Children are taking small steps in their own villages to address the issue of solid waste. Child committees are enforcing a ban of single use plastics and polythene, and installing dustbins for garbage dump Bamboo dustbin structures covered with recyclable cement bags were inaugurated on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on October 02 by the Village Development Committee and families were advised strictly to put their plastic and polythene waste there in Pentadihi village in Keonjhar district. They youths from Village Development Committee organised an awareness meeting where they decided to make garbage dumping bins with locally available materials.

Similarly, in Maligaon and Digribandh villages in Kalahandi district, the members of the committee organised an awareness drive on harmful effects of plastic and polythene, made dustbins and handmade garbage dump with sticks fencing for their villages. This ensured that plastic bags, biscuit wrappers, sachets etc. do not move around in the village and are safely contained in one place for further disposal.  Saindri Naik, a Village Development Committee member, says with pride, “A year ago, the roads in Digribandh were littered with garbage and polythene bags.

This attracted flies, and the polythene bags choked our drains. Most importantly, our cattle used to swallow polythene bags along with leftover food materials which used to cause choking.  Now, our village has become clean and comparatively safer for our cattle, thanks to efforts of the children. It feels better to walk around village without polythene bags of various colours strewn around.”