Bhubaneswar: With growth in population and increase in consumption, the most imperative and major challenge that stands before the civic authorities today is the management of waste generated. Rapid urbanisation in every nook and corner of the country poses challenges associated with waste management such as collection, transport, treatment, disposal and recycling. With diverse geographies and regional needs and patterns of waste generation, there is a need to evolve new methods of dealing with the waste generated. Odisha, in the last few years, has developed a system to deal with this which is practically the best in the country and answers all the issues associated with sustainable waste management.
The Government of Odisha took a historic decision to decentralize waste management in the state in 2019 by issuing guidelines to all Urban Local Bodies to adopt decentralized waste management practices. All ULBs were instructed to create decentralized infrastructure in the urban areas that can help in processing waste generated in the nearby areas. Immediate steps were taken to set up Micro Composting Centers and Materials Recovery Facilities in more than 110 ULBs of the state. Today, Odisha has more than 200 MCCs and 150 MRFs that are fully functional and working with hundred percent capacity. The Micro Composting Centers are treating wet waste that can be composted to make organic manure and the materials recovery facilities are segregating the dry waste that can be recycled and wealth created. With this, Odisha has successfully demonstrated that decentralized efforts are best suited for sustainable waste management in urban and semi urban areas. This has helped urban civic authorities to minimize dependence on big dumping yards that are far away from the cities and major land pollutants. With a thrust on 5T Initiatives, the Department of Housing and Urban Development took up the challenge and has been leaving no stone unturned in making clean cities a reality in Odisha. Not only Bhubaneswar, Cuttack or Rourkela, all semi urban areas and ULBs have adopted this decentralized model to resolve the waste management problems. Some of the MCCs have also received the coveted ISO Certification for quality management.
An important step taken by Odisha as part of this decentralized waste management system is creating awareness on segregation of wet and dry waste at the source. The Municipal and other Civic authorities are vigorously making people aware about segregation of waste at the homes. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation for example is using its waste collection vehicles itself to make every household aware about different types of waste and segregation through public address systems and pamphlets. Swacha Sathis are visiting each and every house and demonstrating the need to segregate the waste at homes. They have also started a unique initiative to collect electronic and electrical waste on a particular day so that management of that would be easier. It has set up 16 MCCs which are functional and fifty more are under various stages of set up.
Odisha’s Model of Waste Management has started showing its results and the potential for making wealth out of waste is being fully utilized. The Micro Composting Centers scattered across the state have a capacity to process between two to five tonnes of waste daily. The centers are functioning with full capacity to process more than 90 percent of the waste generated in the nearby areas. The centralized monitoring of the overall issues associated with the decentralized waste management efforts has led to quick solutions and uniform implementation across the state. It has created a complete value chain that is environment friendly, minimizes carbon footprints and creates wealth from waste.
Some of the important aspects of the model adopted by Odisha are specially designed vehicles to carry different types of waste, employment of Women Self Help Group Members in the management of MCCs and MRFs, branding and marketing of the organ compost generated in the MCCs and overall, a positive push to adapt new technology.
Odisha has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Urban Management Centre of Ahmadabad for capacity building of Mission Shakti Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in solid waste management in the State. This will help structured capacity building of the Mission Shakti SHGs by creating a pool of trainers and mentors, besides strengthening the capacities of urban local body functionaries engaged in sanitation-related work. It aims to help build capacities of around 2,000 functionaries, 250 mentors and 500 master trainers, who will subsequently train 5,000 SHG members and nurture 2,000 more for future requirements in waste management.
Mo Khata – the organic compost produced at the Micro Composting Centers of the Urban Local Bodies of Odisha has become very popular among the environment conscious people. The compost, full of plant nutrients, is also being used by various government offices in their gardens and landscapes. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has written to all departments mandating them to buy the needed compost from only the nearby MCCs so that the profit flows back to the community. The brand Mo Khata has become an instant hit among plant lovers in less than a year of its inception. Special arrangements are also being made by the Urban Development Department by opening counters at various places to sell Mo Khata that are again managed by WSHGs. A sizable profit is made through marketing of this environment friendly compost. Odisha has now more than 150 designated Mo Khata sale counters across the state which are selling the Compost at the rate of Rs 20 per kg with discounts to bulk buyers. The initiative involves more than two thousand Women Self Help Groups with more than fifty thousand members who have got a better way of income. Other volunerable groups such as transgenders and rag pickers have also been included as rehabilitation in this unique initiative.
More than 600 tonnes of wet waste and 100 tonnes of solid waste is being processed in the state MCCs which have been transformed into wealth centers.
All the Micro Composting Centers and the Material Recovery Facilities follow strict and stringent Standard Operating Procedure laid down in terms of environmental and health aspects. The workers working in the units are provided with safety gloves, shies, equipments and vehicles for safe processing of the waste. The Odisha model has made the MCCs self-sufficient as the profits from compost and reclaimed materials sold is used for the maintenance of the centers.
In its journey towards achieving sustainable development goals, Odisha has been trying to adopt the best of technologies and models in various aspects. Waste Management being one of the important aspects, Odisha’s decentralized efforts will definitely succeed and save the ecological dynamics. The journey towards growth and development cannot ignore the needs of mother earth.
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