Sustainable Solid Waste Management In Developing Countries

1. Sustainable Solid Waste Management In Developing Countries Mrs Almitra H Patel, Member Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste Management almitrapatel@rediffmail.com

2. WASTE MANAGEMENT: THEN & NOW Since ancient times, domestic wastes have been composted for return to the soil. Till the 1940s, farmers brought produce to towns, took urban organics to fields. With cities growing, subsidies for urea in the 1960s and thin plastics appearing, urban waste lost its value to farmers.

3. NOW WASTE IS A PROBLEM Urban waste is now dumped just beyond city limits on vacant land in villages or all along highways, canals, in lowlying land. It breeds flies, mosquitoes, rats. Dogs thrive on waste heaps and form hunting packs at night, attacking village livestock. Villagers feel helpless against such officially sanctioned pollution.

4. 1994: SURAT PLAGUEWAS A WAKE-UP CALL ’94 : 1st Clean India Campaign by Capt JS Velu & me: 30 cities in 30 days via Surat ’95: 2nd Clean India Campaign, 60 new cities OPEN DUMPING OUTSIDE EVERY CITY ’96: PIL No 888/96 against all States for hygienic eco-friendly waste managemt. ’99 : Supreme Court Committee Report.

5. 1999 REPORT TO SUPREME COURT: GUIDING PRINCIPLES ‘Clean Up and Flourish or Pile Up and Perish’ ‘A city is only as clean as its dirtiest areas’ ‘The best way to keep streets clean is not to dirty them in the first place. Aim for cities without street bins.’ 2000: Municipal Solid Waste (Mgmt & Handling) Rules. COPIES AVAILABLE.

6. POLICY IN A NUTSHELL Keep “wet” & “dry” wastes separately Doorstep collection of “wet” waste, to Compost all bio - degradables. Leave Recyclables to the informal sector. Landfill only Compost Rejects & inerts. Waste Mimimisation is vital.

7. MORE GUIDELINES Handle waste once only ! (Collect in mobile bins or tipper vehicle) Separate collection of inerts (road dust, drain silt, debris) No Burning of Waste or Leaves Bio-Med Waste: follow its Rules. S. Ct: No Pesticide on Wastes

8. INDIA’S BEST PRACTICES Waste Separation at Source succeeds where citizens see it transported separately also, e.g. in Suryapet. Doorstep Collection keeps streets and roadside drains much cleaner. Separate collection timings for inerts: drain silt, debris lots, road diggings. Weekly collection of garden waste.

9. TWO METHODS FOR DOORSTEP COLLECTION

10. ZERO – WASTE COLONIES COMPOST WASTE AT HOMES OR LOCALLY

11. MARKET WASTE IS EASY TO VERMI - COMPOST

12. ‘DRY’ RECYCLABLES NEED SEPARATE COLLECTION ROUTES AND SORTING SPACES

13. THIN - FILM PLASTICS ARE AN EXPENSIVE PROBLEM AT CENTRALISED COMPOST PLANTS

14. SHREDDED PLASTICS MAKE EXCELLENT BITUMEN ROADS BY A PATENTED PROCESS Collect through schools: 1 free pencil for 1 kg plastic; Sell pooled class collection for Eco Club activities. Take Back policies needed.

15. ‘RECYCLABLE’ IS MEANINGLESSUNLESS RECYCLING IS ACTUALLY DONE. INDIA HAS A HUGE P E T PROBLEM1 PVC bottle can ruin a batch of 10,000 PET Ban rigid PVC packaging for effective PET recycling and insist on Bottle Take - Back.

16. WASTE STABILISING IS THE FIRST STEP IN COMPOSTING AND CAN START AT ONCE Unload waste in wind-rows, spray with bio-cultures turn weekly, 1-4 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.

17. COMPOSTING IS THE BEST WAY TO RECYCLE ORGANICS Spray biocultures, then shape heaps into windrows. Turn weekly or at least once.

18. CITY COMPOST + CHEMICAL FERTILISERS WORK WONDERS:Reduce Chem. Fert 50%, buy compost with savings. Drought-proofing, less waterings, 15-25% higher yields in all crops tried.This is paddy 6 weeks after transplanting.

19. CITY COMPOST CAN RESTORE TSUNAMI HIT SALINE SOILS.Raised Beds 1m high, 10 m wide, upto 10 km from sea, water table 2m or less.Or 1.5m broad beds & furrows, inland.See www.excelind.com for Dholera CD

20. DON’T THINK OF WASTE TO ENERGY FROM URBAN WASTE IN INDIA ! Average 45% inerts because of faulty collection practices everywhere. Only 7% combustibles after rag - picking. LOW calorific value, 800-1200 kcal/kg. Works only at micro scale, on campuses where biogas is used for heating, e.g. in kitchen for 40,000 at BEL factory.

21. LONG HISTORY OF MANY WTE FAILURES: 1980s: Delhi Incinerator ran only 6 days! 2004: Biometh promoters “ran away” after investing US$ 18.7 million for 5MW, generating only 0.5 MW over past year. 17 MoUs, 15 withdrew after 3 to 7 yr wait. 2 RDF “successes” actually run on 70 % to 90 % paddy husk, on city’s free land meant for urban waste management !

22. COST OF WTE vs COMPOST : For processing 300 tons/day waste: Compost US $ 1 million, all successful. Biometh US $ 18.6 million, a failure. For installing 1 MW capacity power: Thermal or Hydel US $ 1 million WTE (RDF,biometh,burn,) US $1.8 to 3.8 million. Foreign lobby drives WTE in India, SAARC.

23. BUSINESS CLIMATE FOR SWM US $ 65 Billion needed for urban infra -structure over next 10 years: power, roads, water supply, sanitation, SWM. Greater autonomy given to cities. Private sector being encouraged. Municipal Development Funds or Bonds. 400 joint ventures in environment sector. Growth driven by courts + public demand.

24. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES MINI solutions for secondary transport, like 3 or 4 wheel small tippers. LOW cost windrow turning equipment. Waste Sanitising & Composting services. Compost Marketing, tie-ups with fertiliser firms, or for greening mining overburdens. LOW cost landfills, bentonite quilt liners. SIMPLE, DECENTRALISED, CLEAN Recycling Technologies for Tyres, PET, multifilms, tube-lights, batteries, e-waste.