something i wrote when mandur said metoo.
Recently, there was a terrible stink from the outskirts of the garden city Bangalore. Everybody wondered where it was coming from. The authorities who sent truckloads of garbage to this dumpyard called Mandur, the companies who were supposed to process the garbage in a green manner, and the generators of waste (all of us), threw our hands up in surprise. This is the nature of surprises. They creep up on you. And if you believe in any of the following mantras, all you can do is embrace the surprise.
⁃ Ignorance is bliss.
⁃ Sweeping things under the carpet and hoping they will lie there.
⁃ Siphoning money (In this case, at least you would have made some money)
However, if the surprise is pretty unpleasant, and kills the environment and people and stops making money, you can always try other games such as the blame-game and catch-me-if-you-can. If you have not qualified for any of these national-level games, you can still apply for the state-level debate competitions.
This is one case-study, and a recent one, but from a holistic point of view it is the story of the 'solid' waste management in our country.
What happened in Bangalore.
Many things did, but when a scam this large and shameful comes out in the open, we need to look at the issue threadbare. A city generates waste of several kinds -- household waste is the biggest component of Bangalore's waste – and this waste has to be managed by several bodies. Bangalore's 3000 tonnes per day is being (mis)managed in a private-public partnership model. Which means the municipal body BBMP along with a few private companies are converting the waste into energy (read money). Before you wash your hands off the whole affair, consider this: We propose that it is not only the systemic approach to waste, but even the law-abiding citizen's approach, call it our approach to disposing waste can be explained in one term – taking a dump.
Now before the advent of other sanitation options, what was our approach to taking a dump? Find an open place where nobody lives, and go for it. Our approach towards solid waste management follows pretty much the same model. Unfortunately, the amount of waste generated by the city is growing at a rate that matches the rate the open-spaces-where-nobody-lives are disappearing, so it is time to rethink this model.
It has been time years ago.
Take a look at this map of Bangalore.
The areas in red are places that were dumping grounds and had to be shut down, and the ones in green are the ones still active.
Bangalore Map:
A CAG report says that when Anjanapura, Cheemasandra, Mavallipura and Subbarayanapalya filled up, leading to dumping of mixed waste in the available sites at Doddaballapur, Lakshmipura, Mandur and S. Bingipura. (Have copy of BBMP map)
Yes if garbage is generated, it has to be disposed of. But the taking-a-dump approach towards waste disposal has to change. Let us see who all needs to get potty-trained and how that can be done.
At number three:
The super-pseudo-clean: Because blaming the authorities is a done-to-death theme and because it is the era of introspection and self-help, let us start with the self. Why does garbage become a problem only when it is actually threatening to blow up in our faces? Because, we do not mind garbage as long as it is out of sight. Let us face it, we cried hoarse about the community bins, and jumped with joy when the door-to-door collection was announced in 2012, only because that would ensure that the waste that we generate would be taken away from outside our homes.
Door-to-door collection was directed exactly at the pseudo-clean in you and me. Let the sweepers and the cleaners take away our waste to someplace far away, where it is only the sweepers or the cleaners who will have to stay live too.
According to a study on carbon footprint of Bangalore in 2012, 78% of us refused to segregate our waste as it was of course too icky for us, and 85% of the city's population had no idea where the waste was being transported to.
Not saying that one has to track the garbage and keep an eye on it, of course if it goes out in the morning, we need not have to worry about it, but face the truth: It is not being taken care of.
BOX
“Studies have indicated that for every Indian Rs 1000 increase in income the solid waste generation increases by one kilogram per month”
– Visvanathan et al., (2003)
The garbage that you generate is probably being dumped at a spot in the outskirts of your city that as of now is lying vacant, but when the villagers are driven away and the lakes dry up will become a real-estate hotspot for which you will invest and pay EMI almost half your life.
So years later, don't be surprised if an unexplained smell lingers on.
What can we do?
Here is where the two approaches to garbage management come into play. One way is the centralised approach, where one or two bodies take care of the collection, segregation, storage and disposal of garbage. This will ensure we only have to generate the waste and leave it to the 'experts'. As it has been proven that experts are not easy to come by, we might have to shift to the decentralised approach. This means we have to play a role in waste generation and segregation stage of waste management.
