Solid Waste Management Down To Earth

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Delhi’s solid waste: a systemic

failure
Landfill sites in Delhi had exceeded their capacity way back in
2008 and most of these sites have contaminated groundwater
in and around their neighbourhood
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systemic failure
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By Swati Singh Sambyal (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/swati-singh-

sambyal-1768)
Last Updated: Friday 13 January 2017
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/waste-i-haven-t-heard-of-anything-like-that-47220)
With over thousands of crores being spent on collection and

transportation of waste, time has come to think out of the box. Credit:
Varun Shiv Kapur / Flicker
Delhi’s garbage conundrum is not new. With
garbage hills piling up and a systemic failure in NEXT NEWS ❯
the way the corporations are running,

everything has come to a standstill. A bench
headed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT)
on Tuesday (January 10)
(http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/order-
national-green-tribunal-regarding-generation-
and-management-municipal-solid-
wastes) issued a notice to the East Delhi
Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and Sanitation
Workers Union to appear before them on
Wednesday (January 11), on the account of the
recent strike by the sanitation workers and the
menace of waste piling up in the city. It also
sent a notice to the Ministry of Urban
Development and Housing, Centre and the
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), seeking a response on
the matter by January 11
national-green-tribunal-regarding-
management-wastes-municipal-solid-wastes-
hospital).
Around 20, 000 civic workers of the EDMC have
gone on an indefinite strike for the fifth time
since 2015 for non-payment of salaries. The big
question is why is this happening every year
for municipalities that are the richest in the
country?
The present situation: Burn or Dump
Over 9,500 tonnes per day (TPD) of garbage is

generated per day in the city. About 8,000 TPD
of waste is collected and transported to three
landfill sites at Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur.
Actual waste generation in the city could be
much higher, as a bulk of the waste is managed
by the informal sector. According to an
estimate, there are about 150,000 rag pickers in
Delhi. Worst, the three landfill sites are not
NEXT NEWS ❯
designed as per specifications mentioned in
the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
According to the Master Plan for Delhi, 2021,
these landfill sites had exceeded their capacity
way back in 2008. Most of these sites have
contaminated the aquifers and groundwater in
and around their neighbourhoods.
As per the latest draft manual on municipal

solid waste management prepared by the
Union Ministry of Urban Development, three
million tonnes of waste can be accommodated
on 40 ha of land (keeping in mind that the life
of a landfill is 20 years). Delhi needs 800 ha of
land, which would cost Rs 80,000 crore going
by the present circle rate!
But the city simply does not have the land.
In addition, municipalities are required to

incur recurrent operating expenses on labour
and machinery at the landfill, which comes to
about Rs 300 per tonne of waste. Expenditure
on transportation is nearly Rs 800 per tonne
(according to Tufail Ahmed, who has been
managing landfills in Delhi for almost three
decades now). According to an assessment by
the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/reviews/not-in-
my-backyard-solid-waste-mgmt-in-indian-cities-
54040), every tonne of waste disposed of at a
landfill would cost the MCD about Rs 14,500—a
sum that is highly unsustainable.
Landfills are clearly not the answer!
Technology: Centralised vs Decentralised
Waste-to-energy, as an idea, has been sold to

urban local bodies like magic bullet. Burn and
forget. But that is not happening. The
residents of Sukhdev Vihar know the plight of a
WTE plant right next to their houses. They
have not opened their windows in years. The
Okhla Waste-to-Energy plant is taking up close
NEXT NEWS ❯
to 2000 TPD of garbage. Waste for this plant is
largely collected from south Delhi: while the
South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC)
sends in 1,800 metric tonnes per day (MTD),
about 200 MTD is fed by the New Delhi
Municipal Corporation (NDMC). Five MW of
electricity can be generated by incinerating 450
tonnes of the solid waste in an hour. A total
investment of Rs 250 crore has been made in
the plant on a land of 5.6 hectares.
The tribunal has been hearing a petition filed

by the Sukhdev Vihar Residents Welfare
Association, demanding the closure of a waste-
to-energy plant, alleging that it uses illegal
mass-burning technology that causes air
pollution. However, the plant is still running
and even the green court has not asked for any
action.
As per the NGT order in 2015, states were

directed to adopt a cluster approach for waste
management. As more waste gets generated,
more land will be required in this scheme of
things. Many clusters will be required. It is
evident that the cost of transport is a key
component of waste management and farther
the site, the higher will be the transportation
cost. It is also clear that decentralised
solutions will cut costs of transport and make
households and institutions part of the
solution. But why aren’t we keen to adopt
them?
Tipping fee?
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concessionaire (private party) and the

municipality exposes the fact that segregation
of waste is limited to documents only. The
concessionaire is responsible for door-to-door
collection, but takes mixed waste from houses
as it increases the tipping fee/tonne of waste.
As per an official of the NDMC, segregation of
waste reduces the tipping fee given by the
municipality to the concessionaire. The
amount of the fee also varies widely from
municipality to municipality.
NGT’s recent judgement directs states, UTs to give
action plan for waste management
https://www.downtoeOan
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te1/6w,aastjeu-d
i-hgaevm
ene-nt-thebayrdth
-oef-anything-like-that-47220)
NGT
(http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/438543/judgement-
of-the-national-green-tribunal-regarding-
municipal-solid-waste-management-in-india-
22122016/) directed all states and Union
Territories to submit their action plan in terms
of the Rules of 2016 by January 20, 2017. The
action plan would relate to the management
and disposal of waste in the entire state. The
steps are required to be taken in a time-bound
manner. As per the judgement, the plan should
be in accordance to the principles of circular
economy. What’s obvious from the recent
judgement is that hybrid plans are needed to NEXT NEWS ❯
save the cities from drowning in their garbage.

A mix of technologies such as biomethanation,
composting, conversion to refuse-derived fuel
(RDF) and converting waste to power
generation is the only solution.
Every state and UT has been asked to

implement the SWM Rules, 2016 in all
respects. The Environment Ministry in April
2016 had revised the 16-year-old rules for solid
waste management with an aim to start more
solid waste treatment plants across the country
and set agendas for central ministries, state
governments and local bodies. Also, in
accordance to the rules, the states and UTs
were given one year for ensuring compliance of
the prepared action plans. The NGT judgement
has extended this time frame to July 1, 2017.
Any State or UT, which fails to comply with
the statutory obligations, shall be liable to be
proceeded against in accordance with Section
15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Besides that, it would also be liable to pay
environmental compensation, as may be
imposed by this tribunal.
The NGT has also directed the imposition of an
environmental compensation for open burning
of wastes. For each default, the violators shall
be liable to pay environmental compensation
of Rs 5,000 in case of simple, and Rs 25,000 in
case of bulk waste burning. The environmental
compensation shall be recovered as arrears of
land revenue by the competent authority as per
the law. The WTE plants across the country
were also directed to run on segregated waste
only.
What can Delhi do?
We need hybrid solutions. We need a landfill,

NEXT NEWS ❯
but only for rejects and inerts. We need waste
to energy, but then such plants should ensure
that they run on segregated waste only. With
over 50 per cent biodegradable waste, there is
high potential to compost or generate biogas
out of the segregated wet waste. And all this
cannot work, unless we segregate at source.
With over thousands of crores being spent on
collection and transportation, time has come
to think out of the box. We can learn from our
neighbours and cities across India that are
doing commendable work on waste
management.
Look at the Alleypey model, where residents

have taken it upon themselves to segregate and
treat waste at source. It is the best model in the
country on decentralised waste management.
We can even look at Panjim; the municipal
corporation not only ensures segregation at
source, but also segregates dry waste into 30
different categories. And then there is Mysuru,
Suryapet, Bobbili and a lot of other cities that
are doing commendable work. They have
adopted local solutions, not global to become
zero-waste cities. The CSE has documented
cities that are doing commendable work on waste
management
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/swati-
singh-sambyal-1768).
We need to take waste management in our

hands. Time has come to make it a habit. Just
like brushing our teeth. Every day!
Waste Management
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India Environment Portal Resources :

• Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding
management of wastes (municipal solid
(https://api.whatswapspt.ecso,m rdaosutse?wIahsatevse)ni’tn hNeCaTrd of anything like that
ho/sepnitda?ltheaxzt=aW
https://www.downtoearth.oDregl.hini,/1b1lo/0g1
/w/2a0s1te7/waste-i-haven-t-heard-of-anything-like-that-47220)
national-green-tribunal-regarding-management-
wastes-municipal-solid-wastes-hospital)
• Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding
generation and management of municipal solid
wastes in India, 10/01/2017
national-green-tribunal-regarding-generation-
and-management-municipal-solid-wastes)
• Judgement of the National Green Tribunal
regarding municipal solid waste management in
India, 22/12/2016
22122016/)(https://www.downtoearth.org.
• Power Generation From Municipal Solid Waste:
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Standing Committee on Energy (2015-16)
(http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/433743/power-
generation-from-municipal-solid-waste-
standing-committee-on-energy-2015-16/)
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India’s challenges in waste

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The key to efficient waste management is to ensure
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By Samar Lahiry (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/samar-lahiry-

101321)
Last Updated: Wednesday 19 September 2018
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Most recyclable waste ends up in a dump yard due to the lack of

efficient waste management (Credit: Agnimirh Basu/CSE)
Waste management rules in India are based on

the principles of "sustainable development",
"precaution" and "polluter pays". These
principles mandate municipalities and
commercial establishments to act in an
environmentally accountable and responsible
manner—restoring balance, if their actions
disrupt it. The increase in waste generation as
a by-product of economic development has led
to various subordinate legislations for
regulating the manner of disposal and dealing
with generated waste are made under the
umbrella law of Environment Protection Act,
1986 (EPA). Specific forms of waste are the
subject matter of separate rules and require
separate compliances, mostly in the nature of
authorisations, maintenance of records and
adequate disposal mechanisms.
With rapid urbanisation, the country is facing

massive waste management challenge. Over
377 million urban people live in 7,935 towns
and cities and generate 62 million tonnes of
municipal solid waste per annum. Only 43
million tonnes (MT) of the waste is collected,
11.9 MT is treated and 31 MT is dumped in
landfill sites. Solid Waste Management (SWM)
is one among the basic essential services
(https://www .downtoearth.org.
provided by municipal authorities in the
country to keep urban centres clean. However, NEXT NEWS ❯
almost all municipal authorities deposit solid

waste at a dumpyard within or outside the city
haphazardly. Experts believe that India is
following a flawed system of waste disposal
and management.
The key to efficient waste management is to

ensure proper segregation of waste at source
and to ensure that the waste goes through
different streams of recycling and resource
recovery. Then reduced final residue is then
deposited scientifically in sanitary landfills.
Sanitary landfills are the ultimate means of
disposal for unutilised municipal solid waste
from waste processing facilities and other
types of inorganic waste that cannot be reused
or recycled. Major limitation of this method is
the costly transportation of MSW to far away
landfill sites.
A report by IIT Kanpur (2006) found the

potential of recovering at least 15 per cent or
15,000 MT of waste generated every day in the
country. This, the report said, could also
provide employment opportunities to about
500,000 rag-pickers. The report added that
despite immense potential in big cities in this
area, participation from non-profits or
community is limited.
In some urban centres, people working in the

informal sector collect solid waste for each
doorstep to get a collection fee and derive
additional income from sale of recyclables. The
informal recycling industry plays a major role
in waste management. It also ensures that less
waste reaches landfills.
Iswar Ahluwalia, in an article

(http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/waste-
recycling-organic-enerygy-garbage-
management-disposal-pollution-metro-cities-
4402086/), points out that more than three-
NEXT NEWS ❯
fourth of solid waste management budget is
allotted to collection and transportation,
leaving leaves very little for processing or
resource recovery and disposal.
There has been technological advancement for

processing, treatment and disposal of solid
waste. Energy-from-waste is a crucial element
of SWM because it reduces the volume of waste
from disposal also helps in converting the
waste into renewable energy and organic
manure. Ideally, it falls in the flow chart after
segregation, collection, recycling and before
getting to the land fill. But many waste to
energy plants in India are not operating to
their full potential.
Installation of waste-to-compost and bio-

methanation plants would reduce the load of
landfill sites. The biodegradable component of
India’s solid waste is currently estimated at a
little over 50 per cent. Bio-methanation is a
solution for processing biodegradable waste
which is also remains underexploited. It is
believed that if we segregate biodegradable
waste from the rest, it could reduce the
challenges by half. E-waste components
contain toxic materials and are non-
biodegradable which present both occupational
and environmental health threats including
toxic smoke from recycling processes and
leaching from e-waste in landfill into local
water tables.
The concept of common waste treatment

facility (ENVIS Newsletter, December 2010) is
being widely promoted and accepted as it uses
waste as a resource by either using it as a co-
fuel or co-raw material in manufacturing
processes. This has led to rise of Public Private
Partnership (PPP) models in waste
management which has open doors for doing
business in waste management. NEXT NEWS ❯
Bio-medical waste (management and handling)

rules, 1998 prescribe that there should be a
Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility
(CBWTF) at every 150 kms in the country.
CBWTFs have been set up and are functioning
in cities and towns. However, establishment of
functional CBWTF throughout the country
must be ensured. Integrated common
hazardous waste management facilities
combine secured landfill facility,
solidification/stabilisation and incineration to
treat hazardous wastes generated by various
industrial units. They contribute about 97.8 per
cent of total landfill waste and 88 per cent of
total incinerable hazardous waste generated in
the country, as per an environment ministry
report.
The way forward
Around 100 cities are set to be developed as

smart cities. Civic bodies have to redraw long
term vision in solid waste management and
rework their strategies as per changing
lifestyles. They should reinvent garbage
management in cities so that we can process
waste and not landfill it (with adequate
provisioning in processing and recycling).To do
this, households and institutions must
segregate their waste at source so that it could
be managed as a resource. The Centre aims to
do away with landfill sites in 20 major cities.
There is no spare land for dumping garbage,
the existing ones are in a critical state. It is
reported that almost 80 per cent of the waste at
Delhi landfill sites could be recycled provided
civic bodies start allowing ragpickers to
segregate waste at source and recycle it.
Compost pits should be constructed in every
locality to process organic waste. Community
participation has a direct bearing on efficient NEXT NEWS ❯
waste management. Recovery of e-waste is
abysmally low, we need to encourage recycling
of e-waste on a very large scale level so that
problem of e-waste disposal is contained.
Waste Management
management)

waste)
Hazardous Waste
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Interrogating sustainable NEXT NEWS ❯
cities
The concept of sustainable cities can be a confused one when
it attempts to cater to all interests
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sustainable cities
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By Harini Nagendra (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/harini-nagendra-
99733)
Last Updated: Wednesday 19 October 2016
With rapid urbanisation, “sustainable cities”

are much in news. Globally, and in India,
planning and policy emphasise sustainable city
development, devising interventions,
indicators and metrics to track progress. Yet
what do we mean by a sustainable city? It NEXT NEWS ❯
varies greatly.
Some definitions are purely based on

environmental characteristics such as air
pollution. Others argue that sustainable cities
ought to prioritise equity, justice, and
wellbeing. Many studies focus on sustainability
within a city’s boundaries.
By this definition, a city is sustainable if it has

public transport, green cover, clean water
bodies, and has dealt with air pollution and
garbage. But such “sustainable” cities import
their food, water and energy from distant
regions, and export their wastes to create
environmental and social challenges outside,
prompting the argument that sustainable cities
need to look outwards to limit their external
impacts.
Differences in time horizons further influence

our definitions. Do we think of sustainable
cities over time horizons of decades or
spanning multiple human generations?
It may seem that the broadest possible
definitions are the best. Sustainable cities
must, therefore, incorporate environmental
and social aspects, examine sustainability
within the city, seek to minimise external
impact and evaluate short-term and long-term
outcomes. Yet, this brings a number of
challenges.
For instance, urban restoration projects are

relatively straightforward to address if one only
considers the environment. But cleaning up
and protecting lakes and parks often requires
removing encroachments. Given existing
vested interests, slums are the first to be razed
and relocated while wealthy industrial and real
estate developments are carefully ignored or
regularised, creating glaring social injustices. NEXT NEWS ❯
Planning sustainable transport via metro and

