Patliputra Colony.

Was out in the "field" today. That's what it's called when you step out of the office to work. I like that. Field work. Although I stepped into another office once in the "field", so I guess I went back to office work in the "field". Anyway, Patliputra colony is around 700 houses, and the contract for it stipulates that the company will only pick up door-to-door waste- domestic kitchen waste at that. And for that it breaks down to around Rs. 22 per house. Which is dirt cheap. And on top of that, they want us to sweep the street, pick up the garbage that is littered around the house, and pick up the tremendous amounts of yard waste generated in the neighborhood. Thus, the contract must be renegotiated.

Will discuss that with the neighborhood committee tomorrow. Then will develop transfer stations withing the area to better funnel the waste out of the neighborhood.

Motivation of the employees is a big issue- how do you motivate someone who handles garbage for a living and doesn't get much respect from the people whose neighborhood he keeps clean?

The more I look at it, the more important a public awareness campaign seems. Not just for the proper segregation of waste at source, or to stop them throwing their trash in the street, but to also get respect for our workers. How to fund it? Gotta think about that.