Vasanthi Kannan resides in a Kodambakkam apartment complex with eight units. She has spent nearly three decades as a civic activist, tirelessly advocating for household waste segregation. Despite her efforts, she remains the sole resident in her building, who segregates waste, before handing it over to the sanitation workers.
In Pulianthope, a locality with 2,000 households, adherence was the issue. “The government distributed two bins to every household in 2020 and asked the residents to segregate the waste before handing it to sanitation workers. Initially, there was some compliance, but without strict enforcement, the initiative failed,” says Selavaraj M, Founder of Pulianthope Welfare Association.
Despite being educated and aware, Vasanthi’s neighbours chose not to segregate the waste, citing inconvenience or the excuse that they were discouraged to see sanitary workers mix the waste in the bins. “When the educated don’t make an effort, I would not blame the uneducated people in low-income areas for not segregating waste,” says Vasanthi.
Selvaraj states that in his locality, the majority of residents are from the working class, and the government has not adequately educated them about the severity of the issue. “Despite varying reasons, the consequences are the same.”
Where does our waste go?
Meanwhile, according to the Tamil Nadu government’s database on solid waste management (2016), it is estimated that the per capita waste generation in Chennai is around 0.7 Kg/day. This means a family of four generates around 2.8 kg/day. Of this almost 60% is wet waste and the remaining 40% is dry and reject waste. This accounts for 6,300 metric tonnes of garbage collected in Chennai in a day. When the waste is not segregated at source, it ends up piling up in landfills.
In Part 1 of a two-part series on waste management, we look into the challenges in source segregation in Chennai and ways to deal with it.
Read more: Why a waste-to-energy plant is not the answer to Chennai’s garbage problems
A little background on Chennai’s baby steps towards source segregation
To implement the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, the Greater Chennai Corporation started collecting segregated waste from households, institutions and commercial establishments in 2017. As per the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, “every waste generator shall segregate and store the waste generated by them in 3 separate streams namely bio‐degradable, non‐biodegradable and domestic hazardous wastes in suitable bins, and handover these segregated wastes to authorized waste collectors.”
According to the directions given by the GCC, the conservancy workers will collect only biodegradable wastes daily and will visit homes to collect recyclable wastes only on Wednesdays. Bulk waste generators, including gated communities, were directed to manage waste on their premises and were given two to three months to develop the facilities accordingly.
In the meantime, steps towards privatising waste collection began in 2000 in Chennai. While GCC plans to privatise waste collection in two more zones including Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and Royapuram, only three zones including Tondiarpet, Ambattur, and Anna Nagar will be under the direct control of GCC. Seven Zones (From Zone 9 to 15) have already been outsourced to Urbaser Sumeet.
However, unlike before, the GCC opted to clear the bills through the Performance-Based Cost of Delivery Model, against the normal practice of paying bills based on the quantity of waste removed. The GCC also appointed third-party advisers to monitor the work, and would also keep tabs on the various waste segregation works that have been specified in the key performance indicators.
Challenges in segregating waste at source in Chennai
Despite having a policy and monitoring system in place, Chennai has not been able to make source segregation work. Is the behavioural issue the only roadblock? Experts point out there are bigger problems.
“Many people we worked with said they have given up segregating waste at source as they have seen the sanitary workers mixing the waste in the bins,” says P Natarajan, Founder of Namma Ooru Foundation.
Here is an informative video by Nitya Krishnan, demonstrating how easy it is to segregate waste at source with the ‘two-bin-one-bag’ method. Take a look:
For source segregation to be effective, constant communication has to happen from the government side. “Running Information, Education & Communication (IEC) campaigns now and then will alone not be sufficient,” points out Vamsi Kapilavai, Senior Researcher, Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG), says.
Explaining some of the key lessons that can be taken from Indore, Vamsi says, “Indore model is a culmination of different aspects that can be studied and taken for the local context. For instance, Indore started the IEC campaign with the workers, waste collectors and service providers first, while having a constant education with the citizens. We can take these kinds of lessons from them and come up with a model for the local context.”
Indore has secured the title of the cleanest city in India for its smart waste management. The Indore model of waste management can be looked into from here.
Need to make the process transparent
Ideally, the segregated waste should be taken to the respective places for recycling or processing. “The government should streamline the existing infrastructure to make it visible for the people to see how the waste from their home is going to a micro composting centre and how it is turning into compost and if they need manure for terrace gardening, they could get it from the centre. It will provide some kind of connection for the people. Making this process transparent will motivate more people to segregate waste at the source,” Natarajan adds.
Also, 99% of the bulk waste generators are not managing their waste in-house. “They are either sending it out through a private agency or the corporation is picking it up. Nobody knows where this waste goes. The bulk waste generators should be made responsible for the waste they send out. The private agencies that pick up waste from the bulk waste generators should be brought under scrutiny. It has to be documented, audited and put out in the public domain as it is a public issue.”
Around 60% of the household waste is biodegradable. Though we do not have all the infrastructure we need, we have the micro composting centres and other such infrastructure in place. “The government should do an audit to monitor the maintenance, and quality of compost from these centres to take further measures, Vamsi suggests.
Read more: Lukewarm scores for Chennai in Swachh Survekshan 2023: How can the city improve?
Will levying fines make the people segregate waste?
Levying fines might work for commercial bulk waste generators but the fine should be in a way that will impact them rather than having a fixed amount as fine. “For instance, the government can say a share of their day’s profit will be taken as a fine amount,” says Vamsi. Adding to this, Natarajan, says that people have to be sensitised about the impact they are causing on the environment.
Suggesting ways to enforce the law strictly, Natarajan proposes the below model
The government should collect only the organic waste and sanitary waste from households every day. All other waste should be left to the residents to handle it. Those who generate it will have to handle it. The recyclable waste should be taken every week and e-waste should be collected once a month.
Unless all the stakeholders come together to make it work, source segregation would not work for a larger city like Chennai.
“The per capita waste generation was 500 grams in the year 2000 but this has increased to 700 grams now. Given this scenario, participation is essential for waste management to be successful,” says J Radhakrishnan, GCC Commissioner.
While levying fines would work for bulk waste generators, it doesn’t work the same way for the individual households. “This becomes a challenge and we have to take a multi-pronged approach. We have to mix up awareness to the point of change in behaviour,” he adds.
In Part 2 of this series, know what else Dr J Radhakrishnan says about the GCC’s role in waste management, the challenges they face on the ground, privatisation of the waste collection and the Waste to Energy plant for Chennai.