How waste is currently collected and disposed in India? Is the current process efficient? What can be a better way?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

We all know every households produce waste on a daily basis and the garbage collector comes to every house to collect garbage. A typical process involves household emptying their bin in the dilapidated truck or vehicle of the garbage collector, the garbage collector takes waste from all the households in an assigned territory and then dumps it on a secluded piece of land. Garbage collectors from all territories in the city meet there to do the same. And it creates a landfill which stinks and is not good for the health of the citizens.

This landfill method is hazardous and detrimental to environment. It creates land pollution (and in some cases, ground water contamination). The waste is not recycled. No electricity, bio-gas, or fertilizers are made from this extremely useful waste.

Part I - The current process of collecting and disposing of waste in India:

M - Municipality

C - Contractors

H - Households

An example of how Municipalities in India invite tenders from contractors to collect Waste:

Part II - The suggested process of collecting and disposing of waste in India:

M - Municipality

V - Vehicle used by Municipality to collect waste bags from Households

H- Households

A typical 30 liters waste bag:

Part III - Benefits of new Process of collecting and disposing of waste in India:

1. Household waste will be in sealed waste bags, therefore no possibilities of littering on the streets.
2. Eliminates or minimize the role of contractors.
3. Segregation of waste in the plant becomes easy and fast.
4. Pay as you produce. Citizens will now pay based on the waste they produce. Each waste bag to cost Rupees 5 or the cost determined by each municipality.
5. No need for the municipal body to dump waste at various sites. All waste bags go to a central waste plant.

Part IV - Challenges of implementing new Process of collecting and disposing of waste in India:

1. People are resistant to change – therefore change management practices to be implemented including the robust media campaign.
2. Municipalities may resist the new process because of lobbying from contractors.
3. Investment is needed to build high quality waste management plants along with investments to be made in waste collecting vehicles.
4. Low Income Group (LIG) or Economic Weaker Section (EWS) of the society may not be able to afford the cost of Waste Bags. However, their costs can be reimbursed by way of Direct Cash Transfers.
5. Spending on media campaign – can become part of Government of India’s Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan.

Part V - Implementation – A staged Process:

The entire campaign needs to be carried out in phased manner:

1. First phase: Implementation of the process in one district (or MP Constituency) in India
2. Second phase: Implementation of the process in one district in each state across the country
3. Third phase: Implementation of the process across all districts (MP Constituencies) across India

Note: Waste Plants can be developed on (Public Private Partnership) PPP model.

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Swachh Bharat Abhiyan - Citizen participation is must

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched clean India or ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign today 2nd October 2014 on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

As part of the 'Clean India' campaign that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched today, he said he had invited nine people to join the cleanliness drive and requested each of them to draw nine more into the initiative to take it viral.

What are the most common things we the citizenry, municipalities, corporate, and activists do to make our cities and country clean? We list them here…

Swachh Bharat Campaign 

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Filth, noise and air pollution in Indian cities…a ticking bomb waiting to explode

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

While we build new townships, luxury real estate projects, branded homes, shopping malls, highways and what not….People are getting wealthier, buying luxury cars..Dining in star restaurants...wearing branded clothes, watches…but walk past the streets in cities and all we see is stockpile of garbage and filth. Open sewers, high level of noise pollution, air pollution and what we have is a ticking bomb waiting to explode and take away all our wealth and growth in just a matter of few years. Yes, few years. You read it right…

Consider air pollution…Half of the top 20 cities in the world with the highest levels of PM2.5 were in India, according to the pollution data released by the WHO in May 2014, which included 1,600 cities. PM2.5 refers to the diameter measured in microns of particulates such as ammonia, carbon, nitrates and sulfate -- which are small enough to pass into the bloodstream and cause diseases such as emphysema and cancer.

Noise pollution in the cities and towns is at record high and adversely affects people’s health: hearing complaints, sleep disturbance, cardiovascular issues, deteriorating work and school performance are some of the more serious effects of this deafening sociological epidemic, which is adding layer upon layer to the nationwide milieu of stress and environmental degradation. In a recent survey of the world’s noisiest cities, the capital New Delhi comes in first, with seven million plus vehicles on its streets every day (more than in India’s three other major cities combined), followed closely by India’s richest and most populous city (with 21 million people) Mumbai and then Kolkata.

As far as solid waste is concerned, we are not far behind. The cities alone generate over 100 million tons of solid waste annually, a large percentage of which is plastic (America by comparison in 2010 generated 31 million tons of plastic waste according to ‘Plastic is Rubbish’), and it is estimated that (if urban populations increase at the current rate) by 2045 they will be churning out nearly 300 million tons a year. New Delhi (population around 17 million) produces almost 700 tons of daily waste, much of which is plastic.

So, this is the enormity of situation we find ourselves in. Although, the focus on growth is justifiable in order to lift millions out of abject poverty, but surely, environment can’t be neglected. The polluted air we breathe, the noise around us, the filth around us needs to be controlled.

On his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the ‘Swacch Bharat’ or ‘Clean India’ campaign that will be launched on 2nd October 2014. The whole campaign is dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary in 2019.

But let us ask ourselves, do we really need a campaign for ‘clean India’? Much of the pollution that we are accustomed to in our daily lives is nothing but the making of our bad habits. In last 3-4 decades we have developed bad and lazy habits and that has destroyed our cities and our flora & fauna.

While government bodies, municipalities, NGOs, and activists may or may not come up with clean India initiatives. The citizens can do their bit by getting rid of the ‘bad and lazy’ habits.

What are these ‘bad and lazy’ habits? We all have read about these habits in our school text books, or watched a documentary or on social media…but let’s repeat them here.

Ok, we can’t move without the car….but can we stop the engine at traffic signal? Can we use the clean fuel? Can we pool the car for going to office? Can we not honk, yes its possible mate? Can we use the metro rail whenever feasible? Can we not throw the chips wrapper outside or any plastic bag outside on the road? Can we stop spitting on the road? Yes, it can be done.

Ok, as a growing company, we will produce waste including solid and liquid….but can we not purify the liquid waste? Can’t we dump the solid waste in accordance with the government or municipalities guidelines? Can’t we show the same kind of exuberance that we exhibit in production?

Ok, as a household, we will continue to buy stuff and produce waste….but can we not use homemade bag for carrying vegetables, fruits, groceries? Can’t we minimize the use of plastic bags? Can’t we dump the waste as per the procedure laid down by the local municipal body?

What the heck government got to do with all of this? Certainly, it’s our duty. Just like we like to live in a clean home….can’t we extrapolate this thinking to whole environment around us? The road outside our house belongs to us, the road on which we drive our car belongs to us, the air we breathe belongs to us, the water we drink belongs to us, then, why this apathy towards the environment around us? Let’s not point fingers at the government or municipalities for all of it.

Cheers

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