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Wealth from waste… what an idea sirji!

Every day, cities produce millions of tons of garbage. While garbage segregation at source is still a mirage even in metropolitan cities with its educated population, municipal corporations are struggling to find vacant land for new landfills. Collection, transportation, segregation and ultimate disposal in the landfill is what is believed as solid waste management. With emission of green house gases becoming the next looming tragedy for mother earth, a time has come for citizens to come together and give a new meaning to the word “disposal”.

Citizens’ responsibility
Solid waste management is one of the basic civic services that should be undertaken by the local body. However, with urban population increasing every day, municipal corporations have not been able to cope up with the additional pressure. Pages have been written about segregation of waste into wet and dry items, but little is actually done at the citizens’ level. For most citizens, throwing garbage outside one’s own home is an acceptable situation. But, when the garbage starts collecting outside, inviting pigs and crows, with stench emanating, citizens have to realise that the primary responsibility of waste management rests with them.
However, citizens’ groups and housing societies have started collecting wet waste and composting it for using as garden manure within the premises itself. Going by the practices in various parts of India, it appears that not many have taken up waste management as an enterprise. While municipal corporations term the basic service as solid waste management, what it means is nothing but garbage disposal with minimum effort. Instead, if the true meaning of the nomenclature “solid waste management” is to be comprehended, it means economic, efficient and effective management of solid waste, be it within the household, the locality or the city at large. From collection to final disposal, there is a whole gamut of activities involved. Scientific collection, segregation and recycling or disposal are the various interim processes of solid waste management. In this chain of processes, if money can be made or saved, an enterprise is born!

Segregating waste, the first step
Waste, in the most simplistic sense, can be classified into wet and dry waste. Wet waste comprises leftover food items, vegetables, fruits and other waste of plant and animal origin, etc. Dry waste comprises plastic articles, plastic bags, paper, hard board and wooden items, cloth, glass, metal, fiberglass, in various forms of permutations and combinations. Within the dry waste, there can be further classification such as hazardous waste be they of biological or chemical origin, e-waste comprising all types of products used in electronics, and building debris which is a complex mix of cement, concrete, brick work, wood, glass etc. Further, waste can be hazardous such as chemical and bio hazardous waste and so on.
In a very simplistic sense, homemakers segregate their dry garbage and call the local kabadiwalla who offers a small price for newspapers, glass bottles, and other scrap. Similarly, the old clothes are either given away or sold to the lady who barters them for stainless steel utensils. This is the first step in enterprise formation and successful management. These are simple tradesmen and women who collect these recyclable items and sell them to the dealer, who in turn sells them to other businesses, where these items are either just used as they are, or broken/melted etc., to form basic raw material for production. In fact, there was news item that some fashion designers source their material from old clothes, after getting them cleaned. We can see markets selling used clothes, which are popular with the poor.
New scientific discovery has been reported whereby waste plastic is converted into petrol using certain chemical process. On a large scale, it is also reported that from tons of composite garbage, mini electricity plants are also being run. With the production of methane gas, bio gas production is also taking place not only in the developed world but also in India.
The rag pickers of the city are the first in the chain of enterprise, whereby they segregate the items and sell them to the dealers for further recycling. Unfortunately, on the flip side, these rag pickers do not use any plastic gloves or masks, which result in their exposure to infection of various sorts. They also face cuts and bruises and also face injury when exposed to chemicals. They need to be educated about handling the waste carefully without endangering their health. Simple precautions such as high boots, gloves and masks will alleviate the suffering of these poor rag pickers.

