Lucknow: At 7 every morning, when most of Raghunathpur is just beginning to wake, gram pradhan Parmeshwar Pal is already on the move. Driving an e-rickshaw through narrow village lanes, he stops at door after door, collecting plastic waste from households. It is not a task he has been assigned to do. Instead, a task he has chosen to do it himself, every single day. In this small village in Ghorawal block in UP’s Sonbhadra district, this simple, consistent act has sparked something far larger than a waste collection drive. It has quietly evolved into one of UP’s most compelling grassroots movements for environmental change. Home to nearly 2,500 residents, Raghunathpur, like many rural settlements across India, once struggled with the growing burden of single-use plastic. “Waste found its way into fields, clogged drains, and accumulated in public spaces, an everyday problem with no structured solution,” says Pal, whose efforts have been highlighted by the department of Drinking Water & Sanitation under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen). The turning point, shares Pal, did not come through enforcement or directives, but through dialogue. The idea was simple, change would not come from outside systems, but from within the community itself. “I began with conversations, community meetings where I spoke about the vision of a plastic-free village, not as an abstract ideal, but as a shared responsibility,” says Pal, who then led by example. His daily presence at people’s doorsteps made the issue impossible to ignore. Households that were initially hesitant began to respond, not to instructions, but by walking the walk. And the system too was designed to be simple and participatory. Pal explained that the collection sacks were distributed to households, and families were encouraged to segregate plastic waste at source. “Each morning, the waste is gathered and transported to a Resource Recovery Centre, where recyclable materials are sorted and sold, and non-recyclables are disposed of responsibly,” Pal says. The journey, however, was far from smooth. In the early days, there was hesitation, even resistance. Some households discarded the very sacks meant to enable the effort. But instead of imposing penalties, the panchayat chose persistence over pressure. Through repeated engagement, door-to-door conversations, and sustained awareness efforts, attitudes began to shift. Over time, scepticism gave way to participation, Pal adds. Today, more than 300 households are actively segregating their waste, a significant behavioural change in a relatively short span. Over 200 kilograms of plastic waste has already been collected and processed. The panchayat has generated more than 2,000 in revenue through recycling, modest in amount, but powerful in implication. On the road ahead, Pal says, the goal is to move from a model driven by individual leadership to one anchored in systems clear protocols for segregation, collection, recycling, and safe disposal. “The intention is to ensure that these practices become embedded in the daily life of the village, enduring beyond any single individual,” he concludes.