bus services is possible, but will cities agree to
minimise their external environmental and
social footprint by banning exporting of their
wastes?
Indian cities, which have tried this, have been

met with a chorus of protest from within.
Balancing the needs of the present and the
future is also a challenge. How can cities
redesign themselves to meet the as yet
unknown transportation needs of future
generations of urban residents, for instance?
The concept of sustainable cities can be a

confused one when it attempts to cater to all
interests. The UN Sustainable Development
Goal 11 on sustainable cities covers a range of
social and environmental issues from slum
upgradation and public transport to air quality
and waste management.
The scope ranges from single cities to

safeguarding “the world’s cultural and natural
heritage”, and looks at inclusivity and justice
for the elderly and for children. But this broad
canvas of issues listed without prioritisation
aims at making conciliatory noises aimed at
satisfying all stakeholders in form, without real
progress in content.
In India, we have even lesser consensus on

what the concept of sustainability means for
our cities. These problems of definition are not
scientific problems which demand expert
definition. They represent societal challenges,
requiring sustained conversation and
contestation about norms and values. For this,
we need public debate across a variety of
platforms and audiences.
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• Over 100 cities pledge to make food systems
sustainable in urban areas
(https://api.wha(thsttappsp:/./cwowmw/.sdeonwdn?toteexatr=thW.oargs.tien?/nIehwasv/uenn-’ftohoeda- rd of anything like that
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/b og/waste/wasot-efi-gi-hhta-hvuenng-etr-h-aenadr-d-of-anything-like-that-47220)
a g e n c y -w e l c o mes -p l e d g e -t
improve-nutrition-51500)
• Kolkata among world's most flood-prone coastal
cities: study
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/kolkata-
among-worlds-most-floodprone-coastal-cities-study-
38959)
• Three Indian cities among this year’s Earth Hour
challenge finalists
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/three-indian-
cities-among-this-year-s-earth-hour-challenge-
finalists-48467)
• Rankings of cleanest Indian cities released; Modi’s
Varanasi misses Top 10
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/rankings-of-
cleanest-indian-cities-released-modi-s-varanasi-
(http s://www.downtoearth.org.
misses-top-10-52828)
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No more N-I-M-B-Y
Our excessive reliance on 'others' to manage 'our' waste has
let the situation go out of hand
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https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/no-more-n-i-m-b-y-
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By Apula Singh (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/apula-singh-98457)
https://www.Ldasot w
Upndtao
tee
d:aFrritdha.yo0r9gS.eipnte/m
bbloerg2/0w
16aste/waste-i-haven-t-heard-of-anything-like-that-47220)
Garbage bins outside a residential block in Vasant Vihar, Delhi

(Photo: Apula Singh)
This article was co-authored by Viral Shah.
The first two months of this year, for Delhiites, NEXT NEWS ❯
were marked by filth and household waste

lying around their houses and on streets for
many days during strikes by the municipal
corporations’ safai karamcharis or sanitation
workers. Our excessive reliance on “others” to
manage “our” waste let the situation go out of
hand. This could have been averted if
communities had been managing their own
waste in a decentralised manner. Thus, we as
citizens must stop the Not in My Backyard
(NIMBY) approach to the waste that we
generate.
According to Delhi government’s Department

of Environment, Delhi generates 8,360 tonnes
of municipal solid waste on a daily basis. This
is managed by five local governments—East
Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi
Municipal Corporation, North Delhi Municipal
Corporation, Cantonment Board and New
Delhi Municipal Council—which dump waste at
three landfill sites in Bhalswa, Okhla and
Ghazipur. One might have even seen these
huge mountains of garbage while travelling out
of Delhi. These landfills have run out of their
capacity since long but continue to be
operational due to unavailability of land for
new landfills. Processing and treatment of
waste is an essential service that must be
provided by the local authorities. But in reality,
at most places the waste is just collected only
to be deposited at another place with minimal
or no treatment.
It is estimated
(http://ijss.publicationsupport.com/docs/paper/Volume-1/issue_1/IJSS-
104.pdf) that the per capita generation of
municipal solid waste in Delhi is 500 grams per
day and over 50 per cent of this waste is bio-
degradable or recyclable. However, the type of
waste largely varies across the city according to
people’s lifestyle and income level. Thus, for NEXT NEWS ❯
efficient solid waste management (SWM), the

composition of waste must be determined at
the level of treatment.
The principal problem of waste management is

that there’s not enough money for it as it’s not
considered a priority. Hence, to deal with
waste, we need to bring down the costs, use
new innovative technologies, or raise revenues
from user fees, taxes, selling of recycled items
and so on. Ideally, we need to do it all. A
majority of the cost component includes
collection and transportation. And this can be
brought down by decentralised SWM and
efficient implementation of modern logistical
solutions.
Why decentralised SWM?
Solid waste management has been believed to

be the responsibility of solely the municipal
governments. However, decentralised SWM
involves a paradigm shift from this perception
and system of SWM, and puts the onus on the
generator of the waste by beginning waste
management at the source. This would reduce
the quantity of waste generated at source by
involving the community in waste segregation
and processing by adopting practices of
recycling, composting, bio-gas generation,
among others. The Solid Waste Management
Rules, 2016, released by the Union Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change are a
step in this direction.
This will reduce the cost incurred in collection,

transportation and processing of waste. Also,
less waste will reach the landfill because in
most cities as much as 50 per cent of the waste
is fit for composting and about 30 per cent for
recycling. Effective segregation at source, in
transit and during disposal, will mean only 20
per cent of the refuse is needed to be sent to NEXT NEWS ❯
the landfill.
Importantly, informal workers like rag-pickers

and recyclers would get integrated into the
system. Pune Municipal Corporation’s
initiative to integrate the rag-pickers in SWM
process through an organisation named
SWaCH has proved to be a success in effective
SWM. Similarly, the work done by SEWA in
Ahmedabad to integrate female rag-pickers in
the mainstream has shown great results and
has been appreciated by the World Bank.
How to achieve decentralised SWM?
The focus of a decentralised SWM initiative

should be on the segregation of waste at source
by institutionalising this throughout the waste
management chain from collection to disposal
and by promoting behavioural change. The
NIMBY approach must be completely wiped
out by incentivising segregation at source,
systematic awareness programmes, involving
the youth and making waste management a
matter of pride rather than just another task.
Related Stories
• CSE releases first-of-a-kind study
on waste management in India
https://www.downtoearth(h.ottrpgs.:i/n//wbwlowg.d/w
owansttoee/awrtahs.oterg-i.-ihna
/nveewns-t/-chseea- rd-of-anything-like-that-47220)
releases-first-of-a-kind-study-on-
waste-management-in-india-
54836)
Related Blogs
• Garbage is about recycling
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/garbage-
is-about-recycling-54116)
NEXT NEWS ❯
There is tremendous potential in group
housing societies to reduce the burden on civic
agencies by segregating waste at household
level. The organic waste, which is in majority,
can be composted at site or if feasible, there
can be a common composting site for a few
housing societies. The manure produced can
either be used for gardens in the housing
societies or for public parks. Manure can even
be sold to earn some revenue for sustaining the
system.
Involving rag-pickers and recyclers of the

neighbourhood in processing waste would help
both the society and rag-pickers. The rag-
pickers can collect and sell the recyclables.
This too reduces the waste headed to the
landfill and prevents rag-pickers from having
to rummage through the waste.
Success stories
It’s encouraging to know that there are

communities that have undertaken such
initiatives. In Delhi, Resident Welfare
Associations (RWAs) have been key players in
decentralised SWM. A Defence Colony RWA
has been composting the colony’s household
and park waste in simple dug pits in a park for
many years now. The municipal corporation
supported construction of the pits and the
operational costs are met through user fees,
sale of recyclables and manure (a detailed case
study can be found here
(http://toxicslink.org/docs/munispalwaste/06215_report_decentralised_swm%5b1%5d
A Vasant Vihar RWA had also started
composting in a park, but a visit in August
showed that the composting has been stopped
due to some residents’ concerns over foul
smell. Thus, the entire community must be
mobilised from the planning stage itself and
each household must have a stake through
source segregation. Only when every citizen NEXT NEWS ❯
takes ownership of waste management will we
actually achieve a Swachh Bharat.
Apula Singh is a research associate at Vision

