SOLID WASTE MGT : THE WAY FORWARD Mrs Almitra H Patel, Member Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste Management

HOW IT BEGAN ’94 : Surat Plague - A Wake-Up Call ’94 : 1 st Clean India Campaign by Capt JS Velu & me: 30 cities in 30 days via Surat ’95: 2 nd Clean India Campaign, 60 new cities OPEN DUMPING OUTSIDE EVERY CITY ’96: PIL No 888/96 against all States and UTs for hygienic waste management. ’99 : Supreme Court Committee Report.

1999 REPORT TO S.Ct: 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.” Waste Mimimisation is vital.

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 No Waste-To-Energy until fully proven!

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

NORMS FOR CITY MANAGERS Remove all waste-collection points (Retain only hand-litter bins) All Hawkers to use mobile dustbins (Evening collection - points for wastes) 80% on-road efficiency of vehicles. 365-day city cleaning by Beat System: Hi-density Medium Low -density area m m m of road length per sweeper

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Charge for collecting Trades Wastes Decentralise Authority+Responsibility Induct Public Health Engineers for collection + transport + disposal Amend Contract Labor Act ’70 to enable NGO or private services in SWM Safeguard supervisors against abuse of Atrocities Act (action only thru Dept Head)

ADMINISTRATION Ward Officers to be in field all morning Involve Ward Committee members for awareness, monitoring & implementation Levy Administrative Charges for violators Inter-departmental Coordination Fixed Tenure for Municipal Commrs / EOs

DOCUMENT & SHARE BEST PRACTICES Waste is good material in the wrong place. Use thin plastics in bitumen roads (8%) Weekly Collection through school-children. Zero-waste colonies collect wet waste for on-site composting and beautification. Cities excluding inerts and plastics from waste can become “zero-waste” too !

SLUM CLEAN-UP IS EASY Many models are working well : 1, ‘Naka-collection’ at Nashik receives waste from homes directly into truck for onward transport without handling. 2, Whistle-system in Blr slums where a truck comes to entrance for collection. 3, Mumbai: Local youth paid to place Take- Away bins 8-10 am for emptying into truck. 4, Dhaka: 5-6 families share a plastic barrel and are paid for layer-compost produced.

MANAGING WASTE at DEONAR is the deadline for setting up waste processing and disposal facilities. Stabilising waste CAN BE DONE AT ONCE by placement in wind-rows, spraying with bio-cultures and turning weekly, 1-4 times, to form dark humus in 2 months. This can be spread around perimeter of Deonar to cover old waste and grow flowers, maize, banana. This green Laxman-rekha will control fires & encroachment + meet 2001 deadline for improving existing dumps. WASTE-TO-ERERGY IS UNVIABLE FOR INDIA ! No energy can come from low-calorie hi-inert wastes.

IMPROVEMENTS NEED MANAGEMENT, NOT MONEY: Priority to essential services Synchronised primary and secondary collection to keep all waste off streets Transparency: accrual-based double- entry accounts, made open to public Annual CLI-linked income escalations Participatory planning for Ward works like Banaglore’s Janaagraha

HOW INDUSTRY CAN HELP On-site waste management + minimisation Mera Aangan Saaf discipline for commercial areas Eco-friendly packaging + lifecycle responsi- bility thru buy-back, exchange, drop-off; Take-Back policies for domestic haz-waste: tubelights, aerosol cans, insecticides, glass, batteries, tyres, polystyrene cups or pkg. Mercury-free hospitals. Insulin needle dropoff Provide MIS guidance, communications for SWM staff, social advtg for public motivation. Adopt a slum or public toilet for management and maintenance instead of parks for advtg.

ADOPT A WARD OR A COUNCILLOR’S DREAMS Offer help with achievements instead of money for elections where possible. Offer help in creating people-friendly budget proposals or work supervision Offer more-for-less expertise for works. LOBBY for necessary changes in Contract Labour Act, Atrocities Act, tenure of CEOs, debris mgt, Perform- or-Perish work culture, end Waste-To-Energy subsidy, full support and incentives for recycling industry. Co-marketing of city compost with chemical fertiliser for rural prosperity and their increased buying power.