How Uttarakhand plans to reduce plastic waste on the Char Dham yatra and beyond

Employees of Recykal, a Hyderabad-based start-up, accumulate waste generated from Kedarnath to ship it to recycling plant. Photo: Special Arrangement

Small steps can deliver massive adjustments. The Uttarakhand authorities has chosen the Char Dham yatra route that features temples at Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri to implement a singular waste-disposal system in the Himalayas, Uttarakhand tourism secretary Sachin Kurve has confirmed. Hemkund Sahib and the Valley of Flowers may even see the implementation of a QR-code-based system that may streamline assortment of waste and discount of rubbish alongside the route.

In Frames | Garbage mountains

A piece of the parking zone at Gaurikund, the start line of the trek to the Kedarnath temple.

Devotees coming to take a shower in the Mandakini polluted by rubbish.

Garbage dumped on the banks of the Mandakini.

An extended row of devotees taking the 16-km trek on horses and foot.

A helicopter touchdown with devotees close to the Kedarnath temple, whereas others queue up for his or her return flight. Every couple of minutes, helicopters land on the helipad close to the temple.

Another rubbish dumb on the banks of the Mandakini.

A view of the Kedarnath temple with devotees ready in lengthy queues.

Horsemen ready for devotees to return from the temple and ferry them again to Gaurikund.

The picturesque Kedarnath temple surrounded by snow-capped mountains.

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Visitors will scan a QR code on every plastic bottle and multi-layer plastic bag (of chips or biscuits) and pay a deposit over the most retail worth (MRP). They can declare this quantity again as a refund once they deposit the waste at some extent at the finish of the yatra. Up to 45 lakh QR codes are anticipated to be printed this yr.

The concept and execution is being carried out by Recykal, a Hyderabad-based start-up that gives software program options for higher recycling and sustainability. Earlier this yr, Uttarakhand and Recykal gained silver for the undertaking, in the Digital India Awards below a class that included a authorities’s digital initiatives in collaboration with start-ups.

Last yr, the undertaking was piloted throughout the summer season months, and executed compulsorily in Kedarnath, en route to the centuries-old Shiva temple on the banks of the Mandakini river at an altitude of three,584 metres above sea degree. It was completed solely on plastic bottles and 94,000 QR codes had been distributed throughout merchants on the approach. The initiative throughout a 33-km stretch from Guptakashi to Kedarnath temple reached 546 retailers, 334 eateries, and 94 resorts throughout the six-month length of the yatra.

“Those who returned bottles included consumers, sanitation workers, mule owners and palanquin riders. If there were bottles that were not returned, the extra money collected was put in a corpus,” mentioned Sushma Sharma, the native consultant of Recykal in Rudraprayag.

Sensitisation workshops are being held for merchants alongside the route, as the QR codes will probably be offered to them to paste onto every product.

Last yr’s success

According to Mayur Dixit, district Justice of the Peace Rudraprayag, the place Kedarnath sits, the undertaking final yr saved 1.63 lakh single-use plastic bottles from getting into the fragile mountain ecosystem. The every day strong waste generated in simply Kedarnath quantities to about 1,000 kg, throughout the yatra season, from April to October.

Over 15 lakh folks visited Kedarnath final yr. He is hoping that this yr’s initiative will reduce the large piles of trash strewn round the sacred shrine, mountains, and water our bodies. In his weekly radio handle on May 29, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to folks to hold the space clear.

The bigger concept behind the initiative is to deliver a couple of behavioural change in pilgrims. Last yr, over 40 lakh folks travelled to the 4 shrines. This yr, the yatra, set to start from April 22, has had over 2 lakh registrations as of March 23.