Chennai: The solution to the problem of municipal solid waste management begins at home— source segregation.
This was the substance of deliberations at a policy workshop and training programme on Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) organised by the Centre for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in association with the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand on Monday.
T. Sekar, Member Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) said the solution for solid waste management lay in four words— reduce, reuse, recover and recycle— a process that can reduce generation of waste at source. He said that the issue should be approached at the household, street and colony levels and called for an integrated solid waste management.
A.D. Bhide, Director Grade Scientist, formerly with the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, said a centrally sponsored scheme for infrastructure development in mega cities, including Chennai, was initiated during 1993-94 . The total cost of the project was to be shared by the Central and State Governments. It was now subsumed in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, which encouraged fast track development of identified cities.
Almitra H. Patel, Member of the Supreme Court Committee for solid waste management said that the city waste first needs to be sanitised (free of smell, flies, smoke or fires, and producing minimum leachate that can pollute ground water). This obligatory duty should be done immediately, without waiting for fancy solutions or expecting an income from waste treatment.
"In small towns, this can be done by sprinkling each day's heaps of fresh waste with a five per cent solution of fresh cow dung in water plus five kg per tonne of rock phosphate powder," she said.
The second step was to stabilise the waste that can be sold as compost after sieving to remove plastics and unwanted items. Sieving was currently the major cost in compost production and will remain so until cities improved their collection of biodegradable waste free of recyclables, debris and road dust.
Minimising waste
Finally, the solution will minimise waste at source. This could be achieved by requiring users of above-average open spaces such as golf courses, race courses and clubs, large hotels or halls, colleges, housing estates to become zero garbage campuses or alternatively to pay, polluter-pays fees for trade wastes and wastes generated in the course of their activities. In the four-day training programme, a policy workshop will be held in which 40 engineers and officers from municipalities across the country will be exposed to the latest developments in solid waste management. The outcome of this workshop will help the Government in making policies towards ensuring effective solid waste management in the State, Anna University officials said.
C. Viswanathan, Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand said that in most Asian countries, the most common practice of disposing solid waste was open dumping. This predicament made an enormous impact on the society, culture health and environment. Inadequate waste management and disposal practices combined with the tropical climatic influence results in increasing environmental problems in the Asian region, he said in a paper.
Among those who spoke were K. Jayaraman, Registrar, Anna University, R. Nagendran, Professor, Centre for Environmental Studies (CES), K. Thanasekaran, Director, CES, and Kurian Joseph, Assistant Professor, CES.
This was the substance of deliberations at a policy workshop and training programme on Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) organised by the Centre for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in association with the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand on Monday.
T. Sekar, Member Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) said the solution for solid waste management lay in four words— reduce, reuse, recover and recycle— a process that can reduce generation of waste at source. He said that the issue should be approached at the household, street and colony levels and called for an integrated solid waste management.
A.D. Bhide, Director Grade Scientist, formerly with the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, said a centrally sponsored scheme for infrastructure development in mega cities, including Chennai, was initiated during 1993-94 . The total cost of the project was to be shared by the Central and State Governments. It was now subsumed in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, which encouraged fast track development of identified cities.
Almitra H. Patel, Member of the Supreme Court Committee for solid waste management said that the city waste first needs to be sanitised (free of smell, flies, smoke or fires, and producing minimum leachate that can pollute ground water). This obligatory duty should be done immediately, without waiting for fancy solutions or expecting an income from waste treatment.
"In small towns, this can be done by sprinkling each day's heaps of fresh waste with a five per cent solution of fresh cow dung in water plus five kg per tonne of rock phosphate powder," she said.
The second step was to stabilise the waste that can be sold as compost after sieving to remove plastics and unwanted items. Sieving was currently the major cost in compost production and will remain so until cities improved their collection of biodegradable waste free of recyclables, debris and road dust.
Minimising waste
Finally, the solution will minimise waste at source. This could be achieved by requiring users of above-average open spaces such as golf courses, race courses and clubs, large hotels or halls, colleges, housing estates to become zero garbage campuses or alternatively to pay, polluter-pays fees for trade wastes and wastes generated in the course of their activities. In the four-day training programme, a policy workshop will be held in which 40 engineers and officers from municipalities across the country will be exposed to the latest developments in solid waste management. The outcome of this workshop will help the Government in making policies towards ensuring effective solid waste management in the State, Anna University officials said.
C. Viswanathan, Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand said that in most Asian countries, the most common practice of disposing solid waste was open dumping. This predicament made an enormous impact on the society, culture health and environment. Inadequate waste management and disposal practices combined with the tropical climatic influence results in increasing environmental problems in the Asian region, he said in a paper.
Among those who spoke were K. Jayaraman, Registrar, Anna University, R. Nagendran, Professor, Centre for Environmental Studies (CES), K. Thanasekaran, Director, CES, and Kurian Joseph, Assistant Professor, CES.
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