1. ZERO WASTE TOWNS Almitra H Patel Member, Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste Management in Class 1 Cities in India almitrapatel@rediffmail.com

2. 2 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.

3. 3 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.

4. 4 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.

5. 5 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.

6. 6 200 homes share a common compost bin in Mumbai. Waste-collectors for that street add bio - cultures to control smell & leachate

7. 7 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.

8. 8 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.

9. 9 KEEP PLASTICS OUT! STORE DRY WASTE IN A BAG FOR WEEKLY COLLECTION

10. 10 ‘DRY’ RECYCLABLES NEED SEPARATE COLLECTION ROUTES & SORTING SPACES

11. 11 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.

12. 12 Plastic wastes are a major problem in composting and are costly to remove : 7% by weight but over 50% by volume

13. 13 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.

14. 14 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.

15. 15 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.

16. 16 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.

17. 17 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’.

18. 18 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.