Kerala announces five-year campaign to expand waste treatment and collection
Kerala will launch a five-year waste-management campaign aimed at providing treatment facilities for all household waste by 2031. The programme includes targets for doorstep collection, sanitary-waste processing, e-waste recycling and self-sufficient local bodies, with a central authority planned to coordinate agencies.
The Kerala government will launch a five-year campaign on Friday to address waste-management problems across the State, Local Self-Governments Minister K.M. Shaji said on Thursday. The ‘Nirmala Puthuyuga Suchitwa Keralam’ campaign will be coordinated by the Suchitwa Mission and involve agencies working in waste management.
Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan is scheduled to formally launch the programme at Paravur on Gandhi Jayanti Day. The campaign will use short-, medium- and long-term measures.
During its first year, the government aims to create facilities to treat waste from at least 30% of households, process at least 40% of sanitary waste and ensure complete doorstep collection of non-biodegradable waste. The State also plans to prepare separate policies for solid waste management, plastic recycling and scrap management. A centralised waste-management authority bringing together the different agencies is expected to be formed next year.
By June 2030, the campaign aims to make at least 500 local bodies self-sufficient in waste management. It also includes plans for an e-waste treatment plant and complete e-waste collection. Shaji said privacy concerns had made some people reluctant to hand over old laptops for recycling.
The police and students will be involved in addressing those concerns, he said, as the government works towards full collection. By 2031, the government aims to have treatment facilities for waste from every household. The programme also includes modern public toilets in major locations, a functioning waste-to-energy plant and a model waste-management district.
One site in each ward will be selected, cleaned and maintained as a model space.
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