Class VII student comes up with a solution that can be practically applied in our cities to solve garbage issues.

Aditya Ravindra Potdar, aged 12, from HG Shroff High School & Junior College in Nadurbar, Maharashtra, under his project 'Science for cleanliness' has developed an underground garbage system - which is actually an underground conveyor belt carrying garbage - right in front of a row of residential houses/apartment blocks.

All that the households have to do is to discard the garbage in the openings by the roadside. The garbage falls on the conveyor belt which carries the garbage to the common composting unit located at the end of the road or at a convenient point.

Just before reaching the composting unit, a blower blows the dry waste into another opening, so that only the wet waste enters the composting unit.

The dry waste is separately accumulated, while the wet waste is processed in the composting unit, which is the one that can generate employment - preferably the displaced pourkarmikas themselves can be trained to operate the composting units to run small businesses to generate wealth from waste by selling composted residues as fertilizers or supply it to biogas plants.

A supplementary plan could also involve a biogas plant next to the composting unit to generate electricity to power the conveyor belt. Alternatively, waste water from bathrooms and kitchens can be boiled by burning the dry waste. The resulting steam can generate electricity locally by using turbines.

Having an underground garbage disposal system also ensures that no road or footpath space is encroached upon.

Aditya and his guide teacher Nitin Deore explained that in addition to the underground garbage system, the innovative plan also involves road-cleaning vehicles which arrive to push possible waste on the roads/footpaths into the roadside openings, so the conveyor belt carries the waste to their logical ends after segregating it.

The plan also involves bins by the roadside with blades that loosen the waste dropped into them and can be simply overturned into the roadside opening on to the underground conveyor belt.

Not only can this innovative method of constantly clearing garbage ensure that streets as well as homes are garbage-free, it also ensures that garbage is segregated on-the-go and round-the-clock without corporation staff getting involved in the process.

Nor do households need to segregate garbage in separate bins - a huge problem for the civic authorities to ensure that they do. And here's the bonus: it can also generate employment.