Enterprising ideas for recycling
As science progresses, it is possible to find new ways of recycling the solid waste. Entrepreneurs need to come forward with workable ideas. The municipal corporations across India are encouraging such enterprises to work on public-private partnership basis. Any entrepreneur needs to study the location and understand the source of garbage. He needs to employ pickers who would collect the wet and dry garbage separately. The households will pay a small sum for such service. Thereafter the collected garbage is brought to a central point, where further segregation takes place. The wet garbage is composted using vermiculture and sold to gardens and homes. On a large scale such manure can also be sold for organic farming, and floriculture. It can also be used to produce biogas and can be used for cooking purposes as well. From banana, sugar cane, pineapple and grass waste, hand made paper is being prepared in Delhi. This is a potential area for enterprise.
The entrepreneur needs to study the economics such as volume and composition of waste and decide the correct mode to be employed. The dry garbage is segregated as per the composition and sold to respective recycling units. The balance is sent to the landfills. Again, in Western countries, entrepreneurs are working on mini electricity generation, based on the gases emanating from the landfills.
There are already stringent segregation rules, imposed by the municipal corporations, but unfortunately, they are observed more in violation than adherence. Hospitals routinely dump bio hazardous waste in garbage bins. If they can segregate the waste and burn the hazardous waste in approved models of incinerators, there will be nothing left. Entrepreneurs can run such incinerators in smaller nursing homes for a price.
Public-Private Partnership
‘Wealth from waste’ should be the motto of solid waste management so that new enterprise can be formed. In Noida such an enterprise is successfully working. When private enterprise join hands with a public cause, it is possible to work for mutual advantage. The entrepreneur can collect fees from households or housing societies to collect at doorstep, the primarily segregated waste i.e. wet and dry. After segregating the dry waste such as glass, paper, metal, plastic, fiberglass etc, the waste can be sold to the concerned manufacturing industries. The wet waste can be composted and manure sold for farming. The entrepreneur can also collect fees from the municipal corporation, which will otherwise have to do the waste disposal.
The entrepreneur can work in close association with the municipal corporation, to undertake specific activities such as waste management from any specific area or location, or a specific type of waste and sign an agreement as per the terms and conditions of the municipal corporation. He can target at source, waste generated from construction materials/ debris, waste generated at restaurants, canteens, marriage/party halls, temples, waste from vegetable & fruit markets, slaughter houses, meat and fish market, waste generated in parks and gardens, household garden waste, and waste generated during exhibitions, fairs, religious assemblies, conferences etc. the bulk generator can pay a price for lifting the waste depending upon the quantity generated.
Some of the good practices employed by municipal corporations can be mentioned here. These are possible with association with private enterprise or Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Municipal Corporation of Navi Mumbai has been using debris to fill up low lying areas which are prone to breeding of mosquitoes. It has helped in reducing incidence of malaria in the city. In Chandigarh, the Corporation has identified low lying areas where debris can be spread. It also entertains request from schools for land filling the low lying areas and converting them into a playground. Bricks and tiles are manufactured from demolition debris in Navi Mumbai with the help from an NGO (Yuva). Such bricks can be used for surfacing pavements.
In Mumbai, 5 tons of organic waste from Dadar Market is processed by vermi-composting. The Corporation has allotted one acre land to a private company which brings segregated waste and processes the same through vermi-composting in consideration of the rights to sell the compost.
Biogas and manure is produced from wet waste through biogas technology developed by BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre). It is reported that five such biogas plants are working in Mumbai, based on canteen/slaughter house waste. In Nagpur, the biodegradable waste from a few hotels is processed separately to convert into vermi-compost. The site is managed by a NGO (Gram Samrudhi Sanstha). In Bhopal, a bio compost plant treats 100 tons of rich organic waste from weekly bazaars and vegetable markets. An operator is responsible for running the plant and also sale of compost. The Corporation receives 4 per cent royalty every three months. This is a clear indication that wealth can be generated from waste.
In our struggle to save our mother earth, solid waste management is one of the most important factors. Recycling eliminates further pressure on precious natural resources. Hygienic environment is the right of every citizen. However, every citizen should act responsibly. Young entrepreneurs looking for new ideas can certainly help in this direction. Making profits from a cause that helps the environment is a welcome idea!

The writer is a retired officer from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service. She is presently a Consultant on public audit, gender and development issues.

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