Need To Reduce Waste At Household-Level To Minimise Burden: Environment Experts

New Delhi: Environment experts and policymakers on Monday stressed on the need for using technology and reducing waste at household-level in order to manage it effectively. In a conference held in Delhi to address the issue of waste management, the experts said “a mass movement” was required to reduce the burden of waste in the country. Speaking at the event, National Green Tribunal chairperson Justice A K Goel said,

Better monitoring, increased awareness and use of technology can help us in scientifically managing this problem. Marketing strategies have to be brought in to create livelihood options.

Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog, while delivering the keynote address said,

We need to reduce and segregate waste at the household-level and the political leadership of municipalities has to be held accountable for this. A huge mass movement has to happen to create this new India.

According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the total municipal solid waste generation in urban areas of the country is 52.97 million tonnes per annum, out of which 46.03 per cent is processed. A ministry official said,

There are 635 waste-to-compost and seven waste-to-energy plants functional in the country for processing of municipal solid waste

Also Read: Fighting India’s Garbage Crisis: What Are The Challenges India Faces In Managing Its Waste

A statement issued by EPIC India (Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago) said researchers from India and abroad, policymakers and representatives from municipal corporations and civil society groups discussed alternative approaches and solutions that India can adapt towards managing its waste better. The conference will take place on Tuesday as well.

The different sessions are highlighting the innovations that are reducing waste and enhancing livelihoods and examining the role that data and evidence can play in designing policies for India’s waste sector.

The conference, organised by UN-accreditenisation Chintan, working on the issue of waste management in partnership of EPIC India, was attended by A K Jain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Henriette Faergemann, Environment, Climate and Energy Counsellor of the European Union Delegation to India, among other sector experts from around the world.

The experts brainstormed on finding out ways to channelise e-waste from the informal sector to cleaner, authorised channels of recycling, the statement said.

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.