Meet held for its needful management

Proper management of solid waste is emerging as a critical determinant for good health.

To draw attention to the issue, a media roundtable on Solid Waste Management (SWM) in Rural Odisha was organised by Unicef Odisha here on Tuesday. The participants included Chief, Unicef, Odisha, Dr Monika Nielsen, expert from Mumbai Pramod Dabrase, Joint Secretary, Department of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Subash Chandra Das and Abhay Biswal, Superintendent Engineer,  RWSS, Circle Bhubaneswar Abhay Biswal from the Government of Odisha, WASH Specialist, Unicef Odisha Shipra Saxena  and 30 State level media representatives.

The discussions focused on effective management of solid waste in rural areas by creating awareness, mobilising and putting waste disposal and systems of reuse in place at household and community level.

Welcoming the media, Dr Nielsen said, “While on one hand the world has made huge strides in improving health, nutrition, education outcomes for everyone especially children and women, on the other hand, through indiscriminate solid waste disposal, we are polluting our air, water and soil. This has a significant impact on public health and the environment and is emerging as a huge problem that needs all our attention urgently.”

Setting the context, WASH specialist Saxena said, “With thousands of tonnes of waste being generated per day, we can call ourselves a wasteful civilization. To reduce, reuse and recycle is call of the time. Waste management is progress, sustainability.”

Pramod Dabrase said, “The health and environmental impact due to lack of solid waste management systems, are least understood. Today. solid waste is a problem not only in cities but also rural areas.”

Speaking on Government policy on solid waste management in rural areas,  Joint Secretary of PR DW Dash said, “As per NGT’s recent directives all States of the country have to follow the Solid Waste Management 2016."