Women's Day 2023: Meet Babita Gupta, Bihar's recycling shero set to receive award from President

Babita Gupta, a resident of Muzaffarpur's Siho village, has inspired other women to create their own means of support by creating decorative items out of plastic waste. She is all set to get an award from the President of India Droupadi Murmu on March 4.

According to reports, President Murmu will honour Babita with the 'Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman 2023 Award' on the occasion of International Women's Day at a function to be organised by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

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Babita, who is a member of the Self Help Group (SHG)- Jeevika, has been repurposing plastic waste into decorative items such as artificial flower bouquets, clippings, pendants, pouches, purses, and bags.

With this, Babita is not only promoting the reuse of waste plastic, but also reduces its negative effects on the environment. Everything was going well for Babita's family until her husband's sudden disability that put her family in a tough position, both financially and mentally.

Babita started to see an improvement in her financial situation after joining the Jeevika. Presently, she is associated with the Plastic Waste Management Unit (PWMU) that is set up at Sakra in Muzaffarpur district under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen).

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Babita gets plastic as per her requirement from PWMU, where plastic waste collected from all village panchayats are stored.

It is reportedly said that the district administration has established a training facility in the PWMU, Sakra, where Babita conducts workshops on how to make useful goods out of plastic waste. The Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman 2023 Award winner also goes door to door and invites women to learn this craft and make money.

This award will boost the confidence of people who use waste as a 'resource' and a source of income. Solid and liquid waste management is being implemented as part of Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan (LSBA)-Phase II to make villages ODF Plus.

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It is also said that around 39,600 wards in the state are working on solid waste management. Total 16 plastic waste processing units have been constructed at the block level for proper plastic waste disposal.