Field testing for waste mgmt in villages kicks off

Lucknow: UP villages will now move towards solid and liquid waste management under Centre’s ODF(+) scheme. The department of panchayati raj has taken up a three-day field testing of tools to manage waste in villages.After the field testing, the conclusions will be studied and finalised for implementation all over the state. At present, the field testing is being done in the divisional headquarters where voting has taken place.Mission director, SBM-G, panchayati raj,

Anuj Kumar Jha

said that the field testing of the tools is what the department has planned as of now. The ODF(+) is an extension of the

ODF

scheme launched under the

Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin

(SBM-G) to put an end to open defecation in villages by getting toilets constructed in every household.Under ODF(+), UP has taken up efforts like management of plastic waste and setting up of plastic banks in chosen villages. Now, plastic waste management will be a part of the latest initiative, which is solid and liquid waste management.State IEC consultant, SBM-G, panchayati raj, Sanjay Singh Chauhan said, “Field testing will help us know about the amount and type of waste generated in every village and how and where it is disposed.”The number of houses in a village, number of cattle, population, means of employment and other facts will be collected during the testing along with holding community meetings. Based on the findings, villages will get soak pits, plastic shredding machines and other means to manage and dispose waste. Villages do not generate as much plastic waste as cities, but polythene is a menace for them too. The villages chosen for plastic waste have already come up with plastic banks to manage it.The banks are not a cemented structure, but a collection point where plastic collected is to be held till forward linkages for its recycling and reuse are in place. In

Hardoi

, about 38 villages have started the practice.
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