Bhubaneswar: Solid Waste Management in Urban Odisha has witnessed a transformation and revolution in recent past. Provision of processing facilities in the form of Micro Composting Centre and Material Recovery Facility for Wet waste and Dry waste respectively has given a fillip to the entire value chain.
In another move, Principal Secretary, Housing & Urban Development G Mathi Vathanan has given an instruction to all ULBs to collect Hazardous waste and E-waste on a fixed day i.e Saturday of every week and deposit the same at Wealth Centre for channelizing to the agencies identified by State Pollution Control Board .
It is decided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that No dry waste would be collected on Saturday. Electronics waste and Hazardous waste thus collected would be taken to the Wealth Centre and would be kept at respective designated corners. However Wet waste and Dry waste would continue to be collected on all other days from the establishments.
Massive Awareness Campaign such as Mike announcement in each ward of town/cities, Door to Door sensitisation by Swachh Sathis, the change agents being nominated by Mission Shakti groups, Wall Paintings, Scrolling message in Local Cable, coverage in local media are being undertaken to generate mass awareness about this new initiative .
It is to mention here that In an effort to make Odisha Swachh Odisha Sustha Odisha, Housing & Urban Development Department has embarked upon certain principles which have proved meaningful. Principles like establishment of Decentralised Solid Waste Management with low capex and opex, Community driven waste management , engaging Mission Shakti women Self Help Groups, Transgender, Rag Pickers in the waste management process, Preparation of Route Map ,Vehicle movement plan and deployment of Sanitation Worker thereof, provision of Battery Operated Vehicles, Swachh Sathi and Swachh Supervisors as Change agents to promote behaviour change, introduction and Usage of Ama Sahar mobile App and Swachh Sahara Odisha web portal has strengthened the entire Solid Waste Management initiatives in Urban Odisha.