Do we prefer a centralised waste management system: where waste is managed by one or two entities
Do we prefer a decentralised waste management Where community participation is a must?
At number two
Private and limited: When the Rs 80-crore “waste-to-energy” power project was set up at Mandur village in Bangalore in 2011, it was touted as a green project worthy of subsidies worth Rs 5 crore from the Union Ministry of Renewable Energy. Three years later, the project had to be shut down as it raised a stink that couldn't really get converted to energy. Apparently the owner of Srinivasa Gayithri Resources Recovery Ltd
is on the run. So there goes the second P this public-private-partnership model. And with the government body placing the blame on the private body and vice-versa the third P too has fallen apart. The principles of a private company indicate that it has to make some money out of the whole venture. So why do they get into the waste business anyway?
⁃ A BBMP paper on waste management says that annually Rs 250 crore is being spent on solid waste management in Bangalore. And the collection and transportation processes constitute about 80–95% of the total waste management budget.
⁃ Stages at which the private companies can make money and how it is a vicious cycle.
⁃ Graphic: (when BBMP asks for tenders for transportation of garbage and disposal of garbage – it pays a processing fee per Metric tonne. --- a tipping fee per metric tonne – garbage accumulates at disposal site – BBMP issues tenders for companies to take on cleaning work.)
⁃ Some of the companies are have a hand in the real-estate pie too, and it is their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm that they put into waste management. So they are the ones that 'squat' on BBMP land, making it and land around it unliveable, when people are forced to move out, the landfill is filled up and the place becomes a residential plot.
⁃ Bidding and competition makes companies quote very low prices for their waste management projects.
And at number one
The most thick-skinned: When the stink reaches high heaven, even the most thick-skinned amongst us have to cover our noses. Officials visiting dumpyards for the first time in their lives, because it has become a national issue, are often seen cringing and hurrying away after a quick pose for the media. And this is after the quick clean-up (in the case of Mandur, Rs 45 lakh was spent on this) to make it ready for the official visit. Research on waste management is minimal, most corporators have no idea or intention of tackling the issue at root. For eg: In Bangalore, though the waste has a high content of moisture and the preferred way of processing it would be anaerobic composting, what is being done mostly is windrow-based aerobic composting. It just means that even the most basic methods are not being implemented in the right way.
⁃ Ignorance is bliss.
⁃ Sweeping things under the carpet and hoping they will lie there.
⁃ Siphoning money (In this case, at least you would have made some money)
However, if the surprise is pretty unpleasant, and kills the environment and people and stops making money, you can always try other games such as the blame-game and catch-me-if-you-can. If you have not qualified for any of these national-level games, you can still apply for the state-level debate competitions.
This is one case-study, and a recent one, but from a holistic point of view it is the story of the 'solid' waste management in our country.
What happened in Bangalore.
Many things did, but when a scam this large and shameful comes out in the open, we need to look at the issue threadbare. A city generates waste of several kinds -- household waste is the biggest component of Bangalore's waste – and this waste has to be managed by several bodies. Bangalore's 3000 tonnes per day is being (mis)managed in a private-public partnership model. Which means the municipal body BBMP along with a few private companies are converting the waste into energy (read money). Before you wash your hands off the whole affair, consider this: We propose that it is not only the systemic approach to waste, but even the law-abiding citizen's approach, call it our approach to disposing waste can be explained in one term – taking a dump.
Now before the advent of other sanitation options, what was our approach to taking a dump? Find an open place where nobody lives, and go for it. Our approach towards solid waste management follows pretty much the same model. Unfortunately, the amount of waste generated by the city is growing at a rate that matches the rate the open-spaces-where-nobody-lives are disappearing, so it is time to rethink this model.
It has been time years ago.
Take a look at this map of Bangalore.
The areas in red are places that were dumping grounds and had to be shut down, and the ones in green are the ones still active.
Bangalore Map:
A CAG report says that when Anjanapura, Cheemasandra, Mavallipura and Subbarayanapalya filled up, leading to dumping of mixed waste in the available sites at Doddaballapur, Lakshmipura, Mandur and S. Bingipura. (Have copy of BBMP map)
Yes if garbage is generated, it has to be disposed of. But the taking-a-dump approach towards waste disposal has to change. Let us see who all needs to get potty-trained and how that can be done.
