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Activity 13.7 ■ Find out what happens to the waste generated at home. Is there a system in place to collect this waste? ■ Find out how the local body (panchayat, municipal corporation, resident welfare association) deals with the waste. Are there mechanisms in place to treat the biodegradable and non- biodegradable wastes separately? ■ Calculate how much waste is generated at home in a day. ■ How much of this waste is biodegradable? ■ Calculate how much waste is generated in the classroom in a day. ■ How much of this waste is biodegradable? ■ Suggest ways of dealing with this waste. Activity 13.8 ■ Find out how the sewage in your locality is treated. Are there mechanisms in place to ensure that local water bodies are not polluted by untreated sewage. ■ Find out how the local industries in your locality treat their wastes. Are there mechanisms in place to ensure that the soil and water are not polluted by this waste? Improvements in our life-style have resulted in greater amounts of waste material generation. Changes in attitude also have a role to play, with more and more things we use becoming disposable. Changes in packaging have resulted in much of our waste becoming non- biodegradable. What do you think will be the impact of these on our environment? Think it over Disposable cups in trains If you ask your parents, they will probably remember a time when tea in trains was served in plastic glasses which had to be returned to the vendor. The introduction of disposable cups was hailed as a step forward for reasons of hygiene. No one at that time perhaps thought about the impact caused by the disposal of millions of these cups on a daily basis. Some time back, kulhads, that is, disposable cups made of clay, were suggested as an alternative. But a little thought showed that making these kulhads on a large scale would result in the loss of the fertile top-soil. Now disposable paper-cups are being used. What do you think are the advantages of disposable paper-cups over disposable plastic cups? Our Environment 215 Reprint 2026-27