Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
January 2021 onwards, sanitary pad manufacturers will have to mandatorily provide packets for disposal of each pad: Shri Prakash Javadekar
All the habitations with more than 3000 population will have to make provision for waste management: Shri Prakash Javadekar
We should address the waste pickers as ‘Swachhta Sevika’ from this International Women’s day: Shri Prakash Javadekar
We should address the waste pickers as ‘Swachhta Sevika’ from this International Women’s day as they are doing a great service to the nation, said Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and M/o Information & Broadcasting Shri Prakash Javadekar while interacting with female workers’ SWaCH Pune, a wholly-owned workers’ cooperative on the occasion of International Women’s day.
“I celebrate my Diwali with waste-pickers to understand their work and problems, we all city dwellers want garbage shed for us, but not too close from our home. This mindset should change. I have decided to give funds from Member of Parliament Local Area Development Fund for construction of 50 big and 50 small garbage sheds which are designed by SWaCH”, he said.
“At the same time, we have observed that production and usage of sanitary napkins and diapers has greatly increased in the country, however they are still being discarded in a way which is harmful to waste-pickers. We will implement the rule that January 2021 onwards all sanitary pad manufacturers will have to compulsorily give degradable bags for disposal of each sanitary napkin. This rule is already in existence but is not being followed by the manufacturers, Minister added.
We have to ensure that decentralized model wherein garbage by educational institutes and housing societies should be disposed at the premises itself. There is rule for compulsory picking of garbage and disposal for municipal towns, this rule will be made compulsory for all the habitations with more than 3000 population. With steps like these the dream of Swachh Bharat of Prime Minister Modi will be realized, he added.
Shri Javadekar while commemorating International Women’s Day with Swachata Sevika’s said that, “The women have 4 important qualities namely consistency, compassion, courage and capacity for decision-making. I salute the Swachhta sevikas gathered here today who help in realizing the dream of Swachh, Swasth, Hit and Fit India.”
Founder of SWaCH Smt. Laxmi Narayan said on this occasion that, “Garbage should be disposed off in decentralized way. The money spent on transport of garbage should be utilized in encouraging people to make garbage into compost at the source. It will be great help if the plant buying plastic waste is located in Pune, which shall create value and provide incentive for waste pickers and segregation”
Smt Rani Shivsaran, Swachhta Sevika representing 3500 Swachhata sevikas from the SWaCH group requested that a permanent separate shed for sorting of garbage at each ward will help greatly in this work. She further said initiatives like V-Collect  help in collecting items from homes which are lying unused and prove additional source of income for these Sevikas.
Mayor of Pune, Shri Murlidhar Mohol was also present on this occasion, he extended co-operation from Pune Municipal Corporation to implement SWaCH model for waste management.
Backgrounder about SWaCH