India Foundation. She has a Masters in Urban
Policy and Governance from TISS
Mumbai. Viral Shah is an Ahmedabad-based
civil engineer who works on innovative solid
waste management practices.
Waste Management
management)

waste)
Sanitation Workers
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/sanitation-workers)
waste segregation
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/waste-segregation)
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/swachh-bharat-
abhiyan)
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Garbage is about recycling

It is time we accepted that each household is a waste
generator
(https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=Garbage is about
recycling https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/garbage-is-
about-recycling-54116)
NEXT NEWS ❯
By Sunita Narain (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/sunita-narain-3)

Last Updated: Wednesday 08 June 2016
Last

fortnight, I discussed the need to reinvent

garbage management in our cities so that we
can process waste and not “landfill” it. This, as
I wrote, required households and institutions
to segregate their waste at source so that it
NEXT NEWS ❯
could be managed as a resource. It also means
that we need to limit how much is dumped by
imposing a tax on landfill. I want to follow up
on this idea this fortnight.
First, this reinvention means we need to

incorporate and not negate the role of the
recycling industry in waste management.
Currently, it is said (data is weak however) that
recycling of dry waste provides employment to
about 1-2 per cent of a city’s population, often
the poorest women and children. In large
cities, there are two-three tiers of waste
buyers, all very well organised and specialised
in specific wastes. What is not recognised is
that this trade, happening in the backyards of
slums and shoved aside by policy, is the only
thing saving cities from drowning in waste. It is
also this trade which ensures that less waste
reaches landfills.
There is a great need for official support to this

unappreciated activity that saves at least 10-15
per cent in transportation costs daily to the
city, adding up to millions of rupees a year.
Over the years, civil society groups working
with informal waste collectors have worked on
several policies to promote this
business—starting a dialogue to find out the
needs of this sector, issuing ID badges to waste
pickers who desire them (through NGOs or
police, to prevent harassment), providing them
with sorting and storage space, and doorstep
pickup service for post-sorting rejects to be
taken away from slum houses or waste buyers’
yards, so that these do not end up clogging the
storm drains.
New ventures are also emerging to remove the
stigma attached to the garbage sorting
business. In the capital, ventures like Raddi NEXT NEWS ❯
Express and Raddi Bazaar, and in Mumbai
Raddiwala have all made paper collection an
easy and profitable business.
At the macro level, it is worth mapping, within

the state or even nationally, the location of
major recyclers of specific wastes and
encouraging the filling of gaps. Policies are
needed to help this waste-reducing and
partially pollution-abating industry to become
legitimate, through designated recycling eco-
parks, concessional power rates and low or no
sales taxes. Currently, city master plans do not
even allocate space for this business. It is
considered illegal, dirty and something that
must go away. This is what has to change.
The Kerala government has found that the only

way it can manage its dry waste is by activating
its informal recycling industry. The state
government’s Suchitwa Mission for a garbage-
free Kerala has collated information on this
industry and put the data, including the rate
paid for different categories of waste, on its
official website. Now households can use this
service. It has also started a company to
manage its plastic waste and to work with
recyclers.
Secondly, we also need to accept that waste

management costs. But currently
municipalities hardly charge for this service.
The assumption is that the cost of waste
management is included in property tax. But as
property tax is rarely computed for this service
and in most cities rarely charged, the real cost
of waste management is never realised. This is
why municipalities struggle to pay for this
service.
Matters are made worse because municipal NEXT NEWS ❯
accounts are a mess. Most urban local bodies
do not even maintain annual accounts. This
lack of finances for basic municipal services is
compounded by the fact that citizens do pay
for waste management—but not to the
municipal body. In most cities, residents,
particularly the affluent waste-generating
ones, have engaged private agencies to
undertake door-to-door collection. The
household pays for this service. But the agency
then takes the waste and invariably dumps it in
the municipal secondary collection station.
The transportation and processing of the waste
is then left to the already depleted finances of
the local body.
It is also clear that households must be made

to pay for the amount of waste they generate
and penalised if the waste is not segregated. It
is time we accepted that each household and
commercial establishment is a waste generator
and so a potential polluter. The principle of
polluter pays must be applied. Otherwise our
cities will become giant garbage fields.
But the real game-changer in garbage
management is NIMBY or not-in-my-backyard.
Poor and rural communities are beginning to
object to the waste being dumped in their
backyard. They, like us, do not want to live
near a landfill or a waste incinerator that
pollutes the environment. Now that their
backyard is not available, in whose front yard
will waste be disposed of? If it is ours, then we
will need to keep it clean. Won’t we?
Waste Management
management)
waste)
NEXT NEWS ❯
Waste Recycling
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/waste-recycling)
Garbage (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/garbage)
Informal Sector
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/informal-sector)
Rag Pickers (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/rag-

pickers)
Plastics (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/plastics)
Municipal / …
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/municipal-
household-waste)
Municipal Corporations
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/municipal-
corporations)
Waste Disposal
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/waste-disposal)
Kerala (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/kerala)
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• Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016

(http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/reports-
documents/solid-waste-management-rules-
2016)
regarding setting up of a waste landfill site,
village Top, District Kolhapur, Maharashtra,
07/07/2015
(http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/judgement- NEXT NEWS ❯
national-green-tribunal-regarding-setting-waste-
landfill-site-village-top-district)
regarding closure of the landfill site located
near Achan wetland, Srinagar, 13/01/2015
(http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/judgement-
national-green-tribunal-regarding-closure-
landfill-site-located-near-achan-wetland)
• Status report on municipal solid waste
management
documents/status-report-municipal-solid-
waste-management)
• The economics of the informal sector in solid
waste management
documents/economics-informal-sector-solid-
waste-management)
• Waste-to-energy or waste-of energy?: social and
economic impact assessment of waste-to-
energy projects in wastepickers near Ghazipur
and Okhla landfills in Delhi
documents/waste-energy-or-waste-energy-
social-and-economic-impact-assessment-
waste-energy)
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How to reinvent the sanitation

wheel
The city “shit-flow” diagram shows that the situation is grim
as all cities either do not treat or safely dispose the bulk of the
human excreta
(https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=How to reinvent the

sanitation wheel
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/how-to-reinvent-the-
sanitation-wheel-53507)
EWS ❯
NEXT NEWS ❯
By Sunita Narain (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/sunita-narain-3)

Last Updated: Monday 18 April 2016
Swachh
Bharat
Mission,
the
government’s much-needed flagship

programme, is not just about building toilets.
It is about building toilets that people can use,
NEXT NEWS ❯
and most importantly, are linked to the waste
disposal and treatment systems. This much is
clear. But how will this be done? This is still a
million dollar question. The reason is that we
do not even know where our waste comes from
and where it goes.
My colleagues studied the excreta sums of

different cities. The city “shit-flow” diagram
shows that the situation is grim as all cities
either do not treat or safely dispose the bulk of
the human excreta. This is because we often
confuse toilets with sanitation. But the fact is
that toilets are mere receptacles to receive
waste; when we flush or pour water, the waste
flows into a piped drain, which could be either
connected, or not, to a sewage treatment plant
(STP). This STP could be working, or not. In
this case, the faecal sludge— human excreta—
could be conveyed, but not safely disposed as
it would be discharged into the nearest river,
lake or a drain. All this will pollute.
In most cities, this connection from the flush
to the STP does not exist. According to Census
2011, the flush water of some 30 per cent of
urban India is connected to a piped sewer. But
our survey found that in most cases, these
underground drains have either lost their
connections—they need repair—or are not
connected to STPs.
There is another route for excreta to flow. The

household flush or pour latrine could be
connected to a septic tank, which, if it is well
constructed, will retain the sludge and
discharge the liquid through a soak pit. The
faecal sludge would still need to be emptied
and conveyed for treatment. But in most cases,
our survey found the septic tank is not built to NEXT NEWS ❯
any specifications—it is a “box” to contain
excreta—and it is either connected to a drain or
emptied out. This is where the drama of faecal
sludge begins.
Who collects it? How is it transported, and

