What is the Role of Citizens’ in Waste Management?

Citizen App | 10 min Read
Citizen Contribution in Waste Management

Waste management is a crucial industry for the wellness of societies. Despite its importance, the waste problem grows at an almost unstoppable rate. Among the reasons for this ongoing crisis are the increasing population, rapid urbanization, and changing consumption habits. Therefore, we need to understand the problems of urbanization and waste management and primarily focus on what citizens can do here. Remember, improper waste disposal in urban areas can only be handled with the contribution and attention of citizens.

Namely, waste is appropriately managed when municipalities and waste management companies integrate systems digitally and cooperate with citizens. Modern waste management methods and new style recycling that change the way of controlling waste may also affect society’s economic, social, and overall health functions. In this sense, citizens should be involved in the process and contribute to waste management and recycling operations for a smart and green globe.

Meaning of Municipal Solid Waste

Municipal solid waste is a concept we should be familiar with because 2.01 billion tons of it is generated worldwide every year! So, where does this type of waste, one of the most significant components of global waste statistics, come from? Who is responsible for waste management?

Municipal solid waste is generated by the municipal, community, commercial, institutional, and recreational activities, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, medical waste, and all other non-industrial solid waste. Basically, we can call it an urban waste because households, offices, hotels, shops, schools, and other institutions cause it. The major components are:

Besides, demolition and construction debris are often included in collected waste. There are also small quantities of hazardous waste, such as electric light bulbs, batteries, automotive parts, and discarded medicines and chemicals. So, solid waste disposal is a complex process that requires considering many different parameters. For instance, municipal waste authorities must determine where to dispose of each type of waste.

Considering the annual municipal solid waste rate and that this waste is mostly formed in cities, we understand the importance of the amount of garbage produced by one person and the need for citizens’ involvement in waste management solutions, such as citizens disposal. Overall, the importance of waste management shows itself in both the change of consumption habits and citizen health.

Citizens

The Current State of Relationship Between Waste Management and Citizens

Who is responsible for garbage disposal? You should not forget that for the global garbage crisis solution, citizens must also be active. Looking at the present condition, we see that a household produces many different types of waste, and not all citizens take action towards proper classification and disposal. An increase in the volume of waste materials and the waste variety adds to waste collection and disposal complexity.

Overall, waste disposal in big cities is a problem with increasing results. Above the very high costs that their collection, transportation, and disposal may impose on the country, their social and environmental risks are severe. Consequently, there is a need for more active municipal waste services that consider all requirements and are based on the latest technology, such as IoT algorithms.

As stated before, waste management, due to the importance of environmental issues, has generally been taken into consideration by government and urban officials or waste management companies. Citizens are already one of the most significant parts that generate waste next to industrial consumption. They must be more active in waste management steps for more efficient municipal waste services. They should take a role in somewhat of the disposal processes’ actions or at least now the proper disposal processes.

As a practice, waste management should be a responsibility and a duty of each citizen. People have to raise consciousness on that. If citizens do not recycle effectively, not only will they pay a material price for buying new products made out of the same material, but planet health will be affected, as the pollution is affecting the environment and aggravates the climate crisis. Currently, what citizens lack to realize is to see the future, the long run. So, how to get people to recycle more?

What Can We Do?

There are several ways to encourage citizens to take action in waste management, most importantly segregating the waste at source and recycling. Contributions of individual citizens can be increased by raising public awareness. For example, public information programs can improve the social participation of households, individuals, just as maintainers of the waste collection system and proper disposal of waste.

Another action that can be taken is increasing citizens’ willingness towards the three R’s rule: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle waste management. Even though raising awareness is a great point to start, it isn’t enough. Citizens need to see how they can contribute and how easy and effective their efforts would be with recycling and reducing waste. For example, the zero-waste movement, which is based on preventing waste generation and a minimal lifestyle, continues to inspire many citizens to handle growing waste problems with recycling and environmentally friendly consumption.

Smart Waste Management

On the other hand, it has to be an integral part for raising individual awareness to solve problems efficiently. To achieve this, citizens should be more actively involved in digital and unique waste solutions to solve the urban waste problem and achieve almost waste-free cities. Realizing this need, Evreka has already offered the solution with Engagement!

Meet Evreka for Sustainable Waste Management

To enhance citizen participation in waste management, we have to present them with smart solutions to simplify the possible actions while benefiting both the waste handler and society. This is the only way we can lay the foundation for a sustainable future, namely through a sustainable waste management system, including all citizens’ participation. Evreka solutions will offer you the opportunity to increase citizens’ awareness and provide agile optimization by reducing operating costs and spending time. Now, take a closer look at the Engagement solution.

Engagement Module for Citizen Well-Being

To enhance citizen participation in waste management, we have to present them with smart solutions to simplify the possible actions while benefiting both the waste handler and society. Engagement, one of the most important and customizable outcomes of Evreka’s product range, provides an interactive communication between all stakeholders.

This way, involving citizens in the process and optimizing the collection is much more easier. All real-time data is kept under one roof and shared transparently. Thus, everyone is a part of the process and the process of responding to requests is also reduced. With this solution:

  • Residents can find and monitor the location of waste containers and deliver orders, requests, and complaints.
  • Residents can observe the collection days anytime and request a new service quickly. So, waste management collection schedules are prepared in a more participatory way.
  • It would be beneficial to lure citizens away from false waste practices and apply the local authorities’ rules.
  • Authorities can see the requests and complaints arriving from citizens on a single screen.
  • Managers can eliminate the overtime spent on planning by decreasing the number of administrative tasks.
  • Managers can control and customize SLAs with the SLA management module to set up separate agreements and tracking reports.

In short, by establishing a seamless communication channel between all the stakeholders, including citizens, we both increase awareness and facilitate the first step of waste management for you in a real-time, data-driven way.

Evreka360, on the other hand, supplies advantages at every stage, from optimization of municipal solid waste collection and transportation routes to recycling, thanks to all-in-one solutions. For agile optimization and sustainable waste management, how about examining other Evreka solutions that integrate the further steps of the process from end to end?

Evreka’s unique Engagement module covers the complete relations of your business. You can better understand your citizen’s needs and expectations, improve your service quality, and, ultimately, ensure absolute citizen satisfaction. For more info about striking and unique waste solutions, contact us today!

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