At number three:
The super-pseudo-clean: Because blaming the authorities is a done-to-death theme and because it is the era of introspection and self-help, let us start with the self. Why does garbage become a problem only when it is actually threatening to blow up in our faces? Because, we do not mind garbage as long as it is out of sight. Let us face it, we cried hoarse about the community bins, and jumped with joy when the door-to-door collection was announced in 2012, only because that would ensure that the waste that we generate would be taken away from outside our homes.
Door-to-door collection was directed exactly at the pseudo-clean in you and me. Let the sweepers and the cleaners take away our waste to someplace far away, where it is only the sweepers or the cleaners who will have to stay live too.
According to a study on carbon footprint of Bangalore in 2012, 78% of us refused to segregate our waste as it was of course too icky for us, and 85% of the city's population had no idea where the waste was being transported to.
Not saying that one has to track the garbage and keep an eye on it, of course if it goes out in the morning, we need not have to worry about it, but face the truth: It is not being taken care of.
BOX
“Studies have indicated that for every Indian Rs 1000 increase in income the solid waste generation increases by one kilogram per month”
– Visvanathan et al., (2003)
The garbage that you generate is probably being dumped at a spot in the outskirts of your city that as of now is lying vacant, but when the villagers are driven away and the lakes dry up will become a real-estate hotspot for which you will invest and pay EMI almost half your life.
So years later, don't be surprised if an unexplained smell lingers on.
What can we do?
Here is where the two approaches to garbage management come into play. One way is the centralised approach, where one or two bodies take care of the collection, segregation, storage and disposal of garbage. This will ensure we only have to generate the waste and leave it to the 'experts'. As it has been proven that experts are not easy to come by, we might have to shift to the decentralised approach. This means we have to play a role in waste generation and segregation stage of waste management.
Do we prefer a centralised waste management system: where waste is managed by one or two entities
Do we prefer a decentralised waste management Where community participation is a must?
At number two
Private and limited: When the Rs 80-crore “waste-to-energy” power project was set up at Mandur village in Bangalore in 2011, it was touted as a green project worthy of subsidies worth Rs 5 crore from the Union Ministry of Renewable Energy. Three years later, the project had to be shut down as it raised a stink that couldn't really get converted to energy. Apparently the owner of Srinivasa Gayithri Resources Recovery Ltd
is on the run. So there goes the second P this public-private-partnership model. And with the government body placing the blame on the private body and vice-versa the third P too has fallen apart. The principles of a private company indicate that it has to make some money out of the whole venture. So why do they get into the waste business anyway?
⁃ A BBMP paper on waste management says that annually Rs 250 crore is being spent on solid waste management in Bangalore. And the collection and transportation processes constitute about 80–95% of the total waste management budget.
⁃ Stages at which the private companies can make money and how it is a vicious cycle.
⁃ Graphic: (when BBMP asks for tenders for transportation of garbage and disposal of garbage – it pays a processing fee per Metric tonne. --- a tipping fee per metric tonne – garbage accumulates at disposal site – BBMP issues tenders for companies to take on cleaning work.)
⁃ Some of the companies are have a hand in the real-estate pie too, and it is their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm that they put into waste management. So they are the ones that 'squat' on BBMP land, making it and land around it unliveable, when people are forced to move out, the landfill is filled up and the place becomes a residential plot.
⁃ Bidding and competition makes companies quote very low prices for their waste management projects.
And at number one
The most thick-skinned: When the stink reaches high heaven, even the most thick-skinned amongst us have to cover our noses. Officials visiting dumpyards for the first time in their lives, because it has become a national issue, are often seen cringing and hurrying away after a quick pose for the media. And this is after the quick clean-up (in the case of Mandur, Rs 45 lakh was spent on this) to make it ready for the official visit. Research on waste management is minimal, most corporators have no idea or intention of tackling the issue at root. For eg: In Bangalore, though the waste has a high content of moisture and the preferred way of processing it would be anaerobic composting, what is being done mostly is windrow-based aerobic composting. It just means that even the most basic methods are not being implemented in the right way.
posted by seena at 10:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home