most importantly, where does it go? Nobody
knows. There is a focus on sanitation—
providing toilets—and, a focus on pollution—
building STPs. But the fact is that the bulk of
Indian households with access to sanitation are
connected to septic tanks—40 per cent of
urban India, according to the Census, 2011. It
is also a fact that as underground sewerage is
unavailable, people, including large builders,
have no options to provide containment of
human excreta on-site. They build septic tanks
and call for help to remove the faecal sludge
and take it somewhere else. Our estimate is
that every day we generate roughly 1.75
million tonnes of this “waste”—even more
than the estimated solid waste generated in the
country.
This is the sewage collector’s tanker
business—in almost all cities, it is private,
thriving and underground. The economics are
simple: tankers with pipes suck and empty the
sewage for a fee that ranges between Rs 800
and Rs 1,200 per visit. The faecal sludge is then
emptied into the nearest drain, river, lake,
even a field or forest. I see this every day on
the road outside our office in Delhi. The
tankers are ubiquitous—you will not even
notice them. But watch carefully, and you will
see a pipe extended from the tanker emptying
into the municipal stormwater drain, right
outside a major hospital. This drain will make
its way to the river. It is no wonder that
cleaning our rivers remains a farfetched dream.
NEXT NEWS ❯
But this is not all bad news. The fact is that
septic tanks are decentralised waste collection
systems. Instead of thinking of building an
underground sewerage network—that is never
built or never completed—it would be best to
think of these systems as the future of urban
sanitation. After all, we have gone to mobile
telephony, without the landline. Individual
septic tanks could be the way to achieve full
sanitation solutions. This demands three
changes. One, governments recognise that
these systems exist, and what is needed is to
incorporate them in future sanitation plans.
Two, they provide oversight to the building of
these systems— the codes exist, but they need
to be implemented and structures certified.
Three, they provide minimal regulation for the
collection and transportation faecal sludge
business so that waste is taken for treatment,
and not dumped somewhere.
And most critically, city governments must

work out the treatment system for faecal
sludge. This is where the real rub lies. The fact
is that this sludge is nutrient rich. Today, the
global nitrogen cycle is being destroyed
because we take human excreta, which is rich
in nutrients and dispose it in water. In this
case, we can return the human excreta back to
land, use it as fertiliser and reverse the
sanitation cycle. The faecal sludge, after
treatment, can be given to farmers and used as
organic compost. Or, it can be treated and
mixed with other organic waste—like kitchen
waste—and used for biogas, or to manufacture
fuel pellets or ethanol. The technologies exist.
But for all this to happen, the nation must

know: where do its flushed excreta go? Ask and
find out.
NEXT NEWS ❯
Human Excreta
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/human-excreta)
Faecal sludge
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/faecal-sludge)
Swachh Bharat Mission

(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/swachh-bharat-
mission)
Toilets (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/toilets)
Sanitation
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/sanitation)
Sewage Treatment …
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/sewage-treatment-
plants-stp)
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Related Stories
• Swachh Bharat Mission misses out on sludge
management
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/swachh-
bharat-mission-misses-out-on-sludge-management-
48327)
• Faecal sludge management gets world attention
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/faecal-sludge-
management-gets-world-attention-48293)
(https://www.d owntoearth.org.
• Swachh Bharat cess: A few states may not agree on it
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/swachh-
bharat-cess-a-few-states-may-not-agree-on-it-51314) NEXT NEWS ❯
• New mobile app under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to

collect data on use of toilets
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/new-mobile-
app-under-swachh-bharat-abhiyan-to-collect-data-on-
use-of-toilets-47351)
• Why excreta matters? Sunita Narain answers
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/why-excreta-
matters-sunita-narain-answers-37852)
• Swachhta Status Report 2016

documents/swachhta-status-report-2016)
• Financing sanitation for the poor: household
level financing to address the sanitation gap in
India
(http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/reports-
documents/financing-sanitation-poor-
household-level-financing-address-sanitation-
gap-india)
• Anil Agarwal Dialogue: Excreta Does Matter
documents/anil-agarwal-dialogue-excreta-does-
matter)
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How Sweden got out of the
garbage dumps
Less than one per cent of garbage goes to landfill; energy
from waste powers public transport, heats homes
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of the garbage dumps
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/how-sweden-got-out-
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tps://w w.dow oearth rg.

NEXT NEWS ❯
NEXT NEWS ❯
By Emmanuel D’Silva (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/emmanuel-

dsilva-82720)
Last Updated: Wednesday 28 October 2015
Most mornings Anita Pettersson drives her

Volkswagen Passat from her home in the
countryside to her office 22 kilometres away.
Pettersson is a senior lecturer in waste
recovery at the University of Borås. Her car is
fuelled by biogas derived from municipal solid
waste.
Borås, with a population of 66,273 in 2010, was

a textile town for over a century, she says.
Until the 1970s, it was very polluted. The river
ran red or blue depending on the chemical dyes
used in the textile mills (numbering 243 at its
peak in 1944). Coal dust settled on roads and
trees. The air was not healthy to breathe and
the water not safe to drink. The municipal
leaders realised they needed to do something.
In 1991, Borås became the first municipality in
Sweden to prepare a waste management plan.
Today, a mere 0.06 per cent of waste goes to a NEXT NEWS ❯
landfill. Of the rest, 27 per cent is recycled; 30

per cent is converted into gas for buses, trucks
or cars; and 43 per cent incinerated to produce
energy for heating homes. The tap water is fit
to be drunk and the river is safe to swim in.
“Borås is not unique,” says Weine Wiqvist,

CEO of Avfall Sverige, the Swedish Waste
Management Association, with 400 members
representing municipalities, companies, and
others. “There are many Borås all over
Sweden,” he adds, and mentions Trollhättan
and Falun as among the trend setters in waste
management.
Sweden, a country of nine million people,

generates 4.5 million tonnes of municipal
waste a year; of this 2.4 million is combusted
for heat and electricity and 0.6 million is
treated biologically to produce biogas for
vehicles and fertilizer for agriculture. The
balance one-third is recycled. Barely 0.6 per
cent of the waste goes to a landfill.
In contrast, there are no accurate figures of

how much waste is produced in India; one
estimate is that 188,500 tonnes came from 366
towns and cities in 2011. Municipalities merely
collect garbage and haul it to a nearby
(https ://ww w.downtoearth.org.

dumpsite with hardly any treatment. A few
cities like Pune compost some of the organic
NEXT NEWS ❯
waste. Whatever is recycled (estimate for
Mumbai stands at 25 per cent) is through the
unplanned efforts of thousands of invisible
scavengers.
What is remarkable about Sweden is that

incineration of waste has not led to a public
outcry. “The debate on incineration is settled
in Sweden,” says Wiqvist. Incineration—also
called waste-to-energy—is a secondary
objective. Recycling is the primary goal. In fact,
Sweden has increased the recycling target from
the present 33 per cent to 50 per cent, beyond
which it is regarded not cost-effective.
Incineration of waste is hugely controversial in

India. A few incineration projects that started
near Delhi or Vijaywada have either not
functioned well or have closed down. Mumbai
has sought proposals for three waste-to-energy
plants to process 3,000 tonnes of waste. Civic
officials say there has been good response from
private companies, but the project has not
made much headway. One of the concerns is
that lax controls by the regulatory authority
will result in the spewing of dioxins and other
toxic pollutants.
“I can understand these concerns,” says
Mohammad Taherzadeh, professor of
bioprocess technology at University of Borås.
“If there is a lot of food waste and the
temperature inside the incinerator is lower
than 800 degrees Celsius, there is a serious risk
of dioxins and other toxic gases being
produced.” Wiqvist says for incineration to be
successful, it should be accompanied by strong
recycling efforts. The two should go together.
Incineration should not be the primary goal of
any waste management system.
Sweden recently made news by announcing
NEXT NEWS ❯
plans to import 1.5 million tonnes of waste
from the United Kingdom, Norway and other
European countries under strict controls. It
seems Sweden’s 4.5 million tonnes of waste is
not enough for its super-efficient waste-to-
energy plants.
I visited one such waste-to-energy plant in

