Waste to resilience: Grassroot governance and community action in Sulthan Bathery Municipality, Kerala, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64866/j.ijdscr.2025.10014Keywords:
Local Self-Government, Decentralized Waste Management, Participatory Approaches, Waste-to-Resilience, SustainabilityAbstract
Waste exists everywhere, despite different rules and laws. The generation and management of waste is a crucial indicator of resilience in the era of climate change. Every citizen has a duty to take responsibility for the creation and disposal of waste. The main organisation in charge for this is the Local Self- Governments in the grass-root level. In order to provide sustainable waste services, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11 and 12 placed a strong emphasis on the sustainable waste management. The shift from waste to resilience entails not just waste reduction but also seeing refuse as a resource, thereby enabling communities to effectively manage it in the face of diverse problems. In Kerala's Wayanad district, the town of Sultan Bathery is one such example of a community-based waste management strategy incorporating the idea of waste to resilience. It serves as an illustration of how to manage the waste produced by adhering to stringent laws and regulations and turning trash into opportunity. The researcher employed a case study methodology to elucidate the activities, challenges and opportunities associated with trash management in the local context. This study will shed light on the opportunities and problems that Local Self Governments face when it comes to waste management.
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