Though Indian cities are spending millions on incentivising waste minimization, they are not aware of the quantity of waste each is generating. According to leading Indian environmentalist Sunita Narain, the country is in a “messy” state because technology to be implemented is decided before looking into the composition of the waste.
In an exclusive interview with TOI, Narain, who is also the director of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), tells how we need to deep dive into real-time data rather than “aping the west”. Stressing the need for adopting a decentralized waste management, Narain suggests ways to clean-up one of the largest waste generator countries. Excerpts from the interview:
It’s almost 18 years since solid waste management rules have been in place. Yet, they remain unimplemented in many cities where garbage heaps are only piling up. The Supreme Court recently observed that “India will go down under garbage one day”. Who is to be blamed for this mess?
We are to be blamed for this. Waste is a problem in our country because everyone thinks it is someone else’s job. Also, there is clearly a lack of administrative will to do this job. Cleanliness is not just sweeping cities, it is about having an end-to-end mechanism to process, reuse and recycle waste. Only this can change the present scenario.
Having worked in this area for years, do you think solid waste management in India has witnessed any evolution?
The last few years have seen a paradigm shift in waste management, with the major focus being towards segregation at source and processing. While the principles of solid waste management are being better understood and more discussed, the attention of civic officials towards collection of segregated waste and its transportation, treatment/processing, recycling and safe disposal is still in a nascent stage. Consumer behaviour patterns in Indian cities have also not adapted to facilitate the process of waste management by segregating biodegradable waste from others at the source.
Have national missions managed to bring down the garbage?
Solid Waste Management Rules (2016) provide a reasonable framework to address the multiple challenges of municipal solid waste management in India. Strategic direction and funding by the central government through missions such as AMRUT, Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat have also created an environment in which there is a focus on this problem. But it is not adequate. It is extremely important to translate the vision from the rules and missions into an operational integrated strategy of solid waste management.
Most of the Indian cities are being buried under garbage. Can the government afford to allocate hefty funds for financing solid waste management in all of them?
Our cities are spending crores of rupees in establishing systems that incentivise collection and disposal of waste with little or minimal processing. This is the biggest blunder as the shift should be towards ensuring segregation and processing at source. This way, we can not only reduce our dependence on landfill sites by 70-80% but also look at waste as a resource.
For tackling waste, should we go for an indigenous technology or follow what other countries are doing?
Rather than aping the west, we need to re-look and reinvent our waste management plans and the starting point should be a deep dive into real-time data. Till date, cities do not have figures on how much waste they are generating. Their data is obsolete and redundant. We need to survey it again and come up with a proper inventory on how much a city generates. After this, we need to re-look the city-wise waste composition — quantity of biodegradable, dry, recyclable, non-recyclable and inert waste. Only then we can decide a technology. The problem now is that we decide a technology and spend crores before we look into what goes into the waste.
Which are the cities that have managed to treat their waste in the best possible scientific manner?
Alappuzha in Kerala is implementing a 100 % decentralized model where residents segregate at source, wet waste is treated at source and dry waste goes for recycling. The municipality has drastically reduced its budget on solid waste management — it does not spends millions in collection and transportation. Instead, it has invested in creating awareness and provision of subsidies on in situ technologies. Some other cities include Mysuru, Panjim, Vengurla and Panchgani too are doing it.
Are there different solutions for different cities or a one-stop solution for the entire country?
Smaller cities definitely have the option of going in for decentralized technologies but bigger cities need to re-look into their existing systems and modify it — from collection to dumping to processing. For instance, Delhi, which generates a gargantuan 10,500 TPD of waste per day, dumps 40-50% of it in the three dumpsites. The city has 1,700 dhalaos (secondary transfer stations) and these can be redesigned into processing centres. Our cities need hybrid solutions.
Various petitions were filed in different courts on solid waste and there are many stringent orders. But the situation remains unchanged.
Judgements are passed, rules are made, but nothing happens on the ground because monitoring is lax.
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) aided by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) in association with Margao Municipal Council (MMC), held a waste management awareness rally at Margao, on Thursday.
The rally involving around 250 students of two prominent Margao schools _ Manovikas and Bhatikar _ with the message segregation at source' was flagged off by chief minister Digambar Kamat from the Anafonte garden.
"Segregation at source is the best solution to municipal solid waste management which is one of the most pressing environmental problems in Goa today," said Kamat while assuring that MMC will be actively involved in solving the garbage problem through various such programmes.
"It is the concern of the government to come up with the best solution to tackle waste. Cooperation of all agencies and the community is of utmost importance in the mission," said Kamat.
