How is Kerala handling its waste problem? | Explained

Kerala's 'Vruthi' campaign promotes cleanliness, involving all levels of society for a garbage-free and hygienic environment.

The story so far:

Since October 2, 2024, Kerala has been aggressively advocating its latest campaign — ‘Vruthi’. Meaning cleanliness of the body and mind, this campaign has involved everyone from all levels, from the Chief Minister and Malayalam film stars to school children, local self-government representatives, bureaucrats, and sanitation workers. In a five-day conclave, titled ‘Vruthi 2025: The Clean Kerala Conclave’ held at Thiruvananthapuram recently, in which around 25,000 people participated, it was stated by the Local Self-Government Minister that the State had reached formidable success in waste collection from houses — around 75% of houses have been reached, which was just 40% till a year back.

The State of Kerala has achieved a certain standard of hygiene, thanks to the various developmental factors associated with the State in the course of history.

In the early days, the waste generated from consumption (mostly organic) would mostly be put to use in the backyard of the same house (for example, as manure). However, post liberalisation, the materiality of production and consumption changed significantly. Kerala, being a rapidly urbanising society, both spatially and temporally, where the share of agriculture in the State’s GDP is less than 10%, consumer behaviour also changed exponentially to market-driven products. The materiality of these new products led to a situation where, not only did the waste generated increase manifold, it also could not be disposed of or absorbed in the backyard. Hence, it started spreading within neighbourhoods and localities.

A senior bureaucrat, who is part of the Kerala Solid Waste Management Project (KSWMP), stated that during the UPSC interview, the foremost issue that she said she wanted to resolve, being head of the district, was waste management. While this was over a decade ago, she observed that this continues to be the foremost issue that many UPSC aspirants want to tackle. It is against this background that collective voices have now started emerging.

It is also to be noted that the basic principles of urban planning in the 17th and 18th centuries emerged and evolved due to a health epidemic — the plague in England. Health continues to be an important driver for urban reforms and hence, the Vruthi campaign is the need of the hour.

When the State government realised that the spirit of personal hygiene had not translated into clean and hygienic public spaces, a high-decibel campaign along with strategic and context-specific interventions was planned by local governments to make Kerala garbage-free. The campaign was titled ‘Malinya Muktham Nava Keralam’ (waste-free Kerala), connecting all key stakeholders and agencies working in the domain of waste management.