First Zero Waste Village in state sends crucial 'save environment' message

Divya Pradhan, SNS, DARJEELING. 9 JULY 2022: "Zero Waste Management can be understood in three steps-Not Not dumping your waste in landfills; not burning your waste; and looking towards reducing your waste generation," says Utsow Pradhan, a Tieedi representative. 

As waste management issues take centre stage amid the alarming rate of environment degradation, Rajahatta, a village with 27 households in 8th Mile in Sonada, Darjeeling, has now become the first Zero Waste Village in the state of West Bengal.

Tieedi (Take it easy, easy does it), an eco-tourism organisation, had launched a pilot project 'ZeroWasteAndolan" under the flagship of 'Green Mile Project' in the 8th Mile area. Within two months of the project, they achieved their goal on a mighty scale, with Rajahatta being declared as the first ever Zero Waste Village. The village segregates its waste into two sections-degradable and sanitary. These scraps get transferred to the organisation, where the process of manual segregation is undertaken. The recyclable waste is then sent to the plains in Siliguri, while the non-recyclable ones are up-cycled.

"If you do not save your soil, you cannot do anything. First, you need to protect your resources and your environment. Only then can you demand further developments, such as statehood," says Mr Pradhan, whose Tieedi has been slogging for over six years now in its efforts to save and revive the environment. 

"The situation in Darjeeling is precarious. We barely have enough fresh water to drink, as the rivers are fast drying up. We need to understand the urgency of the situation or else we will not be leaving any resources for the future," he adds. However, behind every booming venture, there are hurdles to overcome. The success in Raja hatta did not come easy, Tieedi members say "We faced several challenges during the process; pining the trust of the native people; making them understand that there aren't any ulterior motives behind the project, and that it was purely for the betterment of the environment," Mr Pradhan adds.

According to him, funds were another major challenge. "No funds came from the Panchayats. It was difficult for us to sustain the project. Our CSR partner, DCB Bank, partly funds our projects," Mr Pradhan says.

With their first small but significant accomplishment, the organisation looks forward to spreading the Zero Waste concept to different parts of the Hills, and later beyond the territorial borders. "We now plan to curate 8th Mile a Green Mile," Mr Pradhan says.

With the ever increasing amount of waste, mismanagement of resources and growing levels of environmental pollution, taking ownership of one's own waste plays a vital role in sustaining livelihoods and helps reduce the burden of ecological disasters, Tieedi feels.

The team encourages every household to be mindful of and accountable to their actions and understand that "we do not have time."