the State of Delaware.

In October 1976, he became General Manager of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority and is serving as the Chief Executive Officer of this independent body, which has full control of solid waste management in the State.

"Though I have stayed away from Karnataka all these years and Singapore is my model country, I still love Bangalore and want it to be ahead of other cities, especially in waste management," he says.

He has recommended to the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) to set up transfer stations and large landfills that can handle solid waste for the next 25 years. "Transfer stations should be set up within the city. These stations are places where waste collected in small vehicles can be shoved into one big vehicle for transporting to the landfill. The stations should be designed in such a way that they resemble some manufacturing unit surrounded by greenery and parks. And people will have no chance to object," Mr. Vasuki says.

"You can use your imagination to make a landfill look attractive. If given the freedom to design a landfill for Bangalore, I will make it look like a mini Vidhana Soudha," he says.

He is of the view that garbage disposal will become easier if the waste is segregated at source.

"For that people should get confidence in your waste disposal programmes. Gaining confidence of people is like training a young child," he says.

He suggests that BMP should get a popular model from the city to create awareness about segregation of waste.

"I advise Bangaloreans to be proud of their city, keep it clean and pay the user fee for the services provided," he adds.