Malmö, a city of 318,000 people in southern
Sweden. The Sysay plant, owned by the local
municipality, incinerated 553,500 tonnes of
waste (25 per cent of it imported) in 2014 to
produce 1.4 Twh of heat sufficient for 100,000
homes and 255 gigawatt-hours of
electricity equal to the power of 50 wind mills.
The plant’s advanced flue gas cleaning ensures
that emissions are below European Union
norms and also lower than those of most coal-
fired power plants.
The key lesson from Sweden is that recycling

should be the main basis for waste
management in which local people participate.
What cannot be recycled, composted, or
converted into biogas could be considered for
incineration with strict controls. Blindly
opposing incineration does not make sense.
The alternative of letting waste rot in dumps
and of untreated leachate polluting
groundwater is not a good option. India can
meet 15 per cent to 20 per cent of its energy
needs from its municipal waste through
incineration or gasification.
The writer was in Borås, Sweden, before

writing this blog. He can be reached
at ehdsilva@yahoo.com
Waste Management
management)
NEXT NEWS ❯
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WASTE
New e-waste draft rules NEXT NEWS ❯
promise a broader scope

The 2015 rules boast of clarity and lay down the
responsibilities of various stakeholders in clear terms
(https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=New e-waste draft

rules promise a broader scope
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/new-e-waste-draft-
rules-promise-a-broader-scope-49513)
NEXT NEWS ❯
By Sadia Sohail (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/sadia-sohail-1604)
Last Updated: Wednesday 08 July 2015
(https://api.Twhheat2s0
ap
1p5.crule/ssbenoda?stteoxtf=cWlaarsittey? aI nhadvleany’tdhoew
om arn
d of anything like that
https://www.downtoetahrethr.eosrgp.oinn/sbilb
ogil/iw
tiaessteo/fwvaasrtieo-u
i-hsasvteank-e
t-h
heoald
rde-rosf-iannything-like-that-47220)
clear terms
The draft of e-waste rules, 2015, has broadened NEXT NEWS ❯
the scope of the existing one by including

several major provisions. Earlier, there were
several deterrents in the rules for stakeholders
which prevented their proper implementation.
The new draft rules now boast of clarity and lay

down the responsibilities of various
stakeholders in clear terms.
However, it still neglects a few major areas in

e-waste management where immediate
attention of regulators and stakeholders is
required.
New additions made
Some new stakeholders have been added to the

new draft rules. Refurbishers, dealers and
producer-responsibility organisations (PROs)
are some of the inclusions made in 2015.
Refurbishers are those who repair used
electrical and electronics equipment. In India,
a majority of electronic items is reused by
people after repairing them or by handing
them down to family members, friends and
acquaintances.
Refurbishing usually generates a sizeable

quantity of e-waste as a result of repair and
assemblage of parts. The draft rules now
require refurbishers to channelise the e-waste
to a collection centre or to a dismantling or
recycling facility.
Then there are individual dealers or firms,

which buy or receive electric and electronic
items from producers for bulk sale, wholesale
and retail.
According to the new rules, dealers have been NEXT NEWS ❯
mandated to collect e-wastes in a box or a bin
or else they can demarcate a deposit area.
The inclusion of PROs is another welcome

initiative in the draft rules. They are
professional organisations authorised
collectively by producers, but sometimes they
also act independently or on a public-private
partnership basis. PROs can take the
responsibility of a group of producers for
collection and channelisation of e-waste
generated from the ‘end of life’ of their
products.
The concept works well in developed countries

where a number of organisations come
together to implement take back of e-waste
financed by producers.
India being a vast country, setting up a
collection mechanism is a huge challenge. If
any of the brands try individually to reach out
to all parts of the country, it will not be
economically sustainable.
Another new feature that the draft rules have
incorporated is the Deposit Refund Scheme.
Under this, a portion of the sale price shall be
retained by the producers and be refundable to
consumers once the end-of-life products are
channelised according to the prescribed
methods.
Authorisation and registration simplified
The existing rules mandated producers,

dismantlers, recyclers and collection centres to
seek authorisation from State Pollution
Control Boards (SPCBs) or Pollution Control
Committees (PCCs).
However, getting the authorisation and NEXT NEWS ❯
registration complete with other necessary
documentation was proving to be difficult for
new entrants.
The new rules have simplified the formalities

regarding authorisation and registration. It
now asks producers to seek authorisation for
carrying out Extended Producer Responsibility
(EPR) from SPCB in case they are
implementing it in a particular state or the
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in case
of a pan-India implementation.
Roles of producers, manufacturers demarcated
Rules have also categorised producers and

manufacturers differently for ease of
understanding. According to the draft rules,
producers are manufacturers selling electrical
and electronic equipment (EEE) under their
own brands. They can also assemble EEE by
other manufacturers or import them for sale in
India.
Manufacturers are those persons, entities or
organisations registered under the Companies
Act, 2013 or Factory Act, 1948 who have
facilities to manufacture EEE.
It was a point of contention that where and

who the producers will approach to for
authorisation if they manufacture in one state
and sell it in another.
The new draft rules make it clear by assigning

two different definitions for two different
activities. The producers, which also include
companies who import EEE for sale in India,
will now have to seek authorisation for
implementing EPR.
NEXT NEWS ❯
This authorisation can be taken from SPCBs if
their sale is limited to one state, but for pan-
India they will have to seek authorisation from
CPCB. EEE manufactures will have to seek
authorisation from the SPCB of the particular
state where they intend to manufacture their
items.
The draft rules have exempted collection

centres from seeking any kind of authorisation
and registration. It is a good initiative by the
environment ministry and will allow more
organisations and individuals to enter the
e-waste management field.
It has also been made clear that collection

centres do not require authorisation since they
do not engage in any activity that can harm the
environment.
Refurbishers and dealers are required to attain

one-time registration from SPCBs, file annual
returns and maintain records of e-wastes
handled. One-time registration will ease the
task of SPCBs and encourage more dealers and
refurbishers to be a part of the legal chain
which will make the assessment of e-waste
easy.
EPR explained in new rules
EPR, which is a requirement to be fulfilled by

the producers, was not clarified in the existing
rules.
The draft rules have laid down how producers

would go about implementing EPR. The
producer of e-waste will now have to seek
authorisation for carrying out EPR and seek
(https://www.d owntoearth.org.
authorisation from SPCB or CPCB and submit
state-specific plans. The state-specific EPR NEXT NEWS ❯
plans by the producers will be screened by
CPCB.
Note on hazardous substances
Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS)

mandated by the existing rules was to be
complied by the producers of EEE within a
period of two years since the rules were
notified in 2011.
The provision came into effect on May 2013,

but still majority of electronics are non-
compliant. The existing rules stipulated
concentrations of hazardous substances to be
reduced from the EEE but there was no
provision to ensure how the producers will
implement this and who will monitor the
equipment post reduction of hazardous
substances.
The new draft rules have covered this point. It

says that CPCB will conduct random sampling
of EEE placed in the market to monitor and
verify the compliance with RoHS.

What still needs to be addressed?
More than 90 per cent of e-waste generated in

the country is handled by the informal sector,
yet the rules are silent on this issue. It is
essential that any long-term policy on e-waste
integrates the informal sector by including
them in the mainstream.
The draft rules do cover almost all

stakeholders. All of them have been assigned
specific roles and will contribute towards their
implementation. However, with limited
human, financial and technical capacity of
SPCBs and CPCB, it will remain a challenge to NEXT NEWS ❯
monitor so many players.
Penalty remains the same
Penalty and punishment for non-compliance

are in accordance with section 15 and 16 of the
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 which says
that whoever fails to comply with the rules will
be punishable with imprisonment for a term
which may extend to 5 years or with fine which
may extend to Rs 1 lakh.
The penal provisions are the same as the

existing rules of 2011. Stringent penal
provisions are a must which can deter erring
parties from violating rules.
Overall, the draft rules have incorporated new

additions which will help in better
management of e-waste in the country. The
scope of the rules has now become wider and
the CPCB and SPCBs will need greater
manpower and technical capacity for
monitoring compliance with the rules.
State Pollution …
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/state-pollution-
(https://api.whatsapp.com/sendco?ntteroxlt-b=oW
arads)
ste? I haven’t heard of anything like that
producer-…
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responsibility-organizations)
Pollution Control …
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committees)
Hazardous substances
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Extended Producer …
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responsibility)
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e-waste rules NEXT NEWS ❯

