The Simplistic Assumption of Segregation at Source !

The Indian MSW Rules, 2000 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 call for source segregation of MSW. However, after 13 years of living witht he Rules, we probably do not have even a single municipality across the country - large or small alike, which can take the claim of having complied with this particular aspect of the Rules.

Ideally speaking, segregation at source is a rather desirable practice, but not practicable and feasible in a rather disorderly society as in India. Look at the education deficit for the large number of people and the corresponding deficit in terms of awareness, concern and commitment (working class, middle class and the elites alike). Segregation happens to a fairly high degree in certain societies which are characterised by a high degree of discipline (e.g., Japan, Scandinavia, Europe, North America, etc.), order, supervision and of course a great deal of commitment on the part of the citizens. A highly disorderly society such as India can not be expected to leapfrog to that paradigm of waste management at individual citizen level. 

Indian society has high degree of entropy - traffic violation, red light jumping, unnecessary honking; spitting all over; littering; open defecation, indiscriminate disposal of construction debris, burning of dry leaves and other dry waste,  etc. are some of the examples in the realm of sanitation, hygiene and waste mgmt. When ULBs are unable to address these obvious issues, how does not expect them to achieve segregation in each house, institution, establishment, industry, etc...? 

All solutions which are based on the simplistic assumption of segregation happening any time in the future in a particular habitation/ town/ city are bound to face severe and debilitating challenges, as has been amply demonstrated by a plethora of dysfunctional treatment plants of all hues and colour.

Not recognizing this challenge and being tempted to adopt simplistic and idealistic solutions represents a major professional error of judgement. It is like a doctor not able to do right diagnosis (of a cardiac patient) but is bent on offering a standard prescription assuming the patient to follow all the right practices (quit smoking, drinking, reduce wt., go for exercise, lower cholestrol, etc.) ! It tantamounts to a great disservice to the society.

Let us hope that the revision process underway takes into account these societal/ anthropocentric challenges.

Asit Nema

It's Raining Fever in Kerala - Blame it on Open Dumps

Some time last year I blogged about the disruption of municipal solid waste management services across the length and breadth of Kerala. Municipal workers and the urban local bodies have been derelict in discharging one of the most essential public services of removing and safely disposing of the garbage from their cities and towns (the state is a urban continuum!). Apparently they can not find suitable sites for developing sanitary landfills while several of their treatment plants have not delivered and have not lived to the expectations (no generation of wealth from waste). Now after long enough gestation, the pathogens and viruses are making their presence felt. The following link in today's Indian Express (June 12, 2013) presents some scary data on  public health crisis - over last 6 months 1 million people from the 'God's Own Country' have been affected by a range of communicable diseases, among others, viral fever, malaria, dengue, cholera, etc. Daily turnout at hospitals across the tiny state is reported in the range of 10,000 to 14,000. Report says that during this period 140 persons have died of fever and 11 due to dengue. The situation has worsened after the Monsoons set in, creating favourable conditions for breeding of disease vectors on the growing mountains of open dumps and garbage clogged drains all across the state - apparently 1.5 lakh cases reported in last 10 days.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-fever-hit-10-lakh-in-kerala-this-year-/1127822/

They say 'Health is Wealth'; but in the name of attempting generation of 'Wealth from Waste' and not doing safe disposal in landfills, the state is now witnessing 'Degeneration of Wealth'. Kerala is a paradox - the society has full literacy (educated?) and is rich but it is not taking due care of its natural heritage; it has low mortality but high morbidity; it aspires for high lifestyle but is also characterised by high lifestyle diseases.

If a society is rich and can afford to generate increasing quantities of garbage, then it should also be able to afford its safe treatment and disposal. Otherwise it will feel the pain of paying through increasing morbidity and even mortality. Perhaps objective appraisal and revision of MSW Rules, 2000 at a far off place in Delhi will help. But when - that is the question ?

Asit Nema

The Chennai Challenge - So much for aspiring to comply with the MSW Rules !

Have a look at the disaster in Chennai which shows the poor state of garbage disposal - a creation of the local Municipal Corporation: 

http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/photo-file-the-mired-marsh/article4791436.ece?ref=slideshow#im-image-0

These are scary pictures - a wetland getting choked by garbage dumps growing like cancer. And imagine adverse health impacts due to fumes, the pathogens, the viruses and the leachate going into the groundwater. And let's not even talk about the GHGs .....

Municipal bodies do not want to develop sanitary landfill sites, but will wait endlessly for millions of their residents to start one fine day 'segregation at source' (separating meat from the bone; or mango peel from its seed !!) and for a private operator to come with a Midas Touch to convert their garbage into gold ! Until then, it's a full blown disaster that goes on.....and several Earth Days and Environment Days will pass by... and millions will do a song and dance show and a run !! But these cosmetics will not help. It's about time the society realises the heavy costs that it is paying in terms of poor health and compels the authorities to take appropriate and robust measures.

Read the full article : http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/the-mired-marsh/article4791383.ece

It's the same story across the length and breadth of the country, be it a small or a large city. But we are not drawing lessons. Its time to chuck the old theory and perceptions into the bin !

