Transcript WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND POLICY IN INDIA …

ZERO WASTE TOWNS
Almitra H Patel
Member, Supreme Court Committee
for Solid Waste Management in
Class 1 Cities in India
[email protected]
IF THERE IS NO SPACE FOR WASTE
DISPOSAL, MINIMISE THE WASTE !
Mixed discards become useless Waste.
Unmixed, each item is a resource.
WET waste = food waste, raw+cooked
DRY waste = recyclables
INERTS = drain silt, road dust, debris
Many homes, streets, areas and towns
have become zero-waste by just keeping
their wastes unmixed, esp inerts.
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IN NARAYANGAON (Mah) EVERY HOME
MANAGES ITS OWN FOOD WASTES
Every school and college
teaches students how to
compost food waste in
flower-pots.
Every teacher HAS TO DO
IT HERSELF AT HOME FIRST.
The town has competitions
for best flower, fruit, veg
grown on home wet waste.
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EXNORA HELPS HOMES in CHENNAI TO
DO THEIR OWN COMPOSTING in BINS
A family needs a very small
kitchen bin for wet waste.
Dry waste is more bulky (red).
Old compost is put in the
bottom of a barrel with holes,
to get it started.
Wet waste is added in thin
layers (1-2 inch) daily. It
becomes compost in 30 days
and is removed from below.
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IN DHAKA, 5-6 SLUM FAMILIES SHARE
A COMPOST BARREL GIVEN BY AN NGO
They add only wet waste, only in 1-2” thick
layers so that air can go through. Then
there is no smell, and volume goes down.
When the barrel is full, after 3-4 months, the
NGO buys their compost for Rs 2 per kg,
for sale to farmers if quality is OK.
So families take very good care of their
barrel and put in only food wastes.
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200 homes share a common compost bin in
Mumbai. Waste-collectors for that street add
bio - cultures to control smell & leachate
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SURYAPET, pop. 1 lac, ACHIEVED
ZERO GARBAGE STATUS in 2003
With NO external funding
NO NGO help or organised rag-pickers.
NO outside technical advice or consultants.
Only Administrative Will is needed. It is a
model today for other Indian towns.
Khadar Saheb inspired his municipal team with
FULL COOPERATION FROM THE COUNCIL.
“Political infighting is injurious to your health!”
E.g. Vallapilsala, harming itself by poor policy.
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SURYAPET’S STRATEGY for ZERO WASTE
SEPARATE COLLECTION OF INERTS is
MOST IMPORTANT (Drain Silt, debris, dust)
A Separate truck or separate trip gives spotless
drains, with hardly any waste in them.
Tipper Trailers have a high cage for Dry waste :
Public must SEE Dry-Wet Transported unmixed.
Vermi composting of wet waste, plus sorting and
sale of dry waste by the town in its own shed
= almost nothing left for “landfilling” !
Inerts go to a separate site or house plots for use.
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KEEP PLASTICS OUT! STORE DRY WASTE
IN A BAG FOR WEEKLY COLLECTION
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‘DRY’ RECYCLABLES NEED SEPARATE
COLLECTION ROUTES & SORTING SPACES
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SHREDDED PLASTICS MAKE EXCELLENT
BITUMEN ROADS : 1200 km in T N in 1 year!
T N Rural Dev Dept gave
plastic shredding machines to
self-help groups, purchased it
at Rs 12 per kg to replace 10%
bitumen by weight, making far
better roads at no extra cost.
Collect through schools:
1 free pencil for 1 kg plastic;
Sell pooled class collection
for Eco Club activities.
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Plastic wastes are a major problem in
composting and are costly to remove :
7% by weight but over 50% by volume
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WASTE STABILISING IS A MUST
IT IS THE FIRST STEP IN COMPOSTING
& CAN START AT ONCE
Unload waste in wind-rows, spray with bio –
cultures, turn weekly, 1 to 4 times.
Dark humus forms in 2 months.
Even unsieved, this can be spread to cover old
waste and grow flowers and non food crops,
or peelable foods like maize or banana.
Root crops take up heavy metals.
This ‘urban agriculture’ will control fires and
curb encroachments on unused dumps.
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COMPOSTING IS THE BEST WAY TO
RECYCLE ORGANIC WASTES
Spray biocultures, then
shape heaps into windrows.
Turn weekly or at least once
to avoid smell and leachate.14
CITY COMPOST + CHEMICAL FERTILISERS
WORKS WONDERS FOR ALL CROPS:
Reduce Chemical Fertiliser by 50%, buy compost with savings.
Drought-proofing, less waterings, 15-25% higher yields in all
crops tried (left). This is paddy 6 weeks after transplanting.
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IMPROVE OLD WASTE DUMPS
Shave off 300 mm layers, spray bio cultures,
form into 2 m heaps after removing bulky items
Heap temperature goes up, volume goes
down by 50%, saving space.
Use this stabilised waste for tree pits, or to
cover old dumps with vegetation.
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MANAGING SPECIAL WASTES:
Collect broken glass in hundis and sell once
a year for festival expenses.
Vermicompost temple flower offerings.
Make soft - board from elephant dung.
Feed market waste to cattle or goats.
Feed non-veg cooked waste to pigs but keep
out tea leaves, coffee grounds, lemon peel.
Hotel leftovers to ‘Food Banks’.
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THE BEST WAY TO KEEP STREETS CLEAN IS
NOT TO DIRTY THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE
So binless cities are cleanest.
Door-to-door collection can be done in
handcarts, tricycles, or direct into trucks
or trailers if composting is centralised.
A city is only as clean as its filthiest areas.
So start with the worst spots.
Cleanliness needs mainly management
and common sense, not money.
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