Hyderabad: City school students unveil smart bin for better waste management

Hyderabad: To raise awareness among residents of Hyderabad city on waste management, high school students from Sreenidhi International School in the city, joined hands together and founded ‘Civitas’ to improve waste management practices. Recently, with the cooperation from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), these high schoolers have successfully unveiled their e-waste bin in Madhapur on Friday.

It is a citywide effort to responsibly gather and dispose of electronic waste, ensuring environmental protection from the hazardous materials and toxins commonly found in electronic devices. Started by Rithvik Jampana, Sideesh Reddy, and Vansh Lohia, eleventh-grade students at Sreenidhi International school in October 2020, Civitas has been actively gathering disposable waste from different communities and facilitating its disposal through collaboration with local recyclers. In addition to these efforts, a team of 25 volunteers regularly visit different neighborhoods within the city, conduct seminars and provide tips to promote awareness and improve garbage management practices.

Speaking to The Hans India, Rithvik, one of the co-founders said, “The environmental sustainability and social responsibility are very important. We aim to create awareness among the residents about the waste management practices as it is posing a major challenge to the environment.”

Initially, they began with e-waste drives at designated residential areas and corporate offices. As the team conducted research, it acquired knowledge about various disposal and recycling methods, enabling them to both implement these practices and educate the local residents.

Covering a wide spectrum of waste materials such as e-waste, metal waste, industrial lag and others, they have successfully collected and sent approximately 300,000 kilograms of waste for recycling. Further, they also placed bins in nearly 15 residential neighborhoods and communities, offering residents a convenient way to dispose of both e-waste and fabric waste, added Rithvik.

“Our research revealed a sobering fact: the average lifespan of our nation’s trash pickers is only 38 years, a stark consequence of the perilous conditions they endure. These unsung heroes play a vital role in maintaining our surroundings, yet their contributions often go unnoticed and unappreciated”, claims Rithvik.

The team established a waste processing plant in Yenkapally village that recycles over 1000 kgs of the village’s wet and dry waste per day and distributed over 200 essential health kits to Hyderabad’s ragpickers. These initiatives have not only contributed to cleaner communities but have also improved the livelihoods of marginalised individuals.

Over a period of time, they are planning to establish five more public e-waste bins in various localities in the city such as Ramachandrapuram, Hafizpet, Miyapur, Patancheru and Chandanagar. Additionally, the organisation is looking into providing affordable healthcare (Aarogyasri) to rag pickers around the city, the founders stated that “this is now their main objective.”