In an effort to ensure strict implementation of solid waste management rules (SWMR) in the summer capital, authorities have engaged trained local youth as Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Partners who visit different municipal wards here every morning to educate people.
The job of the Partners is to educate people about the need and importance of segregating the waste at the source. They also give practical training to the people on how to segregate the organic (degradable) and inorganic (non-biodegradable) waste and how it helps in its recycling and reuse.
The segregation is being done from 10 January 2018 in municipal wards 1, 2, 22, 24, 30 and 32 comprising Brien-Nishat, Lal Chowk-Dalgate, Karan Nagar, Bemina, Jawahar Nagar and Hyderpora. The SMC has 35 administrative wards.
“Hiring of services of IEC Partners is aimed at bringing behavioral changes at three critical levels with respect to municipal solid waste management,” sources said.
The three levels are: collection, segregation and treatment of waste at the household level; collection, segregation and treatment of waste at community level, and collection, segregation, transportation, treatment and final disposal of waste at SMC level.
“IEC combines suitable strategies and methods that motivate and enable individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities to play active roles in achieving, protecting and sustaining the desired behavioral changes,” SMC chief sanitation officer Muhammad Akbar Sofi said.
He said that IEC includes creating awareness about the importance of segregation at source and the concepts of reduce, reuse and recycle, waste to energy and others, creating awareness about adverse impact of unscientific SWM on health, aesthetics, quality of life and the environment of the community and city.
SMC commissioner Riyaz Ahmad Wani said that to encourage them for achieving desired results, the IEC Partners may be given a performance incentive of 15 percent based on the monitoring and evaluation undertaken by SMC.
He said: “Local NGOs and various unemployed youth had applied to work as IEC Partners with the SMC. After proper procedure, the selection was done on merit.”
As reported earlier, solid waste management rules stresses on disposing of bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste in segregation.
Under SWMR, segregation of waste at source has been declared important process as it is aimed to solve waste management problem.