Context:
- Kerala launched the ‘Vruthy’ campaign (2024) to address the growing solid waste management and hygiene crisis.
- The initiative responds to rising waste generation due to increased consumption, especially post-COVID, and the decline of traditional backyard composting and recycling practices.
- The campaign reflects Kerala’s long-standing emphasis on decentralized, community-led governance.
Key Highlights:
Vruthy Campaign – Core Features
- Focuses on linking personal hygiene with public cleanliness, addressing the social disconnect between the two.
- Involves all sections of society:
- School children
- Local Self-Governments (LSGs)
- Volunteers
- Celebrities and civil society groups
- Emerged from local governance institutions, not Union ministries.
Decentralized Waste Management Model
- Kerala prioritizes waste treatment at or near the source:
- Household-level segregation
- Local composting
- Community biogas plants
- Reduces pressure on transport systems and centralized dumping sites.
Institutional Support Mechanisms
- Kerala Solid Waste Management Project (KSWMP):
- Supports municipalities through data mapping, infrastructure upgrades, and capacity building.
- Suchitwa Mission:
- Acts as a technical and advisory body for sanitation and waste initiatives.
Community Innovations
- Haritha Karma Sena:
- Green task forces involving volunteers and self-help groups.
- Engage in door-to-door collection of dry waste.
- Incentives for:
- Decentralized composting
- Biogas units
- Local recycling systems
Relevant Prelims Points:
- Decentralized Waste Management:
- Treating waste locally through segregation, composting, and small-scale processing.
- Centralized Waste Management:
- Collection and processing at a single site, often leading to inefficiency and unsorted dumping.
- Suchitwa Mission:
- Kerala government initiative for sanitation and waste management.
- Haritha Karma Sena:
- Community-based green workforce supporting waste collection and segregation.
- Drivers of Waste Crisis:
- Increased consumption
- Urbanization
- Decline in household recycling practices
Relevant Mains Points:
- Governance Perspective (GS 2):
- Demonstrates bottom-up governance and strong role of Local Self-Governments (LSGs).
- Contrasts with the top-down framework of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).
- Environmental Perspective (GS 3):
- Reduces landfill dependency and environmental degradation.
- Promotes sustainable waste cycles.
- Conceptual Shift:
- From citizen-as-consumer to citizen-as-co-producer of cleanliness.
- Significance:
- Encourages long-term behavioural change and cultural transformation.
- Enhances inclusiveness, accountability, and sustainability.
- Way Forward:
- Replication of Kerala’s model with local customization.
- Strengthening waste segregation enforcement.
- Integrating waste management into urban planning and education curricula.