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E-waste (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/e-waste)
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scheme)
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WASTE
E-waste disposal: what India

can learn from Norway
Majority of brands operating in India do not have a tangible
responsibility to handle waste that is generated by their goods
at end of life stage
(https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=E-waste disposal:
what India can learn from Norway
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/e-waste-disposal-
what-india-can-learn-from-norway-48398)
EWS ❯
NEXT NEWS ❯
By Sadia Sohail (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/sadia-sohail-1604)

Majority of brands operating in India do not

have a tangible responsibility to handle waste
that is generated by their goods at end of life
stage
The Central Zone bench (Bhopal) of National

Green Tribunal (NGT) recently ordered all
producers and manufactures of electrical and
electronic equipment (EEE) in Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan to set up
collection centres and take back systems for
discarded electronic goods. The bench came
down heavily on producers and manufacturers
for failing to implement extended producer
responsibility (EPR), under E-waste rules 2011.
There is only one e-waste collection centre in

the whole of Madhya Pradesh. The situation is
no different for most of the states of the
country.
EPR is the most defining provision in the

e-waste regulation of our country. According
to EPR, manufacturers are responsible for the
post-consumer waste of their respective EEE
products. The e-waste rules were notified in NEXT NEWS ❯
2011 and came into effect in 2012. It has been
three years since the rules were notified and
two years since they came into force but only a
handful of companies have come forward to
manage the end of life cycle of the products
that have been put by them in the market.
Where did we go wrong?
Majority of the brands operating in India do

not have a tangible EPR in place for taking
back or managing their end of life EEE. A
recent study by non profit Toxics Link found
out that despite having a take back system in
place, it does not function for most brands. The
producers/manufacturers do not have adequate
information on their website, customer care
representatives do not have inkling about any
take back or recycling programme and even if
they have set up collection centres, they are
simply not enough for a geographically vast
country like India. “India being a vast country,
setting up collection mechanism is a big
challenge. If any of the brands try individually
to reach out to all corners of the country, it will
economically not be sustainable or feasible,”
says Priti Mahesh, senior programme
coordinator, Toxics Link. Another major
question in e-waste management in India is
how to include thousands of producers and
importers under the ambit of regulation.
Take back of e-waste in Norway
India can take a cue from Norway which has

e-waste take back system in place for more
than a decade now. When the e-waste rules
were introduced in Norway, the country faced
similar questions. The authorities were finding
it extremely difficult to enforce and follow up
so many entities producing and importing NEXT NEWS ❯
electronics in the country. The deliberations
conceptualised the idea of EPR which
culminated in e-waste regulation.
The Ministry of Environment in Norway signed
an agreement to set up take back companies
with the producers and importers of electronic
waste as early as 1998. It was a voluntary
agreement and was later followed by an
e-waste regulation in 1999. Like the rules in
India, management of e-waste in Norway is
also a producer responsibility and producers
are defined as Norwegian manufacturers and
importers of EEE.
“EPR implementation in Norway mandates the

domestic producers and importers to finance
the e-waste collection and treatment systems.
The financing can happen individually or
collectively,” says Silje Johanssen, an advisor
with Section for Waste and Biocides, NEXT NEWS ❯
Norwegian Environment Agency (NEA). Silje
explains that producers/importers of e-waste
in Norway are obliged to be members of a take-
back company and have to pay a fee for their
membership to the take-back companies. This
is how it provides the funding for collection
and treatment of the waste. The price for
membership differs according to product type.
Currently, there are five approved take back
companies in Norway with 5000 member
producers/importers.”
The process, however, is not a simple one.

Before starting off, the take back companies in
Norway need to get an approval from the NEA.
The approval process includes a verification of
nearly about 50 criterions besides third party
having to certify them. The process includes
providing a plan detailing how they will collect
e-waste and treat it in an environmentally
sound way.
They also need to ensure that they will collect

all e-waste from their market share which is
determined by how much of electronics is put
into the market by their members. The take
back companies report back to Waste Electrical
and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) register and
also finance WEEE register. WEEE register,
however is, managed by the government and
maintains all records regarding e-waste in the
country.
In contrast, India does not have any data on

the electronics being manufactured and
imported in the country. There is no national
registry taking account of the producers
operating in the country and the amount of
EEE introduced by them in the market.
How the regulation improved management of NEXT NEWS ❯
e-waste in Norway?
Since 1999, when reporting on the collection of

e-waste was initiated in Norway, the collection
rate has risen continuously. More than 143,790
tonnes of e-waste was collected in Norway in
2012. In 2013, the collection increased to
146,018 tonnes.
“According
to reports
from the
take back
companies,
the material
recovery
rate of
collected
e-waste was
an astounding 82 per cent in 2012, and the
energy recovery (waste to energy) rate was
about 13 per cent. In Oslo, around 25 per cent
of the district heating comes from waste
incineration. Only about 5 per cent of e-waste
was reported to be land-filled in 2012,” tells
Silje.
Huge amount of recycling and recovery of
e-waste in Norway has only been possible due
to the presence of efficient take back system
and the collective interest of the producers to
comply with the legislations. In a stark
contrast, the formal collection mechanisms in
India are able to capture only five per cent of
the end of life EEE and a huge chunk lands in
the informal sector putting a question mark on
the recycling and recovery of e-waste. In the
absence of stringent regulatory framework
producers are having a free ride. It is also true
that it is difficult for individual producers to
fulfill all the parameters prescribed in the NEXT NEWS ❯
legislation, but they can do it at ease as a
collective organisation. Priti agrees that a
Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs)
which could comprise of producers/industries
that work together to comply with the rules,
enforce EPR and take back or an independent
company taking charge of collection in the
lines of Norwegian system will work in India.
The process, however, needs to be tweaked
according to Indian requirements.
NGT has given a deadline of May 26, 2015 to

three states (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
and Rajasthan) to comply with the order. It is
now to be seen how the stakeholders who
turned a blind eye to the rules, conform to this
order.
PROs (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/pros)
Producer …
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/producer-
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(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/norway-e-waste)
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WASTE
Waste? I haven’t heard of

anything like that
Waste is but an imaginary concept; a discarded shoe or a
toothbrush is waste only as long as you think it as such
By Satwik Mudgal (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/satwik-mudgal-

2331)
Waste is but an imaginary concept; a discarded
shoe or a toothbrush is waste only as long as
you think it as such
NEXT NEWS ❯
What is waste? According to the Oxford
dictionary, waste is anything that has been
discarded as no longer useful or required. True!
But wait a minute. Let us relook at the
definition—“discarded as no longer useful”
would mean that the resource has lost its value
to you, not to the person next to you. After all,
everything in this universe is made up of the
basic 109 elements of the periodic table, or the
five elements referred in the Hindu scriptures.
But what makes it useful or waste is the way
mankind blends these essential elements
together. Thus, whatever you are calling waste
today has some or the other of those elements
which, if recovered, would no longer be called
waste.
Like many other inventions of the mankind—

