SDC Foundation in partnership with Dehradun Smart City Limited (DSCL), came up with an innovative and citizen-centric initiative to nudge communities into adopting secure and sustainable waste management practices. The Swachh Colony Award Competition was aimed at engaging all the registered Resident Welfare Association (RWAs) in Dehradun with the purpose of evaluating their waste management mechanisms and processes. It also promoted awareness and encouraged citizen participation at the community level on the issues of cleanliness and hygiene. The framework of this competition was based on the guidelines of the Swachh Survekshan introduced by the Government of India (GoI), Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, and Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016.
An online mechanism was developed to assess the data submitted by RWAs wherein the evaluations were moderated by an Independent Expert Committee constituted by DSCL. The online submission was then corroborated by the Independent Expert Committee through on-ground inspection and visits to the various RWA’s. Evaluation was dependent on factors such as door to door garbage collection, separate segregation of domestic hazardous waste practice (tube lights, paints, batteries, diapers, sanitary napkins etc.) and waste pickup facilities, source segregation, and availability of on-site composting systems.
