All of Vadakara has been a containment zone for over 20 days. But amidst the chaos, the municipality is making headlines in the waste management front. Its Hariyali Harithakarma Sena was the first to come live on the Haritha Keralam Mission’s Facebook page, explaining its activities, first in a series of such live feeds from across the State.
Riding on the wings of ‘Hariyali’, Vadakara will soon be declared as the first waste-free urban local body in the State. Moreover, the first Green Technology Centre in the State will be opened in the town within a month.
It was not a cake walk for the municipality to achieve excellence in the waste management sector. “This is the result of a three-year long intervention titled ‘Clean City-state Green City-state Zero Waste Vadakara’, a programme we launched in 2017,” Municipal Chairman K. Sreedharan said.
It is a town where 82% of the households have their own facility for management of biodegradable waste. The Harithakarma Sena covers 92% of the houses and establishments, collecting all sorts of non-biodegradable waste, which is then processed in a Material Recovery Facility located within the town. It has a ‘Green Shop’ that specialises in manufacturing eco-friendly products such as cloth bags, a ‘Repair Shop’ to facilitate repair and reuse of electronic waste, a ‘Swap Shop’ to make discarded clothes fit for reuse, a ‘Rent Shop’ that supplies reusable utensils and even a ‘Green Army’ to carry out agricultural activities for every one.
All these activities will be coordinated under the Green Technology Centre which will be opened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The Centre will be managed by the Hariyali Harithakarma Sena.