Waste Management

“One life-form turns into another. Recycling is like that,”  says Ramnikbhai Satra, a scrap dealer, as he compares inanimate objects taking on another form to the cycle of death and rebirth. Even as he speaks to me, he keeps an eye on one of his workers weighing newspapers and flattened cartons, answers a customer who wants to know the price of some plastic objects kept in a tray next to which there is a box of glass jars of all shapes and sizes. “Individuals sell this stuff to me. Then it is picked up for recycling by different people— a…

You go to a pathologist to run some tests. Your blood is drawn out with a syringe, pressed down with a piece of cotton, and a tape is stuck on it. The needle, the syringe, and the cotton are biomedical waste and need special handling for its disposal. In the second part of our series on solid waste management in Mumbai, we look at specialised waste—waste generated in restaurants, e-waste and biomedical waste. Previously, in the first part we looked at how household waste is disposed and explored various agencies of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that handle waste. Waste…

I take a delivery of vegetables, remove the vegetables from the plastic bag, and the plastic wrapping. The bag and the wrapping go into the bin, followed a while later with the peels and discarded bits of vegetables. The bin seems forever ready to take in whatever I throw into it: medicine wrappers, sanitary waste, paper, old batteries and so on.  While researching for this series of articles I realised both the quantum and variety of things that we, a household of four, end up throwing in the bin every day, and quite thoughtlessly so. The results: one full bin…

Are you aware of the nuances of the waste cycle of everyday items you discard, like a tissue or a soft drink bottle? Would you want to know more about this complex network of collection, sorting, and the final disposal at a recycling centre or landfill? Have you wanted to address the broken system of are our urban waste management processes? Would you like to innovate for better waste management?  Join our online workshop to gain an in-depth understanding of the journey of waste and innovate solutions to tackle the complexities of waste management. Goal of the learning session: To…

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) implemented the Solid Waste Management Rules in 2016. The following year, it passed directions for bulk waste generators (including apartment complexes and gated communities) in Chennai to process their waste inside their premises. "Seven years down the line, very few bulk waste generators in Chennai are following the norms," points out P Natarajan, Founder of Namma Ooru Foundation in our earlier article. KGEYES Homes in Chennai's Besant Nagar is a 25-year-old residential complex with 36 dwelling units. Similar to many other apartment complexes in the neighbourhood, residents here did not adhere to the waste management…

Chennai generates as much as 6,300 metric tonnes of garbage every day. Of this, 60% of the waste is biodegradable — which means that if we segregate the waste properly at source this 60% could be prevented from going to the landfills and eventually turning into legacy waste. Like any other metro city, Chennai also faces many challenges in the management of solid waste. The first part of this series delved into the challenges that Chennai faces in segregating waste at source. In the second part, Dr J Radhakrishnan, Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner, talks to Citizen Matters about various issues…

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…

27-year-old Salma was a  waste picker at the Ghazipur landfill before she came to Gulmeher, a social enterprise established in 2013 that aims to provide an alternative livelihood to women waste pickers in that area. They train these women to create eco-friendly products using discarded flowers, fabric waste and recycled paper. Till date, Gulmeher has already re-used around 15 tons of discarded flowers and more than two tons of fabric waste.  Salma, donning a red dupatta, smiles as she meticulously picks broken flower petals with a brush, pasting it on a diary before her. It has taken her long to…

In 2012, Delhi inaugurated its first waste-to-energy (WTE) plant, marking the commencement of electricity generation at the Jindal group-owned Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company. Despite several petitions being filed against it in courts, the plant, located in the midst of densely populated residential colonies in Okhla, continues to operate amidst much controversy. One of these colonies is South Delhi’s Haji Colony. In the latter’s backyard, the WTE plant is brazenly expanding at the expense of the well being of thousands of people, who have been living in that area for years.  Robbed of the comforts of home The plant is merely…

Taking morning walks and evening strolls on the beach shore near the Arupadai Veedu Murugan temple in Kalakshetra Colony, Besant Nagar used to be an enjoyable experience. But, it is not so anymore. In the last two years, this stretch of the seashore has gradually deteriorated because of open defection, indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste and construction debris, and other illegal activities. This has not just made the beach filthy, but also unsafe. Residents living nearby (Besant Nagar, Ward 179) have stopped frequenting this stretch, owing to a lack of patrolling. However, the situation worsened about six months ago, when…