Cities at crossroads: Small town, cleaner future (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Environment
Prelims level:
Mains level: Environment conservation and degradation

Context

•  It is impossible to get residents of Indian cities to keep different types of waste separate.
•  It is also essential for municipalities to find a sustainable solution to the problem of solid waste
  management.
•  But there is some good news.
•  Small and mid-size cities and towns of India are showing the way on how to manage solid waste, (Suryapet and Karjat) simple and sustainable solutions to the problems of solid waste management.

Background

•  In 2003-2004, there was no external funding, no NGO and no resident welfare associations.
•  A single individual, S A Khadar, the commissioner of Suryapet municipal corporation, demonstrated personal leadership which made a big difference.
•  He managed all of the Suryapet’s wet and dry waste (32 tonne daily at that time) on a halfacre site within the city, earning a gross income of Rs 1 lakh per month from vermicomposting and recycling.
•  Winning the hearts of his sanitary workers wooed the residents, one mohalla or street or commercial area at a time, by organising daily meetings on morning.

Initiatives taken by municipal corporation

•  Municipal Corporation’s visible commitment to transporting segregated wastes for ease of separate processing.
•  The commissioner got banks to fund new tractor-trailers. The tractors moved punctually and dependably along lanes, stopping at every six-seven houses to collect unmixed waste.
•  The same teams swept the roads, so they had the incentive to do efficient collection without spillovers during the process of collection.
•  The tractor trailers first offloaded the wet waste which was stabilised for two weeks by stack composting composting in vertical heaps that require less space and are piled off the ground for natural air circulation, without manual turning.
•  This was fed to vermi-beds where quality vermicompost was in good demand, earning the municipality Rs 45,000 per month.
•  The tractor trailers had high wire-mesh compartments for different categories of dry waste.
•  Eight waste-pickers separated the wastes for daily sale. The sale of recyclables generated additional earnings of Rs 55,000 per month.
•  The Suryapet experience universal complaint of city officials that residents do not cooperate is often an excuse for their own lack of will, vision and action.
•  Karjat, a small town in Maharashtra with a population of close to 30,000.
•  Ramdas Kokare Within two days of joining, strictly enforced Maharashtra’s ban on plastic carry bags.
•  These are now replaced by sari-cloth bags which cost Rs 6 per bag.
•  Handcart vendors use bags made out of newspapers.
•  What is amazing doorstep waste collection, to cooperate in giving 36 kinds of waste separately on different days of the week!
•  Karjat is the first town regular weekly collection of so many separate items.
•  Kokare has motivated and trained his waste collection staff to demand and sustain such achievement.
•  The large shed at the former dump is now full of separate categories of waste regularly being purchased and removed.
•  The secret of the success of Kokare and Khadar are passion and daily personal supervision on every morning before office hours to meet, persuade and exhort citizens to cooperate.

Way forward

•  In Karjat, after initial warnings, doorstep collectors refuse to collect mixed waste and also report the person.
•  The same evening, an official comes and grills the person on where they dumped their uncollected mixed waste.
•  There are other cities with innovative approaches to solid waste management.
•  In Namakkal (population of 55,000) in Tamil Nadu, Raichur (2.3 lakh population), Warangal
  (6.15 lakh population), and Kolar (15.3 lakh population) redesigned their pushcarts.
•  Pushcarts is enable them to carry half a dozen bags on the cart so that dry waste can be sorted then and there for easy sale without the need for a sorting centre.
•  Alappuzha in Kerala was recently recognised by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) for its decentralised system of waste management.
•  The objective is clear a litter-free, bin-free and dump-free city.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) The qualifications and manner in which the Chairman and members of the Finance Commission should be selected is determined by:
(a) President
(b) Parliament
(c) NITI Aayog
(d) President in consultation with Supreme Court

Answer: B

Mains Questions:
Q.1) What is solid waste management. Briefly describe environmental impact of disposing Solid waste on land. Suggest some treatment methods.