In India, especially in rural areas, waste is a severe threat to public health and cleanliness.
Isha has addressed this scenario by launching the Solid Waste Management program, to keep rural villages clean, hygienic and create a litter-free environment.
“Never in history have so many people had so much to throw away and so little space to throw it as the people of India in the second decade of the twenty-first century,” – Excerpt from the book Waste of a Nation (Harvard University Press)
According to the World Bank, India’s daily waste generation will reach an astounding 377,000 tons by 2025. If not managed efficiently, this could have an undesirable implication on our health and overall wellbeing.
Research shows that if India continues to dump untreated garbage at its current rate, then we will need a landfill the size of Bengaluru.
A pilot project was implemented in Semmedu to create a clean village. At first, village committees were formed.
Educational sessions are conducted for the residents of the villages on the need for efficient waste management and the related benefits for their health and overall wellbeing. Then we provide every household with two different colored dustbins: one for organic waste and the other for inorganic waste.
Every morning, our sevadhars (5 women and 6 men) visit each household to collect their segregated waste in larger drums. This waste is then carried in electric vehicles to a local dumpyard where our sevadhars wait for the drums to arrive.
At the dumpyard, the collected waste goes through another round of segregation by our sevadhars. Inorganic waste is further separated based on type: white plastic, colored plastic, bottle caps, water bottles, etc. Reusable and recyclable inorganic waste is then sold to relevant stakeholders. The remaining inorganic waste is then sent to a burning ground to be incinerated.
After careful processing, the organic waste is converted to high quality compost that our FPO farmers are free to make use of. We make sure no waste ever goes waste.
With the support of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, the project was extended to 5 villages (Noyyal nagar, Rajiv colony, Muttathuvayal, Semmedu and Gandhi colony villages.)
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