“waste” is also one of them, perhaps one of the
most stupid ones because there is nothing that is
waste. The human race doesn’t consume
everything that it produces. Most of it finds a
place in the dumping sites instead of being
reduced, re-used, recycled or recovered.
The Indian society is quite foolish in this
sense. We waste even things that can be very
easily returned to nature. The most common
example would be organic waste. It is waste
only because – who bothers to make compost
out of it? The attitude prevails – just leave it
aside, or better dump it on the waste-hills of
your city and call it waste for another 30-40
years until you make a fancy rock garden over
it. But the poor resource shall always be called
a waste! "If you judge a fish by its ability to
climb a tree, it shall live its whole life assuming
that it is a waste," said Albert Einstein.
The way we are using our resources and then
(h ttps://www.downtoearth.org.
discarding them as waste and mining for more
resources doesn’t lead us anywhere! Anyway, NEXT NEWS ❯
we are not going to leave any resource for the
next generations to mine. But yes, as
responsible ancestors, we are going to leave
them treasures that we today call waste-hills
and future mining companies would be seen
mining these resource-hills for finished
products!
I
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wish the word “waste” could be deleted from

every dictionary and replaced with “resource”.
In that case, you “are going to tell the
‘resource’ collector to pick up your ‘resource’
everyday”. At least you would start thinking
that there is something in your “resource”
which is why it is being called “resource” by all.
If at all, some of you may still want to crib
about the dirty cities we have, you’ll have to
tell your friends – “See, my city is full of
‘resource’. It smells and it’s shit! I so want to
move out!”
But one would ask – why is it a resource and

not waste? Consider a pair of shoe. You use the
shoe for about a year or two and either throw it
in the bin or, if you are a little generous, you
would repair it and give it to your watchman or
the driver. But irrespective of your generosity – NEXT NEWS ❯
you would find it worn by someone else
around. Never seen that! Start being more
observant please. Finally, when your
watchman, too, throws it, the rag-picker who
would pick it and take it to his station (usually
a shanty place near a city-drain) where he
would segregate it. He will pull the
polyurethane sole out of it (remember when
you were buying it and the showroom guy told
you that your shoe has a PU sole, comfortable
and light weight?), which would be sent to an
informal PU recycling unit and finally turned
into a slipper which would follow the same
recycling until the end of times perhaps. Then
come the laces, which would be sent to a
shoddy yarn unit. If you discard a shoe in
Delhi, you can find its laces in Panipat, which
has the largest number of shoddy yarn units in
the world. Shoddy yarn units convert rags into
riches; or to be more precise rags into threads
which are then turned into almost anything
you may want, ranging from blankets to bed-
sheets, to foot mats to even clothes. The metal
clasps on your shoes would go to a metal
recycler in Mayapuri and the leather on the top
would go to the tannery for re-use in some
other bag or wallet or a belt. So what is left of
your shoes now? Nothing! So the question is –
was it really waste like you thought of it to be?
The same happens to your toothbrush, to your
pens, to wire, to almost all that you call waste.
Vedic endorsement
So, waste is but an imaginary concept and

nothing but the creation of the same race that
we all belong to. To be true, nature has no
concept of waste; it uses everything in some
form or the other. And to your surprise,
whatever I am blabbering here has already
been documented very nicely in Sanskrit, our NEXT NEWS ❯
Vedic language.
Ã“Ã±Ã Ã“Ã±Â«Ã“Ã±Ã©Ã“Ã±Ã±Ã“Ã‘Ã¬Ã“Ã±â
–‘Ã“Ã±Â«Ã“Ã±Ã²Ã“Ã‘Ã¬Ã“Ã±Ã€Ã“Ã±â
–‘Ã“Ã±Ã©Ã“Ã±Â¿Ã“Ã±Â¥Ã“Ã±Â©Ã“Ã‘Ã¬Ã“Ã±Ã±Ã“Ã±â”
Ã“Ã±Â¿Ã“Ã±Â¥Ã“Ã±Â©Ã“Ã‘Ã¬Ã“Ã±Ã±Ã“Ã±â”Ã“Ã±Â«Ã“Ã‘Ã©Ã“Ã±â
–“Ã“Ã±Â«Ã“Ã±Â¿Ã“Ã‘Ã®Ã“Ã±Ã€Ã“Ã±ÂºÃ“Ã±Â«Ã“Ã‘Ã¬Ã“Ã‘Ã±
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Ã“Ã±Â¬Ã“Ã‘Ã¼Ã“Ã±â
–‘Ã“Ã‘Ã¼Ã“Ã±Ã€Ã“Ã‘Ã¯Ã“Ã±Â¿Ã“Ã±Â¥Ã“Ã±Â©Ã“Ã‘Ã¬Ã“Ã±Ã±Ã“Ã±â”
Ã“Ã±Â»Ã“Ã‘Ã¯Ã“Ã±Â£Ã“Ã±Ã²Ã“Ã±Â©Ã“Ã‘Ã¬Ã“Ã±Ã±Ã“Ã±Ã±Ã“Ã‘Ã¬Ã“Ã±â
–‘ Ã“Ã±ÂªÃ“Ã‘Ã¼Ã“Ã±â–‘Ã“Ã‘Ã¬Ã“Ã±â
–“Ã“Ã±Â¡Ã“Ã±Ã¢Ã“Ã‘Ã‘
Amantram aksharam naasthi, Naasthi moolam

anaushadham
Ayogyah purusho naasthi, Yojakah thathre
durlabhah
It means: there is no letter of the alphabet of

the language that is not used in a mantra, no
root or plant that has not got medicinal
properties, no person who is totally useless,
but what is scarce is, of course, the right
management, that could put these to proper
use. Thus, what is lacking in today’s scenario,
too, is efficient management of the so-called
waste.
In any case, the person or the body I am is also

an amalgamation of the elements in this
universe which took a particular shape on the
day of my birth and I came to be known as a
human being. I will also be waste once I die,
but the elements go back to Mother Nature
then. Thus, in a way, I too am a resource for
Mother Nature and shall remain in this
universe for another millions of years to come,
but only in some other form. May be just dust,
or ash, or some rich manure under the roots of
a shady tree! It’s very same with anything that NEXT NEWS ❯
we call “waste” today. It only loses its value
temporarily or just changes form and we start
calling it “waste”! But I think, we really need to
edit our dictionaries and before we pick up the
broom to clean our cities, we need to clean our
minds.
Satwik Mudgal works as Senior Research

Associate in the Industry and Environment
unit of Delhi non-profit Centre for Science and
Environment.
He is currently assessing the status of
municipal solid waste management in India-
rules & regulations, policy structure, best
practices, and roles of different stakeholders to
suggest a way forward
Waste as resource
(https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/waste-as-resource)
Down to earth
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cities)
(https://api.whIandtsiaa(phtptp.cs:o//m/swe.dnodw?ntteoxeat=rthW.oargs.tine/?taIgh/iandviea)n’t heard of anything like that

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Solid Waste Management Down To Earth

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Delhi’s solid waste: a systemic

(https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=Delhi’s solid waste: a

By Swati Singh Sambyal (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/swati-singh-

With over thousands of crores being spent on collection and

the way the corporations are running,

The present situation: Burn or Dump

Over 9,500 tonnes per day (TPD) of garbage is

As per the latest draft manual on municipal

But the city simply does not have the land.

In addition, municipalities are required to

Landfills are clearly not the answer!

Technology: Centralised vs Decentralised

Waste-to-energy, as an idea, has been sold to

The tribunal has been hearing a petition filed

As per the NGT order in 2015, states were

concessionaire (private party) and the

save the cities from drowning in their garbage.

Every state and UT has been asked to

We need hybrid solutions. We need a landfill,

Look at the Alleypey model, where residents

We need to take waste management in our

Solid Waste (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/solid-

Centre for Science …

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India Environment Portal Resources :

India’s challenges in waste

By Samar Lahiry (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/samar-lahiry-

Most recyclable waste ends up in a dump yard due to the lack of

Waste management rules in India are based on

With rapid urbanisation, the country is facing

almost all municipal authorities deposit solid

The key to efficient waste management is to

A report by IIT Kanpur (2006) found the

In some urban centres, people working in the

Iswar Ahluwalia, in an article

There has been technological advancement for

Installation of waste-to-compost and bio-

The concept of common waste treatment

Bio-medical waste (management and handling)

The way forward

Around 100 cities are set to be developed as

Solid Waste (https://www.downtoearth.org.in/tag/solid-

Municipal Solid Waste

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India Environment Portal Resources :

• Judgement of the National Green Tribunal

Interrogating sustainable NEXT NEWS ❯

With rapid urbanisation, “sustainable cities”

Some definitions are purely based on

By this definition, a city is sustainable if it has

Differences in time horizons further influence

For instance, urban restoration projects are

Planning sustainable transport via metro and

Indian cities, which have tried this, have been

The concept of sustainable cities can be a

The scope ranges from single cities to

In India, we have even lesser consensus on

(https://ww w.d owntoearth.org.

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(https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=No more N-I-M-B-Y

(https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=Waste? I haven’t heard of anything like that

Garbage bins outside a residential block in Vasant Vihar, Delhi

were marked by filth and household waste

According to Delhi government’s Department

efficient solid waste management (SWM), the