Understanding the approach towards eradicating GVPs
Garbage Vulnerable Points (GVP), also termed as “Dark Spots” are the places or spots where the waste is repeatedly dumped or littered by the residents, travelers and people walking by. They pose harmful impacts on the environment, health of local people and aesthetics of the surrounding area. Environmental hazards include soil and water pollution (from groundwater leaching), air pollution (from waste burning) and loss of recycling potential. The waste is also blown away by wind and washed by rain and resulting in clogging of the drainage system and pollution of water bodies. The health hazards arise from the spread of infectious diseases due to the increased prevalence of mosquitos, rodents and stray animals.
How can we eradicate GVP’s?
The eradication of GVPs requires a multi-pronged approach and comprises 5 Steps namely GVP root cause identification survey, IEC campaigns for awareness, redesigning collection route and schedule, GVP beautification and Monitoring.
1. GVP root cause identification survey
The specific causes of GVPs should be identified based on a survey of the local residents, shops, local institutions as well as discussion with the sanitary inspector and ward in charge. It should also be validated by independent observation for a couple of days or a week. This survey helps to assess the key barriers such as lack of collection, low awareness or lack of infrastructure and identify the concerned stakeholders to be targeted for designing GVP eradication activities.
2. IEC campaigns for awareness
Thereafter, the IEC campaigns should be implemented for the target audience and can include household outreach, corner meetings, street play, segregation demos, distribution of IEC materials, social media engagement etc. The thematic areas should cover hazards of littering and waste burning, knowledge of waste collection routes and timings, types of waste, importance of source segregation, home composting etc. This will ultimately help the people to understand the importance of waste management to an Individual level and prevent littering.
3. Redesigning collection route and schedule
In cases where lack of regular waste collection is identified as one of the reasons for GVP, the collection routes and schedule should be redesigned in consultation with municipality and collection contractor using GPS based system. This will ensure that waste collection happens in the vulnerable areas at a frequency and timing suitable to the local residents.
4. GVP Beautification and Restoration
As a complementary measure, to discourage people from throwing their waste in the open, GVP sites should be beautified through simple solutions like Rangoli, banners, writing slogans, installing benches and public water fountains.
5. Monitoring
Lastly, a regular monitoring system is necessary for the initial period to track the behavioural change among the people and ensure gradual phasing out of GVP. The monitoring can be done in-person during the peak time or through installation of CCTV camera.
It is key to note that Social Lab has helped to eradicate over 371 GVP’s in more than 20 cities of Maharashtra and Gujarat. To know more, please contact Shri.Kunal Thakur (+91–9960479785) or send us an email at kunal@social-lab.in.
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Contributed by : Isha Bildikar (Content Management Associate) & Aniruddha Pandav (Lead Consultant)
