STATE TIMES NEWS
Bishnah: For the residents of Chak Lala village in Bishnah, kitchen waste has turned into an asset to generate income, courtesy Solid and Liquid Resource Management (SLRM) project set up by the Department of Rural Development Department.
SLRM is a concept conceived by the Vellore-based Indian Green Service (IGS) and in J and K two blocks – Akhnoor and Chaklala were selected for pilot project.
The project is a decentralised process of disposing off the waste wherein the solid waste generated by households is separately composted and safely disposed.
For the primary segregation of the waste, the Panchayat has provided two dustbins – one each for disposable and non-disposable waste – to 300 families of the village and the waste is collected twice a day from these houses so that it is not decomposed in dustbins.
The project aims at keeping the environment clean and healthy along with generating job avenues for the local population. The project eliminates the age-old practice of dumping waste and instead it is used to generate income and save farmlands and the environment.
The Rural Development Department has employed a dozen local workers to collect the waste for secondary segregation. After the collection, the non biodegradable objects like plastic, bottles, paper, tin, polyethene are packed and sold in the recycling market, thus earning money for the locals working for the project.
“Even the egg shells, orange or lemon peels are segregated and sold separately to industries that use these products as raw material for various activities,” said BDO Bishnah Nazia Chowdhary.
The biodegradable products are segregated and undergo different processes by using different methods. “This helps the waste products to be reused for various activities,” she added.
The department has setup a pond to tap all the liquid waste in the pond where the non-dissolvable waste is decomposed creating feeding material for certain species of fish, ducks and frog while water sucking plants including Canna, Banana and Bamboo plants have also been planted to suck the rest of the liquid waste.
Minister for Rural Development Abdul Haq during a visit to the plant recently was impressed by its functioning and called for replicating the idea in other places at Panchayat level to resolve the issue of waste management.
