Solid waste management has always been a significant challenge for India, and this challenge has attained gargantuan proportions over the years owing to growing urbanisation and unsustainable practices.
Segregating the waste at source has been established as the most critical component of an effective sustainable waste management system. Source segregation helps improve the quality of recyclables, the treatment and processing efficiency, and significantly reduces the quantity of waste that reaches landfills.
India’s flagship Swachh Bharat Mission has mandated source segregation with a strong emphasis on IEC and BCC, as source segregation cannot be achieved without an attitudinal shift among municipal bodies as well as citizens and local communities. Cities that have achieved high rankings in the country’s sanitation survey – the Swachh Survekshan – have managed to do so because they have concentrated their attention and resources on behaviour change drives at the grassroots level. Cities like Panaji in Goa and Indore in Madhya Pradesh can source segregate over 95 per cent of their waste owing to their extremely effective BCC (behaviour change communication) initiative, carried out through rigorous information-education-communication (IEC) activities.
Of course, IEC and BCC are easier said than done. They cannot be a touch-and-go approach, with the goal of simply persuading people to segregate waste. Real transformation in community behaviour and practice takes time. Interventions must be structured to convey relevant and progressive messaging over a longer period of time, with regular reminders and information sharing.
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is launching a new five-days online training programme on how to improve source segregation through attitudinal shift. The training will offer an insight into waste segregation in India, the gaps and obstacles in implementation, and the use of IEC-BCC-based interventions in waste management.
Course highlights
- Overview of existing institutional and regulatory frameworks for IEC and BCC in India
- Importance and benefits of IEC and BCC in waste management
- Preparing implementation action plans for effective IEC activities
- Developing IEC and BCC strategies for community participation to promote source segregation
- Case studies
- Interactions with waste management practitioners who have successfully implemented IEC to bring attitudinal shift
For further details, please contact the Course Coordinator
Subhasish Parida
Programme Manager
Solid Waste Management Unit
Centre for Science and Environment
Email: subhasish.parida@cseindia.org
Mobile: +91 7873222285