Over half of Goa’s village panchayats have failed to identify land for the storage, segregation and treatment of waste. However, the good news is that the state government’s Directorate of Panchayats is working on a time-bound Waste Management Action Plan for all its 191 panchayats, which involves setting up Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) at the village and cluster level.
On an average, a person generates about 300 to 600gm of waste per day. Waste generation is higher in urban areas and lesser in interior villages. But many Village Panchayats find it difficult to identify land for a waste management facility because some sections of society have the Not-In-My-Backyard Syndrome, which means they want the ‘waste problem’ to be tackled anywhere but at their village itself.
An MRF is a specialised plant that receives, separates and prepares recyclable materials, and composts organic waste. As part of the action plan, the department has also prepared a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for door-to-door collection of waste, handling, transportation, storage and disposal of biodegradable and nonbiodegradable waste at the village level.
