Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0: Agreement signed with UNDP

Highlights:

• Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding. 
• The agreement was signed under the Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0. 
• It was signed to strengthen the waste management sector in the country.

• Under the MoU, the UNDP will help in setting up 75 Smart Swachhata Kendras in the country.
• Also, the UNDP will help India on integrating the informal waste pickers. 
• It will assist India in linking them with government welfare schemes.
• The MoU also included digitizing the waste flow and streamlining activities in Swachhata Kendras. 
• It will encourage the use of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence in measures adopted under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0.
• According to the MoU, the UNDP will assist India in solid waste management and used water management.
• Also, the UNDP will help India to promote and replicate sustainable model for waste management.
• The MoU will help Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 to achieve its zero waste target. 
• Also, it was signed to bring about improvement in the lives of informal waste pickers.

• Solid waste management is the key focus of Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban. 
• It focuses on scientific processing of municipal solid waste and source segregation of waste. 
• The MoU will further strengthen the solid waste management.
• It will aid India in achieving its vision of making cities “Garbage Free”.
• It will help in achieving 100% waste processing as aimed by Swachh Bharat Mission -Urban 2.0.
• The MoU aims to realize the vision of “Clean Air, Clean Water, Clean Land” in urban India. 
• This is to be achieved through a circular approach based on 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) principle.
• The UNDP facilitated the processing of 82,000 MT of plastic since 2018.
• It has helped India in establishing 20- Swachhata Kendras or Material Recovery Facilities.
• Along with Niti Aayog, UNDP developed a Handbook on Sustainable Urban Plastic Waste Management. 
• It gives insight on comprehending the main challenge of SBM-U, which is, stress on urban local bodies on delivering the waste management services. 
• It also discusses successful national and international cases.