DHENKANL: A Group of 25 women is turning Dhenkanal town’s waste into ‘black gold’ for farmers and home gardeners.The Swachha Sathis, as they are being called by the Municipality, have not only taken charge of the town’s solid waste management but are also converting it into organic manure.
Members of self-help groups (SHGs), the women were selected by the Dhenkanal Municipality for the job when the waste management project was launched three months back. As Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown brought revenue flow to the SHGs to an abrupt end, the municipality decided to hire them.
As a part of the initiative, the civic body set up six micro composting centres (MCCs) and three material recovery facilities (MRFs) at a cost of `3.51 crore. Municipality Executive Officer Atanu Kumar Samant said the women are in charge of everything, from collecting waste to segregation and composting. They are also creating awareness among people about the need to compost waste than landfill it. The municipality has provided them battery operated vehicles for collecting garbage from different wards and transporting it to the MRFs.
Instead of being dumped on roadside, as was the practice earlier, the waste is being brought to the MRF centres and MCCs, where it is segregated and turned into compost. The compost is then packed and sold to farmers and gardeners. A bag of 1 kg compost is sold at `20, said Subhasini Mohapatra, a Swachha Sathi.
Supervisor of the project Kalandi Mohanty said the entire cycle of segregation and composting takes 45 days and farmers are being encouraged to use the manure for both paddy and non-paddy crops.A Swachha Sathi Chanchala Sahoo said the initiative has helped them earn a stable income. “Due to the lockdown, the work that we were doing in our SHG stopped entirely and our earning also ended. However, after the municipality stepped in, we are getting salaries that take care of our families’ basic requirements”, she said.
Chanchala and the 24 other Swachha Sathis earn a monthly remuneration of `4,000 each. Prior to the lockdown, their monthly earning ranged between `1,000 to 5,000 depending on the work or business volume. Sharing their journey, Subhasini and Chanchala informed that initially people did not accept the idea of garbage collection as it was convenient for them to dump their kitchen and other waste on the roadside. “Today, the situation has changed. People wait for our vehicle to arrive to dump their garbage in it. They now understand the value of composting,” said Subhasini.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
On an average, Dhenkanal town generates 25 tonne of garbage every day
Organic waste is collected by the Swachha Sathis and converted into compost
Compost is packed and sold to farmers at `20 per kg
The women are earning `4,000 as salary