Rural Solid Waste Management: Experiences from Bihar

The pace of solid waste generation in rural areas of India has been indiscriminately increasing with the change in lifestyle and inclination towards consumer-oriented societies. The lack of solid waste management in rural areas drastically affects the overall health of the communities and ecology. The article highlights the management perspective of waste management, the impacts of community engagement and the process to be followed to plan, execute and sustain solid waste management projects for sustainable outcomes. The article is an outcome of field-based experiences from an action research project piloted in rural areas of Bihar. It was evident that various tools of community engagement, consultation with stakeholders, establishing feedback mechanisms, quality of services and motivation of sanitation workers are the building blocks of successful waste management projects.