New Delhi: Aimed at making graduates employable in the waste management sector, the Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai on July 18 has launched a master training course on ‘waste management’. Importantly, any graduate can undertake this two-month course and that too for free. The course, which is part of the government’s Green Skill Development Programme, was inaugurated by Swachh Bharat Mission’s national technical expert, Dr Almitra H. Patel, who is also member of the Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste Management. The Environmental Information System (ENVIS) Centre at the engineering college will train students on waste management, while the syllabus and course materials will be given by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Talking about the waste management programme, an official of the ENVIS centre informed that it will focus on the activities and actions required to effectively manage waste, right from its inception to its final disposal. This includes amongst other things collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation. It also encompasses the legal and regulatory framework that relates to waste management encompassing guidance on recycling.
Besides theory classes and expert lectures on the college premises, the students will also be taken to various places across Madurai where waste disposal processes are being taken up using different technologies, the official said.
The Thiagarajar College of Engineering has been chosen to handle Plastic Waste Management. This centre will collect all data on plastic materials right from production, supply, utilisation and disposal and technologies connected with disposal in Madurai. The centre through its website will share the information with the people and with the Ministry through regular newsletter. As part of activities of ENVIS Centre, the Ministry has given its permission for running a two-month certificate course on green skill development programme.
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According to Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP) aims to train over 80,000 people in green skills and in filling the skill gaps in the environment sector.
Since, the course aims at providing employment opportunities to the graduates, the ENVIS center will also help the students find a relevant job as per their interest. The students after pursuing the programme can also look at setting up their own businesses. So far, over 20 students have joined the course in the first batch. The Centre has planned to run course for at least four batches in a year.
The course will cover the subjects like introduction to waste management, waste quantity and quality, how to calculate the generation of waste per capita and region, composition of waste and the waste collection logistics of mixed waste or source separated waste, along with the scientific treatment and disposal of waste, effective recycling of plastics, batteries and other e-wastes etc. In addition to this, the course also covers strategic planning and policy issues and the way forward for waste management.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
