A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF CHALLENGES IN ACHIEVING ZERO WASTE

As part of the Zero Waste Month initiatives, the Socio-Economic Unit Foundation would like to
coordinate with GAIA in conducting activities for Week 2 of January 2024. The main topic for the
week (January 8 to January 12) is “Barriers to Zero Waste” and SEUF is planning to organize all
programs based on this topic only. For undertaking the execution of Week 2 programs SEUF will
be conducting initiatives on 5 days i.e., January 8, January 9, January 10, January 11, and January
12. This may include publicity/ outreach activities, lectures, discussion forums, interviews with
local self-government representatives and policy implementers, and advocacy and awareness
activities.
Location: Alappuzha district is the smallest district among the 14 districts in
the Indian state of Kerala. The selected Mannar and Chennithala Tripperumthura
Panchayats belong to the Mavelikkara Block of Alappuzha District.
❖ Haritha Karma Sena is a professional team consisting of mainly Kudumbashree Women
who will be assigned the responsibility of collection, transportation, processing,
recycling/disposal, and management of all types of non-biodegradable waste materials
in association with respective LSGs. Kerala’s waste management space has multiple
stakeholders – LSGs, the Kudumbashree Mission, the Haritha Keralam Mission and the
Suchitwa Mission
❖ Suchitwa Mission is the Technical Support Group in the waste management sector under
the Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala, responsible for providing
technical and managerial support to the local self-governments of the state.
❖ Haritha Keralam is an Umbrella Mission integrating three components upon which waste
management is one component and working to make a clean environment. Haritha
Sahaya Sthapanam (Green Task Force), the accredited agency of Haritha Kerala Mission,
will provide technical assistance to Haritha Karma Sena. The Socio-Economic Unit
Foundation (SEUF) is an accredited agency to the Government of Kerala, specializing in
the field of water, sanitation and hygiene. It serves as the Harithasahayasthapanam of
43 rural and urban local self-governments in Kerala. It has been providing valuable
assistance to Harithakarmasena workers and supporting them in various aspects of
waste management since 2020.
Mannar and Chennithala Triperumthura are the two Panchayats where SEUF works as
Harithasahayasthapanam in Alappuzha District. Therefore, SEUF decided to conduct the
zero-waste program on these Panchayats initially and later it will be replicated as a model
before other LSGs.