source segregation

In 2019, the Indore Municipal Corporation became the first Indian city to clear around 15 lakh tonnes of historic waste at landfills using a process called bioremediation. With overflowing landfills and the difficulty of finding new waste disposal sites, Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across the country now look at the Indore project as an example worth emulating to clear out waste dumps at landfills. Cities like Bijapur, Davanagere, Doddaballapur, and most recently, Hassan and Gokak have already invited Expressions of Interest or tenders for conducting bioremediation. While this may result in reclaiming some land from waste disposal sites, several challenges…

In today’s fast-moving world, convenience is leading to consumerism. The convenience of getting things delivered to our doorstep and the abundance of choice has turned us into impulsive buyers. What we fail to realize is that every order placed, every return initiated, every dish cooked, every fruit eaten is generating some waste. In cities, due to higher population density and higher spending power, the quantum of waste generation is also high. Therefore, decentralization of waste management is something which makes the entire exercise easier and more sustainable for cities.  But what is decentralised waste management? It refers to a system…

Today, as the entire world is fighting the war against COVID-19, one debate has constantly risen. How will the developing world shape up over this period? One thing has clearly emerged as our cities and systems fight this pandemic: we need better sanitation services – both solid and liquid waste management as much as we need effective health care systems. By 2050, two thirds of us will live in cities. However, our urban centres are grappling with the effects of our current take-make-waste economy. Under this linear system, cities consume over 75 per cent of natural resources, produce over 50…

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister of India, Dharmendra Pradhan has an ambitious new solution to tackle the problem of solid waste in India. Earlier this year in October, Pradhan announced his massive plan to set up 5000 biogas plants across the country over the next five years that will convert agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste into usable biogas. This biogas will then be compressed and distributed as a replacement for vehicular fuel CNG. Will it make your city any cleaner, then? India generates 62 million tonnes of waste every year. As citizens it may be hard to…