Waste segregation was not something that naturally came to the capital city residents. Back in 2017 and the years following that, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation as well as the State government took several efforts to inculcate in the population the habit of segregating waste. One of the steps was the introduction of a segregated dry waste collection hub meant for the public to hand over a range of non biodegradable waste materials.

Although only a few such hubs were opened in the city, they quickly achieved popularity and a large amount of waste began to be handed over at these hubs. However, with the closure of the last remaining hub near Sasthamangalam in June, the city Corporation’s waste management efforts are also held back as people are left without a facility to conveniently hand over waste. Although periodic waste collection programmes are organised in some wards, these are not a replacement for a permanent collection hub.

The city had a few dry waste collection facilities, with separate bins for segregated collection of glass, plastic, cloth, tin, paper waste and old footwear and bags. The last one at Sasthamangalam was closed in June after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor R. Sreelekha raised a demand for the closure of the facility, which was located in front of her office.

Though Haritha Karma Sena volunteers collect waste from doorstep across most wards, the collected waste is limited to plastic. As per the earlier model, the different kinds of waste collected at the hubs as well as during the periodic collection programmes in wards was handed over to various agencies for recycling. This prevented large amounts of waste from getting dumped in public spaces.