BIN There Done That

Effective solid waste management is a critical aspect of sustainability and circular economy, with source segregation of municipal solid waste being particularly important. This involves separating the waste into dry and wet categories at home before handing it over to on-ground conservancy teams. By doing so, different types of waste can be recycled and recovered, reducing the amount of waste that reaches landfills. For "zero waste" cities in India, 100% source segregation is crucial.

I am proud to present the Manali women's team, an all-female conservancy team in Zone 2 of Chennai. This team, formed on February 24th, 2021, consists of 800 women who serve 34,409 households in their zone. Their achievements in just two years are impressive: they have achieved 99% waste source segregation in the Manali zone, making it the first in the country to do so, and have made the zone "zero waste" compliant with almost no waste going to landfills. This has been accomplished through the team's information, education, and communication (IEC) public education program, which includes door-to-door education about waste segregation and responsible waste disposal.

The Manali women's team is a role model for the country, demonstrating the difference that women are making at the grassroots level towards the Swachh Bharat Mission. There is something undeniably settling about a series of battery-operated vehicles (BOVs) filing out of a yard in clockwork precision, orderly, particularly in striking contrast to the chaos on the highway roads of Manali in north Chennai. What adds to the decided assurance of this scene is the women at the helm of the vehicles, smartly attired in blue uniforms with characteristic orange panels, their confidence. Conceivably, in this scene, are embedded reasons why this one zone in Chennai city has achieved a nondescript milestone, and yet one that must be shouted out from the rooftops and emulated.

Manali has marked a consistent success with over 90% source segregation, sending only a small percentage of the total garbage to the landfill. There is further processing of waste through composting and resource recovery centres, leading to results that make one sit up and take note.

However, their accomplishment was not easy, and they have worked tirelessly to create public awareness about segregation at source. Public awareness was raised via an experiment where the zone offered money if they segregated waste. INR 2 was paid per day which the residents found too low and refused to accept. However, they continued with segregation. Supervisors were appointed to monitor and record keeping, ensuring that the segregation is carried our properly and no mix ups happened.

There are about 800 women doing this right each day and they humbly claim each of them is a leader. Team work, Discipline, hard back breaking work, passion to make a marked difference in Climate Change Action is what defines this Empowered Women Group.

#SheLeads ?campaign also brought to light the daily extraordinary efforts put forth by this team to mark their achievements. The team has relentlessly worked for the last 2 years through its IEC program to create public awareness about waste segregation and responsible waste disposal. The Manali women’s team implemented information – education – communication (IEC) public education model by going door to door to educate families on the importance of source segregation of waste. They have tried it all from awareness meetings in parks to street plays, in order to make their zone “zero waste” compliant.

Let us emulate and augment this initiative to achieve near Zero waste zones in various geographies of our planet. Our wholehearted support would greatly benefit this team's efforts to inspire others and promote sustainable waste management practices across the world.

Before concluding, to set the complete perspective, below is the link of NEWS piece that had covered the all-women Manali team in the past:?https://bit.ly/3lGvC19

Content & Picture Courtesy: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/bin-there-done-that-segregation/article65391242.ece

Content courtesy: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/making-the-best-of-waste-manali-shows-the-way-forward/articleshow/55167012.cms

Content Courtesy: M Sharon Sanjana