There is still widespread indiscriminate dumping of wastes in open spaces, roadsides, rivers, and in storm water drains, despite advocacy by several agencies. To address this issue, some youth have established a group known as ‘Team Change’ to address the issue of waste in the rural communities of Samtse district.
Team Change is a volunteer youth group based in Sang-nga-choling Gewog, under Samtse district. Seven youth volunteers formed the team by installing waste bins within the community,
The team leader, Kinzang Dorji said that about 63% of the total population live in rural communities, and basically, where there are more people, more waste is generated. “To address this particular issue, we, formed a waste management group to collect waste in the rural community,” Kinzang said.
He added that besides wastes, the group also focus on bringing about a change in the mindset of people, which can improve people’s perceptions concerning waste management in rural areas. The ‘Team Change’ waste management group goes door to door to collect waste in the community. As of now, they are collecting waste from nine gewogs under Samtse district.
Additionally, they also advocate and educate the people regarding waste management. Kinzang said, “People do not care where they throw their waste and will usually litter everywhere, and so we collect the waste from illegal dumpsites within the Samtse district area.”
The waste materials after collection are segregated and sold to other sellers, and the non-useable wastes taken to landfills.
The team has installed 750 waste bins within the community and along the Samtse Tendruk Highway, and they have also collected and segregated 15 tons of wastes.