Tamil Nadu is among the foremost states in the country to have established solid waste management (SWM) systems with collection, segregation and waste disposal facilities in all its 12,524 village panchayats. The southern state has also engaged 66,025 motivators (Thooimai Kaavalars) for door to door collection of waste, segregation into bio-degradable and non bio-degradable and safe disposal of the same.