Decentralised Waste Management involving Green Task Force (Harithakarmasena) in

LSGIs in Kerala

About the intiative

Waste Management initiatives got a fillip in the state of Kerala when the present government

included waste management as one of the key mission activities to make the State ‘zero waste’,

with the support of Swachh Bharat Mission. A campaign titled ‘Freedom from Waste’ was

launched on 15th August 2017 under the aegis of Harithakeralam Mission- the flagship initiative

of the Government of Kerala integrating the components of waste management, organic farming,

water resources management- supported by Suchitwa Mission. Suchitwa Mission is providing

technical support to Harithakeralam Mission and to local bodies to design, plan and implement the

projects in a timely manner. Under this campaign, comprehensive and scientific projects are

planned for waste processing and management. The approach is to encourage bio-degradable waste

processing at source in houses, gated colonies, markets and institutions. However, community-

level projects for waste processing will also be evolved. This is in consonance with the approach

of Swachh Bharat Mission which promotes collection of segregated waste from households and

commercials spaces and behaviour change of citizens for source level segregation.

Non-biodegradables will be collected, segregated and stored to ensure recycling. For this Material

Collection Facilities (MCF) are being established in the Grama Panchayats, Municipalities and

Corporations in the State. Resource Recovery Facilities (RRF) with shredding and bailing facilities

will also be established in the blocks, big Municipalities and in all Corporations. Besides, waste to

energy projects will also be considered to manage overflow waste, if necessary. The development

fund of LSGIs, State plan fund of Suchitwa Mission and fund of central scheme like Swachh

Bharat Mission will be utilised for this.

To make this scheme of things functioning, trained manpower who can manage systems at field

level is critical. Thus, the Government of Kerala, through Harithakeralam Mission issued

necessary directions to LSGIs to constitute support system for field level waste management. As

per G.O (Rt) No. 2420/17 dated 15.07.17 all LSGIs shall constitute Harithakarmasena in all the

wards.

Harithakarmasena, the trained team of entrepreneurs recruited to provide technical services and

solutions on waste management projects are responsible for collection, transportation, processing,

disposal, and management of waste in collaboration with respective LSGIs. As per the plan, a team

of two Green Technicians visit 250 households in a ward. In a ward, sufficient task force members

will be positioned with one Green Supervisor (a graduate able to operate computers and generate

reports) for managing 5-6 team covering 15 wards. Thus, in a Grama Panchayat having 15 Wards

the total man power will be 31. User fee fixed by LSGI is charged for the services rendered by the

Harithakarmasena. The collection of user fee will be the responsibility of Green Supervisor.

Further Harithasahayasthapanams (Technical Support Agency), the accredited agencies of Haritha

Keralam Mission are deployed, on a cluster basis, to provide technical assistance to

Harithakarmasena. NGOs, Companies, Community organizations having prior experience and

technical knowhow in waste management are eligible to be selected as harithasahayasthapanam

As per the G.O issued, the existing Kudumbasree or self-help groups can be considered as

Harithakarmasenas upon approval from the concerned LSGI. Municipalities, Grama, and Block

panchayats in the district without a similar mechanism can invite expressions of interest from

eligible agencies (local entrepreneurs or non-governmental organizations) to function as

Harithakarmasenas. Priority is given to efficiently functioning local Kudumbasree units and in the

absence of this, the LSGIs can hire the service of NGOs or entrepreneurs through a competitive

process. Harithakarmasena sustains itself on an enterprise model collecting user fees for services,

sales of recyclables, inoculum, sales and services of composting devices etc.

The main duties of harithakarmasena are:

• Publicity and awareness generation,

estimation of waste generated,

giving proper instructions and

guidance to houses and institutions

to manage composting devices,

making raw materials for source

level composting (inoculum)

available in houses/institutions,

• Collecting non-biodegradables on a

calendar basis

• Attending to issues reported by

households and institutions

regarding source level waste treatment in 24 hours, mobilizing the support of

harithasahayasthapanam, if required

• Provide services mentioned in the overall waste management scheme, as directed by the

LSGI

Based on the data collected by harithakarmasena, the LSGI will formulate a DPR for waste

management interventions. Harithakarmasena, Harithasahayasthapanam and LSGI jointly work to

Door to door collection of dry waste by Harithakarmasena in Aluva Municipality, Kochi

operationalize the source level & community level waste management projects and related

mechanisms, as approved by the council

Out of 1034 LSGIs in the state, 611 LSGIs have constituted Harithakarmasena till date. 20705

green technicians are currently serving as harithakarmasena members reaching out to 51.7 lakhs,

out of 77.16 lakhs households in the state. 163 Material Collection Facilities and 65 Resource

Recovery Facilities have so far been set up in different regions of the State that helps

Harithakarmasena to channelize non-bio degradable waste collected from households and

institutions.

Outcomes: Impact/ benefits resulting from the initiative

LSGIs in the state were in search of a responsive and self-sustaining model to promote

decentralized waste management. The support of services through harithakarmasena has now

helped them to:

1. Increase outreach

2. Create awareness and social consciousness about safe managing of waste for better

health and quality

of life

3. Instill in a sense of

responsibility in

citizens to manage

waste by own

4. Handover

segregated dry

waste for effective

channelization for

recycling

• Many households and

institutions have now started managing wet waste at source and hand over dry waste to

harithakarmasena members on user fee basis.

• Harithakarmasena could collect and channelize tonnes of dry waste for recycling that could

have otherwise ended in public places.

• Harithakarmasena is generating revenue through collection of user fee and sales of

recyclables and this has helped to develop a sustainable business model for Kudumbashree

women to earn a good income. The concept of Waste to Wealth is p romoted through this

initiative.

• Waste to fertilizer has further enhanced Kerala’s efforts towards promoting organic

vegetable cultivation.

