Waste Management Practices And Policy In India From A Gender Perspective

1. Waste Management Practices And Policy In IndiaFrom A Gender Perspective Almitra H Patel Member, Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste Management in Class 1 Cities in India

2. Women and Waste are inseparable Women generate most of the kitchen wastes and dispose of waste from homes. Women bear the brunt of waste-related illnesses * caring for sick family members • helping children who miss school • managing with less if wage-earners are sick

3. Women benefit most from hygienic waste-management India’s present waste-management policy evolved over six years, in the following steps: Sept ‘94 : The “plague” in Surat city. Oct ‘94 : First Clean India Campaign of Capt Velu by road to 30 cities in 30 days July ’95 : Second Clean India Campaign to 60 more cities, all open-dumping Dec ‘96 : Filed PIL # WP 888/96 in Supreme Court of India against every State Jan ‘98: Court appoints 8-member Committee

4. Building Consensus June’98: Interim Report: 400 city mgrs’ feedback Mar ’99: Final Report, approved by all States Sept ’99: Draft MSW Rules from Ministry of Environment Sept ‘00: Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules 2000

5. Words to Remember “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.” “Handle waste once only”

6. Municipal Solid Waste Handling Guidelines Source-separation of “dry” & “wet” waste Handle waste once only, in 4-6-bin carts Doorstep collection of “wet” waste, for Composting bio-degradables as first option Recyclables left to the informal sector Landfilling only compost rejects & inerts.

7. The Rules also… • Direct cities to “promote recycling or reuse of segregated materials” and “ensure community participation in waste segregation”. • Recoverable resources are to be recycled via the existing informal sector.

8. Third World Countries are resource-conserving and frugal. • We sell newspapers, bottles and tins to doorstep waste-buyers and re-use a lot, discarding little. • We generate only 50-100 gms of non-biodegradable waste per capita per day. • Sadly, this small ecological footprint is seen as “backward” or under-developed.

9. In India • In 35 cities of over 1-million population, “dry” waste levels are approaching Western levels of over 1kg per capita per day. • Waste-picking at street bins and dumps already supports 0.5% of large cities’ populations. • Women (and children) form a large percentage of the waste-pickers.

10. Waste Separation at Source • Source-separation will make cleaner streams of ‘dry’ waste available for recycling or re-use. • There will be less injuries to waste-pickers. • Health hazards will be reduced.

11. Bio-Medical Hazards • In India we already have Bio-Medical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules 1998 to keep such waste out of domestic waste. • Such rules must be promptly and scrupulously implemented.

12. Some Best Practices • Calcutta: 80% house-to-house collection using regular Municipal staff and usual wheelbarrows • Many cities: Private groups are doing doorstep collection on payment • Everywhere: SLUMS are the most cooperative. 419 slums in Mumbai have Take-away-bin system

13. Best Practices…. * Ahmedabad: 4 or 6-bin handcarts or tricycles to avoid double-handling of waste • Nasik: Trucks move from one street-corner to another to have a city without street waste-bins • Surat: Pin-point beats include bins on raised platforms, near drainage manholes • Mumbai: Only wet waste lifted from hi-rises

14. Best Practices…. • SEWA: Weekly doorstep collection of dry waste by waste-picker women’s co-op, with public-info help by Bank Officers’ union • Pune : Union of women waste-pickers collects for a fee both dry waste for recycling + wet waste into city bins or compost pits • Bangalore : Citywide policy of dry-wet waste separation at source, collected at doorstep by city sweepers or waste-transport contractors

15. Handling Special Wastes • Leaf litter: Compost it. Burning is banned. • Garden Waste: On-site composting, or Charge Rs 20 per handcart to remove woody waste to slum or cremation ground • Street-food: Handcarts MUST have space for waste, and deposit it centrally at end of day.

16. Involving mothers and teachers • Coorg: District cleanup by school-kids bringing their dry waste to school weekly for purchase by waste-buyers. Funds used classwise for Eco-Clubs. • Calcutta: 500,000 bookmarks with year’s calendar and civic messages • Kids make pretty wall-bags for dry waste

17. Handling Special Wastes… • Hotel food waste: Non-veg to piggeries, or left-overs to night-shelters or orphanges • Market waste: Stall-to-stall collection, hourly: Wet waste to cattle or goats, Dry waste separate collection daily. • Commercial waste: Fees through trade associations • Broken glass: Festival-collection boxes

18. Decentralised Composting >> Saves enormously on waste-transport costs >> Reduces waste volumes for disposal by 90% >> Saves on manures for park maintenance

19. Who should do it? • All institutions like colleges, hostels, hotels, hospitals, clubs, marriage-halls, jails, zoos. • Apartment-complexes, bungalows, Govt and city offices. * All city-owned parks and sites. • Many individuals enjoy doing it voluntarily.

20. Where it is done • In garden strips along apartment walls, on terraces or in flower-pots or window-boxes • In local parks, traffic islands, road dividers * In conventional large street-bins • In sewage-farm premises • On temple lands or private farms

21. How it is done • Biomethanation in factory canteens • Vermi-culture (needs animal-husbandry care) • Aerobic wind-rows or checker-brick bins • Anaerobic heaps at transfer-sites • With or without composting bio-cultures

22. Simple Composting • Use 5% cowdung solution or a bio-culture as compost starter. • Make into heaps or wind-rows at least 1.5 metres high. • Turn every 5-7 days. Add water to keep moist. Prevent overheating and smoke. • Compost will be ready in 4 to 6 weeks.

23. AVOID WASTE – TO – ENERGY • Developing-country waste is very low calorie • Cost is 6-8 times higher than for composting.   Control of air-pollution is very expensive, and necessary but rarely well-maintained • Fails if debris and road-dust are in the waste Works against interests of recycling industry and thousands of waste-dependent workers

24. Composting Policy is required • Composting should be a legal requirement • Compost marketing must be pro-active • Cities must use their own composts for their parks, gardens and public buildings. • No Sales Tax on soil bio-enricher products • Investor-friendly policies like BOOT • National Agriculture Policy to use compost

25. Encourage Informal Recycling • Provide decentralised sorting-spaces • Provide waste-pickers with ID cards • Collect non-recyclable rejects for landfilling • Give recognition and facilities to recyclers • Give power concessions for pollution-control equipment • Fill geographic gaps in recycling industries

26. Thank you Questions, comments and suggestions are very welcome. almitrapatel@rediffmail.com