World Environment Day 2024: Indian villages lead the way in anti-plastic initiatives!

Every year on April 22, the world observes Earth Day as a way to raise awareness of the value of sustainability and environmental preservation. “Planet vs. Plastic” is this year’s Earth Day theme, highlighting the critical need to fight plastic waste and its effects on the ecosystem. The CEO of the Ambuja Foundation, Pearl Tiwari, shares her views on Earth Day.

Plastic is now widely used in our daily lives, yet because of its many beneficial qualities, it is almost hard for nature to decompose it. In fact, they are so resilient that plastic garbage may linger in the ecosystem for millennia, whether it is on land or in the ocean. This implies that plastic is really suffocating our world.

Nevertheless, the amount of single-use plastics consumed has never increased! We have developed an addiction to single-use plastic items; globally, up to five trillion plastic bags are used annually, and one million plastic bottles are bought every minute.

Change is needed to address the issue at all fronts: waste management, business sustainability and ethics, government legislation and policies, and consumer behavior.

In the middle of rural India, villagers are “walking the talk” and taking action on the issue by putting up long-term, sustainable waste management solutions that have not only changed the behavior of the locals but also their entire town! This may be the last place we look for inspiration on the subject!

These two motivational tales will propel us all to act on the problem rather than just discussing it:

Gujarat’s Vadnagar
In the tiny Gujarati village of Vadnagar, residents have banded together to establish a Solid Waste Management Center and changed their way of life by using less plastic and recycling it along with other waste, turning their once-untidy and dirty dumping ground into a charming, clean rural community.

Vadnagar Gram Panchayat in Gujarat’s Gir Somanath district’s Kodinar Block has established a positive precedent for removing plastic trash and attaining aesthetic cleanliness by using a creative, low-cost cluster-level solid/plastic waste management system.

The town has implemented a garbage collection, segregation, and transportation system that maximizes the use of available resources. It is an exceptional example of what tiny communities can do when they cooperate and work together.

They first employed a sanitation worker to go from home to house, collecting and sorting rubbish. Following that, a committee was formed at the Gram Panchayat-established trash segregation shed to collect and sort the plastics. Even though they first had difficulties because people did not properly separate waste, almost all households took their role seriously and became essential links in the system as a result of regular interpersonal communication, school programs, community meetings, and behavior change communication efforts.

Communities like Vadnagar that are motivated and dedicated may take advantage of a range of government incentives to assist them in their waste management journey, as the Swachh Bharat Mission’s Phase 2 emphasis shifts to address the problem of solid and liquid waste management in India.

Through a partnership between the panchayat and SHG in Vadnagar, the community has been able to take advantage of the government’s incentive program, which offers Rs. 10 per kilogram of plastic garbage collected. This has allowed the community to continue their project over time.

MOHI KALAN IN PUNJAB’S RAJPURA
In the Punjabi hamlet of Mohi Kalan, located farther north, the Panchayat and the community made the courageous decision to address garbage. They joined forces and collaborated with an NGO to create their own facility and solid waste treatment system outside of the town. Currently, every home benefits from routine garbage collection by a cycle rickshaw, where waste is separated for disposal, recycling, recovery, or reuse at the facility.

In addition to being provided with containers for both dry and wet garbage, households have also been widely informed and educated on how to properly separate waste for collection. The project receives a monthly contribution of Rs. 50 from each home, and the whole village benefits from it. The streets are tidy and devoid of trash. There are clean drinking water sources and clear waterways. Glass and plastic are recycled to the greatest extent feasible, and wet garbage is composted to produce manure for use in nearby farms.

Additionally, news is getting out. Their effort has been appreciated by neighboring villages, who have asked the panchayat to adopt a similar garbage disposal plan in their own community.

Solid waste management is rapidly becoming essential, since more than 6 lakh rural communities in India produce between 0.3 and 0.4 million metric tons of trash daily. However, communities like Vadnagar and Mohi Kalan are setting the standard and serving as shining examples of what can be accomplished when people band together and collaborate with the government and civil society.

By 2050, it is predicted that the world’s main plastic output will have reached 1,100 million tons, provided that historical growth rates persist. With the highest population on the planet and some of the lowest environmental sustainability metrics, we cannot afford to do anything more than wait for “someone else” to take action. Every single one of us has to examine our own actions and spheres of influence and, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “be the change we want to see in the world.”

We can definitely succeed if the rural Gujarati and Punjabi villages can!