• Scientific and decentralized waste management systems will certainly help to improve the

health and quality of life of citizens

Material Collection Facility in Kannur, managed by Harithakarmasena

• Recycling reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and

processing raw materials. All of these create substantial air and water pollution. As

recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle

climate change.

How the initiative helped in solving the problem.

The Census 2011 figures indicate that 47.7 percent of Kerala is urbanized. This is on par with

global figures. The trend of urbanization in the state is also different from that in the rest of the

country. There is an urban-rural continuum with even the rural areas displaying distinct urban

characteristics like high population densities and composite primary and tertiary occupation

structures. The higher the urban population, the greater the amount of wastes that are generated.

The use-and-throw culture is now more pronounced. There is also the insidious presence of plastic

in our lives. It’s not just plastic bags that are the problem. Food, water, phones, computers – almost

everything we use in our daily lives uses plastic in some form or the other. This just increases the

problems of disposal, as the current composting and recycling rates in India are hardly

encouraging. In the absence of door to door collection facility the practice was just to tie the wet

waste in plastic carry bags and dump in public places. Thus, dumpsites and stray dogs surrounding

dumpsites were a common sight in most of the town areas. With the advent of Harithakarmasena,

majority of the households have started separating wet and dry waste and handover the dry waste

to harithakarmasena, thus preventing tonnes of waste thrown in public places.

Harithakarmasena: Bringing perceptible improvements in processes/ systems and building

institutions

LSGIs were struggling to put in place a professional system of waste management and essential

service delivery to citizens. It is in this context that the Government of Kerala, under its flagship

initiative named Harithakeralam Mission launched ‘freedom from waste’ campaign in August

2016 with the technical support of State Suchitwa Mission. One of the key strategies was to put in

place trained front line waste management task force to make citizens responsible to manage their

waste. The trained Harithakarmasena under this initiative supports every households and

institution under their purview to treat the wet waste generated at source and collects dry waste at

regular intervals and channelizes for recycling. The Government has issued necessary guidelines

enabling the LSGIs to set up Harithak armasena at LSGI levels.

Material Collection facility cum aerobic bin unit in Palakkad Municipality

611 LSGIs out of 1034 L SGIs have set up harithakarmasena till date. Thus, harithakarmasena is

expected to cover 50 lakhs households to manage their waste responsibly on user-fee basis. The

compost generated at households are linked to kitchen gardening. Households installed bio-gas

units thus saving money on LPG. The dry waste is collected at regular intervals and are stored in

Material Collection Facilities set up by LSGIs. 163 Material Collection Facilities and 65 Resource

Recovery Facilities have so far been set up in different regions of the State that helps

Harithakarmasena to channelize non-bio degradable waste collected from households and

institutions. The recyclable part of dry waste is channelized to recyclers and non-recyclable parts

are shredded and sold by Clean Kerala Company which channelizes the shredded plastics for road

tarring.

Plastic shredding training to Harithakarmasena

members

Plastic shredding unit managed by Harithakarmasena

in Perumbavur Municipality, Ernakulam

Material Recovery Facility cum aerobic bin units managed by Harithakarmasena in

Thiruvananthapuram corporation

It is expected that this comprehensive chain of waste management starting from segregated

collection of waste households, institutions etc., storage of dry waste at MCFs, channelizing for

recycling will get scaled up throughout the state by June 2018

In addition to the traditional approaches to financing projects, sustainable and professional

business models based on user charges are coming up in the sector of waste management.

Harithakarmasena is a good example in creating systems/building institutions towards sustainable

waste management. Harithakarmasena collects user fee based on the services provided. Further

they generate income through the sales of recyclables, running repair shops and sales of

ecofriendly materials. Harithasahayasthapanam hired by LSGIs provides technical support to

Harithakarmasena and Material Collection Facilities are established in LSGIs to store and

channelize dry waste collected by Harithakarmasena. Cluster based Resource Recovery Centres

with bailing and shredding facilities linked to MCFs are also being established. The advent of

Harithakarmasena has also helped to develop a business model for Kudumbashree women to earn

a good income for leading a respectful life.

Harithakarmasena members upkeeping registers

Harithakarmasena members upkeeping registers

Dr. T.N Seema, Harithakeralam Mission Vice-Chairperson with harithakarmasena during organic

farming training session in Wadakkanchery, Thrissur

Further, the citizens got access to trained manpower to help them own the responsibility of the

waste they generate. Harithakarmasena deployed for every 250 households visits the houses and

institutions at regular intervals and support the beneficiaries in source level composting and

managing dry waste. The trained technicians are available on call and hence the beneficiaries can

access them whenever required. The presence of green supervisors for every 5-6 green technicians

make the service delivery more accountable. Further, any operational issues are brought to the

notice of LSGIs and sorted out at the earliest. This operational flow mechanism ensures that the

delivery system is responsive, transparent and efficient.

To conclude

Plastic bags clog drains and waterways, threatening urban environments and creating severe safety

hazards. Drainage systems blocked by plastic bags have been identified as a major cause of

flooding during monsoon season. They also create breeding grounds for water borne diseases,

malaria, and dengue fever. Apart from toxic seepage from landfills, plastic waste impedes the flow

of ground water and adds to environmental degradation. This affects the soils organic composition

and soil fertility deteriorates. It takes centuries for plastic bags to disintegrate. And with our love

of packaged goods and throw-away culture, we turn otherwise beautiful locations into ugly,

unhygienic dumping grounds. It is expected that the collection of non-degradable from households

and institutions at regular intervals and managing them scientifically will prevent waste being

dumped in drains and waterways. This will certainly help the state in curbing preventable

communicable diseases like dengue, leptospirosis etc., thus enhancing the quality of life of its

people.

Document prepared on 31.01.2018