This year’s theme, ‘Beat Plastic Pollution,’ for World Environment Day underscores the urgency facing this generation and the ones that come after. Ever since the post-World War II global industrial boom, steps in healthcare and food safety have led to an overreliance on plastics. This has now become a pervasive issue. While governments and international organisations are taking steps to address this issue, building local awareness and involvement is crucial to effectively tackling plastic waste. Above all, the scale of the environmental and social challenges facing us, whether on a local, national, or global scale, demands a collaborative and multi-stakeholder approach.
Catalysing true solutions to plastic pollution is beyond the scope of a single organisation. Single-use plastics have permeated panchayats and villages that have no waste management system in place. Implementing waste management in localities that have never seen dustbins, let alone three-way segregation at the source, is an enormous challenge. This requires an intensive awareness campaign among all stakeholders, from local government representatives to villagers and commercial establishments. Further, it necessitates the establishment of solid operations of men, machinery, and infrastructure.
India has more than 6 lakh villages. The rapid growth in plastic production, and an expansion in single-use and throw-away culture have worsened the situation. Corporates can work closely with NGOs to support local communities with end-to-end waste management, including collection, transportation, secondary segregation, and further processing.
With the cluster of villages under the purview of the gram panchayat, NGOs and corporates can bring together members of the community, local governance, and investors towards addressing the issues of irresponsible disposal of garbage. Due to the huge gaps in official reporting of the waste generated in most of rural India, as a first step, NGOs can conduct a baseline survey to understand the demographic make-up and land-use patterns of one of the villages. The following phase will include bringing in partners to set up a solid waste management system there.
Decentralised solid waste management allows waste generators to sort waste into three categories at the source using the 2bin1bag methodology. The collected organic waste is then converted into compost, and the recyclable waste is sorted at a dry waste collection centre, all within the gram panchayat. To complement the solid waste management infrastructural solutions provided in the panchayat, a strong emphasis should also be placed on community engagement and awareness initiatives curated by women and children in the communities.
Women of the gram panchayat should be empowered to take ownership of their villages in terms of environmental sustainability. Livelihood programmes can upskill women to recycle plastic waste into craft products, which can become a source of income for these women. This should be done in tandem with educating children on plastic pollution and solid waste, their environmental, health, and financial impacts, and liquid waste management, which concerns water consumption and management.
Once the pilot project is successful and we see high levels of segregation in the villages, the initiatives can be scaled up among the other villages in the cluster. Encouraging participation from the communities in defining the issues, contributing to data collection, and providing their time and resources will produce a self-sufficient panchayat with residents of all ages regularly participating in the waste segregation process.
Embassy Group has been actively working in the Bettahalasuru Panchayat in North Bangalore, which comprises 10 villages, since 2012. The Bettahalasuru Panchayat, however, suffered from air, water, and soil pollution, with garbage (much of it plastic) from approximately 2,500 waste generators (around 53 metric tonnes per month) being dumped and burned. Due to the rapid expansion of the Bengaluru metropolitan area, the Bettahalsuru Panchayat ran the risk of becoming an urban dumping ground like many other areas in the city.
The Anonymous Indian Charitable Trust (TAICT) approached Embassy with a solution: addressing the lack of accountability and ownership over our distressingly high rates of pollution. Initiated in 2016, EcoGram is a sustainable CSR project of Embassy in partnership with TAICT. Together, we aim to create an ecologically sound, replicable model gram panchayat to propagate sustainable waste, water, and soil management.
Using the methodology outlined above, there has been an 87% segregation at source achieved for village households across 10 villages in FY23.
In 2020, recognising the in-depth work carried out by Embassy and TAICT over the years, the Panchayat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Embassy, allocating 2 acres of land dedicated to the collection and segregation of dry and wet waste. In 2022, EcoHub was inaugurated as an integrated solid waste management centre. Built by Embassy, the project now benefits over 4000 households across all 10 villages.
When ‘Beating Plastic Pollution,’ it is important to recognise the role that citizen and local-led environmental movements can play. Involving local and key stakeholders greatly increases the effectiveness of engendering systemic change and increasing accountability. The key to effective change is understanding that environmental issues are best handled when all concerned citizens at every level participate. Harnessing the strength of our communities and partnerships towards change ensures that we are laying firm groundwork for continued and future change.
There are a variety of ways to empower communities and create a sense of belonging towards their community and environment; an effective path forward is providing locals with access to information that enables them to make informed and sustainable choices. Only then can our dream of a plastic-free future come true.
About the Author
By Shaina Ganapathy, Head of Community Outreach, Embassy Group.
