Wealth From Waste

The subject of solid waste management was never more relevant than it is now. In fact Delhi alone produces around 8,000 tonne garbage per day, while the estimate for the country is 27.4 million tonne per year.

Waste management is still a linear system of collection and disposal, creating health and environmental hazards. In the light of this, Alliance for Waste Management, a common platform formed by organisations working on solid waste management issues, has been promoting the concept of ‘Integrated Zero Waste Management’.

“While waste-to-energy technology is posing a serious threat to environment, the government is paying lip service to the concept of ‘Integrated Zero Waste Management’ approach,” says Gopal Krishna of Toxic Links, a non-governmental organisation. Gopal adds that the Planning Commission’s Tenth Plan document states that India has bio-mass deficit, which essentially means the soil lacks carbon content. “So why burn the waste and release carbon in the air, instead of adding it to the soil?” asks Krishna.

“In India, the municipalities are still using the conventional method of either burning or burying to dispose off garbage,” elaborates Krishna, adding that the zero waste approach is being promoted and followed the world over. “Again the landfills are neither well managed nor lined properly to protect against contamination of soil and groundwater,” he points out.

Adds M B Nirmal, the founder of Exnora International, which is in the business of waste management, “Waste is wealth, why waste ‘waste’. India has a large number of urban poor and a lot of employment can be created through waste management process of composting organic waste and recycling inorganic waste.”

According to Nirmal, “Around 75% of the garbage in India is organic in nature. Since 75% of people are employed in the farm sector, it could be converted into organic manure beneficial to both farmers and to promote organic farming in the country.”

Exnora has tied up with Technomedia Solutions Pvt Ltd to come up with a Delhi plan to deal with solid waste management. “Our Delhi plan will be to start working with resident welfare associations (RWAs). We will first conduct workshops with these residential colonies or societies and then these RWAs will come up with their own action plans. We will give our expertise and guidance to them to manage their own waste,” says Nirmal. “We believe that the efforts to improve existing conditions can only be successful through local participation and capacity building of major stakeholders. So it is very important to involve the local stakeholders.”

Adds Shailender Nigam of Technomedia Solutions, “We have been associated with Exnora for over a year. We have been mainly supporting Exnora in Chennai. But we are now working out a plan to start some work in Delhi, too. Things are at very early stage of inception, though.” He adds, “The plan would be to identify few areas in Delhi and implement the concept of zero waste management and create a model and replicate it.”