Thirteen villages in Odisha’s Nayagarh district are reaping the gains of a clean environment, organic manure, and income from waste.

Two waste sorting centres established at Kantabania and Mankapalli villages in Nayagarh sort waste from 2688 households. The Kantabania Centre sorts waste from Biridihi, Kusumitara, Subalaya villages, while the Mankapali center sorts waste from Tulasipur, Similisahi, Bhutadihi, Bhadikila, Ikiri, Udayapur, Padmadeipur and Bhatasahi.

Over a period of four months, Gram Vikas held meetings and awareness programmes with members of the Village Development Committees and self-help groups and community leaders on waste management. The programmes taught participants to identify biodegradable, non-bio-degradable waste, recyclable and hazardous waste. Training included sessions on primary segregation of waste at the household level and composting biodegradable waste such as leftover food, kitchen waste like vegetable peels and other natural wastes in a pit.

Waste management committees formed with representatives from each village oversee the household level efforts. Each household gets two bags for dry waste. There is a system for household level waste collection and transport to the sorting centres.

Gobinda Majhi, a member of the Waste Management Committee and Kantabania Village Development Committee, says, “Through the many awareness sessions, residents in all the 13 villages are now aware and have learnt about segregating plastic waste. The mini truck or pickup auto moves around the village to collect waste from every house. We are no longer at the risk of terrible health hazards from burning the waste.”

The sorting centres earn an income from selling the waste collected. “Staff at the centre sort out the dry solid waste separately for selling. The activity looks sustainable considering we earned ₹2800 by selling waste like plastic, bottles, paper, cardboard boxes, cosmetic containers, tins and glasses the first time itself.”

Abhimanyu Nayak, a Kantabania resident and a member of his village committee, feels the sorting center has given him an opportunity to earn an income, “Because of a physical disability I cannot walk properly. I could not take up any daily wage labour in the village. At the sorting center, I sit all day and segregate the waste after the mini truck dumps the waste. It helps me earn a daily wage of ₹300.”

The waste management initiative is supported by HDFC Parivartan under the Holistic Rural Development Project (HRDP) programme. More about it here: https://bit.ly/3HYRr20

Reporting by Prasanta Kumar Naik