New Delhi: 11 girls become Safai Champs to lead waste segregation drive

As a part of the initiative, the girls provide cardboard boxes to each household they are monitoring, in which they ask the owners to dispose of the non-biodegradable waste.

The 11 girls monitor waste segregation in three-four households each in their localities

Bearing the title of Safai Champs, 11 students of a government girls’ school are spearheading the cause of solid waste segregation in Ambedkar Nagar, Sangam Vihar and Tigrim — the localities which are also home to these girls.

Under the mentorship of Teach for India fellow Harshita Trikha (23), these 11 students from classes IX and X of Government Girls Senior Secondary School No. 3, Ambedkar Nagar, have been monitoring waste segregation in three-four households each, including their own, since May. In mid-October, they decided to start a practice of segregating waste in the school, and have taken charge of one class from VI and VII each, where they taught the younger girls the need for segregation, chose two ‘safai monitors’ in each class and made separate dustbins for them to dispose of non-biodegradable waste.

As a part of the initiative, the girls provide cardboard boxes to each household they are monitoring, in which they ask the owners to dispose of the non-biodegradable waste. They then collect the garbage from the boxes and store them in a learning centre in Tigri. “We make plans by the week and set targets. If we achieve our targets, we are rewarded with horror movie screenings,” giggled Sumera, a Safai Champ. In the eight weeks of summer vacation, the girls reached out to around 47 households and gathered around 14 kg of waste, which they intend to sell to junk dealers.

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Talking about the project, Nidha, one of the Safai Champs, said: “Our teacher had told us about the Swachh Bharat Internship in summers, and we were excited to participate in it. But we later found out that it was only for college students. We were a little demotivated, but then we decided to start something of our own. We decided to do something about the cleanliness problem in our locality.”

“We approached people we knew well first, followed by those we were a little scared of. If any of us was nervous, we would call others so that we go together as a group,” said Sumera.

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waste segregation