Environmental equivalent of a Hawan for

Home Composting is environmental equivalent of performing a daily Yajna (Hawan/Homam) - You can chant the following Shanti Mantra while feeding your GEM daily:

Samagri: Food waste (all green waste - remember we are veggies!)
Samhita: Dry leaves (all browns)
Fuel: Water

Every environmentally concerned Earth Citizen could follow this. It will bring peace in your microcosm and help us get rid of a bit of solid waste ....

ॐ द्यौ: शान्ति रन्तरिक्षँ शान्ति:
पृथिवी शान्ति राप: शान्तिरोषधय: शान्ति: ।
वनस्पतय: शान्ति र्विश्वे देवा: शान्ति र्ब्रह्म शान्ति:
सर्वँ शान्ति: शान्तिरेव शान्ति: सा मा शान्तिरेधि ॥
ॐ शान्ति: शान्ति: शान्ति: ॥

Om dyauḥ śāntirantarikṣaṁ śāntiḥ
pṛthivī śāntirāpaḥ śāntiroṣadhayaḥ śāntiḥ
vanaspatayaḥ śāntirviśvedevāḥ śāntirbrahma śāntiḥ
sarvaṁ śāntiḥ śāntireva śāntiḥ
sā mā śāntiredhi
Om śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ

May peace radiate there in the whole sky as well as in the vast ethereal space everywhere.
May peace reign all over this earth, in water and in all herbs, trees and creepers.
May peace flow over the whole universe.
May peace be in the Supreme Being Brahman.
And may there always exist in all peace and peace alone.
Om peace, peace and peace to us and all beings!
(Translation by Swami Abhedananda, Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, India)

Reaffirm your commitment to the Mother Earth

This day -April 22, has been designated as Earth Day. What is a better way to reaffirm our commitment to the Mother Earth than to adopt the Green Hobby of 'Home Composting'? It is the best and most humble form of giving back to the Mother Earth. So do not let your organics go waste, convert them into manure and use it for nurturing saplings, plants and trees.

For more details on home composting, visit our website www.green-ensys.org.

Sincerely
Asit NEMA

  

How Can Waste Pay for Itself ?

Our policy makers are still holding on to the line that the "waste should pay for itself" ! It is amazing that after several years of no compliance of the MSW Rules and after several treatment plants having been closed for a variety of reasons, we are expecting that the treatment plants will convert the garbage into gold. The two terms/ phrases 'Waste' and 'Pay for itself' are contradictory and therefore the sentence "Waste should pay for itself' becomes an interesting oxymoron ! If it were to pay for itself, it would no longer be called 'waste', and people will not discard it at all. Unfortunately due to the poetic imagination of some, 'waste' is being termed 'resource', while the reality is that waste is some thing which has lost its purpose, use and value for its owner and therefore it has been discarded. For the rag picker and Kabariwala it may have some residual value, but there is a limit to which one can stretch this argument and decide not to build appropriate solutions comprising, among others, sanitary landfills.

Considering the growing mounds of garbage across the length and breadth of the country, it is time we realise that waste will not pay for itself, but we have to pay to get rid of it. 

Romanticizing with municipal solid waste

Recognising the potential threat to the environment and public health, the HonorableSupreme Court of India intervened and effected enactment of  Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 in the year 2000. At that point of time the Court directed 40 Class-I cities to clean up in 3 years. However in 2013, after 13 years of introducing the Rules and after having spent considerable resources in setting up solid waste treatment plants, we are no where close to the desired state. Officially we do not know how many Class-I cities are in a position to  claim compliance with the MSW Rules, 2000 and how many treatment plants are working effectively. The fact is that not a single municipality is in position to claim full compliance with the Rules and not a single treatment plant across the country is working satisfactorily. Another fact is that across the length and breadth of the country we do not have a single well designed and operating sanitary landfill site in place. Apparently a considerable investment has been made in potentially risky treatment plants but no significant efforts have been put in place to create landfill infrastructure.

It appears that we have been romanticising with the waste for far too long. Instead of recognising the threat to public health and that of the animals (please watch this gut wrenching video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SifRIYqHfcY to find out what happens to our holy cows and how the society is indifferent and apathetic to the plight of the docile and sacred animal) we have been aiming to convert our garbage into gold - 'waste to wealth' or 'waste to energy' and not realising that it does not happen on its own. We have been using these beautiful phrases like 'Waste is not a waste, but a resource at the wrong place';  'Reduce, Reuse and Recycle'; 'Source segregation'; 'Resource Recovery', etc....But we have not been able to show that by use of these polemics we have even a single city in the country which can claim to have achieved full compliance with the Rules. It appears that we are Romanticising with the Waste for far too long and using these beautiful phrases as excuses for not taking the serious measures of creating most reliable infrastructure of sanitary landfills or mass burn plants.

We must remember that "Waste is something which has lost its purpose, use and value to the owner" (Mataki 2010) and once something has reached its end of life it deserves only two measures - either a dignified cremation or a dignified burial. In the context of solid waste management dignified cremation means mass burn with state of the art emission control system and dignified burial means sanitary landfilling. Municipalities have to take the responsibility of creating and effectively operating these infrastructures at their own costs without expecting private players to give a Mida's touch and convert their garbage into gold. Waste loads are rising rapidly in line with the living standards of the urban population and it is not possible to address the challenges with these nice sounding business as usual approaches.