Mechanism to segregate waste to be in place soon in district

90% of local bodies have set up Haritha Senas, says Suchitwa Mission

This huge pit located at Amrita Lane at Puthankulangara in Eroor North has turned into a dumping yard, posing serious health threat to over 100 families living in the locality. They are demanding a mechanism for the collection and segregation of waste in the area.

Ernakulam district seems to be inching close to the goal of setting up a proper mechanism for segregation and collection of non-biodegradable waste from households across the district.

Figures available with the Suchitwa Mission, the government agency responsible for implementing public sanitation and waste management projects, show that nearly 90% of the local bodies in Ernakulam have achieved the target of setting up ‘Haritha Sena’ (green army) to collect non-biodegradable waste from households across the district.

Seventy four among the 82 grama panchayats in the district had formed haritha sena groups. Twelve municipalities have also formed the green army. According to official data, 16 material collection facilities (MCFs) have been set up under various grama panchayats and municipalities in Ernakulam over the past six months. The centres are used to collect, segregate and store non-biodegradable materials before they are taken for recycling.

Thirteen MCFs are being constructed in grama panchayats while work on setting up another seven in municipality regions is progressing.

The district has nearly 12 Resource Recovery Facilities (RRF) with shredding and bailing facilities as part of the waste collection and processing mechanism. Work on nine such units is progressing at various grama panchayats and municipalities.

The pilot haritha sena team was launched at Kunnukara grama panchayat where as many as 12 Kudumbasree workers were engaged in door-to-door collection of non-biodegradable waste. Volunteers, mostly comprising Kudumbasree workers, visit each household once in a month. The number of haritha sena units peaked after the government permitted local bodies to provide viability gap funding for the initiative in the initial phase.

Local bodies that engage the services of Kudumbasree members can collect a monthly user fee from each family. The user fee ranges from ₹30 to ₹50 in accordance with decisions taken by the local bodies concerned.

According to the Haritha Keralam Mission, green volunteers will collect paper and plastic waste from houses once in every month. They will collect breakable glass materials, medicine strips, toothpaste, cosmetic items, tubes and covers on a periodic basis.