Did you hear about this buzz of a little prize that our City Fathers are going to offer us soon?
Now I am not sure if this is just buzz, some wishful thought or some crazy idea that some smart Alagiri has floated.
I hear that there’s the possibility of winning a gold coin if we do things with our garbage!
Maybe if we begin to segregate it - kitchen waste goes into a green bucket and plastic and glass and tin into a red bucket - if you recall the civic lessons that the City Fathers have shared with us.
So how we decide who gets to win a coin, silver or gold or bronze with the Mayor’s signature on it?
Will it be given to the man or woman in each city Ward who stuffs in the most kilos of hard waste?
Or will it be given to the person who is smart at recycling it?
Gold coins can do things to people in the days when our minister is telling us that we must stop our gold-buying sprees.
But when we are ‘like that only’, the City Fathers may as well give away some gold coins for the best garbage segregator in a zone.
I suspect this idea is being floated because all the lessons, posters and pleas to citizens seem to have bounced off kitchen tops and landed in the Ramky bins.
Or possibly because the Mayor still hasn’t found the ideal way to convince people to throw waste into bins and not practice the garbage-flinging sport we seem to be good at.
Anyway, an element of rewarding civic-conscious people is welcome.
But it would be nice if the gold coin idea is extended to other civic areas.
How about a coin for a citizen who acts like the Watchdog of his Ward and logs in all the local headaches at the Corporation’s helpline?
Lots of people go on unhurried walks and some do so well after the sun is up. Now, they may get a tad excited if their role is recognized.
And how about a coin for the man or woman who uses his or her green thumb to give the street corner a green and yellow look?
Our street corners are now dominated by the green and dirty garbage bins which provide a licence for all of us to dump trash, broken pipes and torn pillows, around it.
With the recent rains, the plants have begun to bloom and a dash of purple and pink dots our green streetsides.
Surely, a coin will encourage people to green their street corners.
I am sure you too have ideas to share about rewarding people with coins. Or are you the sort who scoffs at such plans?
Gold coins or not, is there some way in which we take responsibility for our waste?
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