THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ‘Malinya Muktham Nava Keralam’, the campaign launched by the Local Self Government Department (LSGD) to transform Kerala into a garbage-free state, has entered its second year with innovative and scaled up activities. This year, the campaign will focus on achieving 100% door-to-door collection and development of a digital platform for end-to-end waste management.
Though the focus in the first year was on the management of non-bio waste, greater attention will now be made to bio-waste as the campaign rolls on. The LSGD is planning to come up with a detailed digital platform that will be developed for end-to-end management of the waste and it will be integrated with K-Smart.
It is also planned to give public access to the live data of the campaign, making it more transparent and subject to social audit, making the systems and practices more sustainable and effective. The advancement of the campaign into the second year was marked with a two-day workshop. As many as 250 officials comprising district and state-level officials attended the workshop. “Since its launch in March 2023, the campaign has made major strides in developing sustainable waste management systems across the state and ensuring support of the people in tackling the issue in a collaborative spirit,” said a press release issued on Thursday.
Door-to-door collection has improved from 47% cent to 87% during the period. The state developed necessary infrastructure for waste management during this period, including 17,393 mini MCFs, 1,247 MCFs and 164 RRFs.
More than 1,000 out of 1,034 local bodies are now using the Harithamithram or equivalent applications for waste management. The number of people serviced through the application rose sharply to 40 lakh from about 11 lakh.
The Clean Kerala Company collected 47,548 tonnes of waste during the year compared to the 30,217 tonnes the previous year. As many as 36,450 enforcement activities were conducted and Rs 4 crore was imposed as a penalty for violation of norms.