GSPCB chairman Dr L U Joshi called upon the government machinery to enforce strict implementation of the waste management rules in the state. "The GSPCB is just a statutory body which can only give suggestions and directions. It is the prime responsibility of the government to act tough," he said.
Joshi told TOI that New Delhi has already sanctioned Rs 8.57 lakh towards the awareness project and Margao is the first city to see the programme's implementation.
"Ponda and Panjim will be the next destinations of the programme which aims at giving the much required impetus to the municipal solid waste management programme in the state," said Joshi.
For the past eight months, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) has been working on an awareness raising project in the MMC which is set to commence Door to Door Collection of Segregated Waste' in six wards from January 1, 2009.
"In keeping with the Municipal Waste Handling Rules 2000, the project advocates waste reduction and segregation at source as a preliminary step for municipal solid waste management. The project hence motivates and solicits the participation of the various stakeholders by spreading awareness and training," fellow and area convenor of TERI, Dr B S Choudri, said.
As part of the ongoing project titled Facilitating Municipal Solid Waste Management through Awareness and Training' in Margao, workshops for teachers and students of Manovikas and Bhatikar School were conducted in July 2008. "In addition, TERI has contributed towards the capacity building of primary school teachers on the issue related to Solid Waste Management under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in December 2008," TERI associate fellow Saltanat Kazi said.
"TERI works closely with students as we believe students help in transmitting the information to other sections of society as well. When the message is put across by children, it has a greater impact as it subtly questions people's ability to comprehend and make necessary changes in behaviour. Further, working with teachers will help in having the message transmitted to students on a continued basis. Hence TERI worked on soliciting the support from students and the school authorities to participate in the campaign," said Dr Choudri.
Subsequent to these workshops, competitions on topics related to waste management were conducted. Competitions like drawing, painting, poster making, slogan writing, essay writing, collage making and projects were held wherein over 600 students participated. Work of the students was displayed at the Anafonte garden and prizes and certificates were awarded.
India alone generate more than 1,00,000 metric tonnes of solid waste every day, which is higher than many countries’ total daily waste generation taken together, Y S Chowdary, minister of state of science and Technology said at an Assocham event held in New Delhi.
“Large metropolis such as Mumbai and Delhi generate around 9,000 metric tonnes and 8,300 metric tonnes of waste per day, respectively. India suffers from inefficient and insufficient waste infrastructure and also from increasing rates of solid waste generation per capita. Issues of service quality and waste quantity need to be handled together. Besides, the infrastructure and technologies, we must also concede that we have not addressed the issue from a systemic perspective,” said Chowdary, inaugurating an Assocham Conference on 5th national conference and awards on waste to wealth.
Management of solid waste through collection, processing, transportation and disposal in India is the responsibility of urban local bodies (ULBs). ULBs are responsible for segregated waste collection, transporting waste in covered vehicle, processing, recyclables, separating domestic hazardous waste and disposing inert material in sanitary landfills.
But most ULBs in India struggle to provide efficient waste management services due to financial problems, lack of infrastructure and technology, and a lack of involvement from the private sector and non-governmental organisations.
“We all generate waste and we want the government to handle the waste generated by us. When I say that, waste management is a totally public funded or government funded activity. This is not the case in many parts of the world. That has to change, as the burden can’t be local government or urban local bodies,” said Chowdary.
Indian government has taken up a number of initiatives to augment the country’s waste management infrastructure. Under the Jawaharlal Nehru Renewal Mission, the government of India funded 49 solid waste management projects in various cities between 2006 and 2009.
“Solid waste management was made a priority in the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, which is a part of India’s National Action Plan for Climate Change. At present, the Central government has been implementing Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a cleanliness campaign emphasising waste management at different stages of generation, collection, and disposal”, he added.
Another national level initiative aimed at improved waste management is the Smart Cities mission under which 100 cities will be provided with significant funding to improve civic services infrastructure.
In smaller cities, the Central government has started a partner scheme, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, aimed at improving urban infrastructure. State governments also provide financial support to ULBs to improve their waste management system under various schemes and programs.
As a result of these initiatives, many Indian cities have taken steps towards implementing good solid waste management practices aimed at community-based waste segregation and collection, public-private partnerships and investments in modern technology.
“It is high-time that we realize waste management is not only essential from a public welfare perspective. It can also contribute to economic growth, if the recycling industry is promoted alongside eco-industrial production. Such an integrated approach would put India at an advantage while managing its growing solid wastes”, he pointed. "We should work towards addressing the role of informal sector in solid waste management, and introducing economic instruments in waste management," the Minister said.
