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Dec 5, 2012

Discussion on Waste Management Options in India

A request for help I posted on a LinkedIn group led to a lively discussion between waste management experts on waste management options for India. Read more about the discussion here. http://wtert.blogspot.com/2012/12/discussion-on-solutions-to-waste.html .

The request for help was for a new report I am about to publish, called "Observations from India's Crisis". It will be published in a PDF format on wtert.org and as a BLOG POST on blog.wtert.org.

An Analogy from the above discussion on LinkedIn, which is worth mentioning:

Professor Nickolas Themelis on Waste Management Options (He was the Adviser for my research on Sustainable Solid Waste Management in India that resulted in this blog) :

The situation with waste management is somewhat like that with public health: Good diet and exercise, vitamins, preventive medicine, all contribute to better health and less sickness. Despite all that, there will be some sick people who need to go to hospitals. It is obvious that advocating against hospitals or opposing new ones will not improve public health. 
It is the same situation with urban waste management: There all kinds of means for reduction, recycling, composting but ALL human experience has shown that at the end there remains a substantial fraction that has to go to either "incinerators with energy recovery or to sanitary landfills. Environmental organizations who oppose these two means on principle, in effect are perpetuating traditional landfilling. Regrettably, the Sierra Club is spending a lot of donated money doing just that.
Link to the entire discussion is here.
Link to the original article is here.

10 comments:

  1. The awareness is surely increasing on SWM - especially in cities like Bangalore where civic society is very active.

    We have quite a few apartment complexes and local reseident welfare associations taking lead to manage thier own waste (Visit http://blog.apnacomplex.com/2012/12/01/slides-from-waste-management-in-apartments-awareness-and-best-practices-sessions to see how some communities are practicing SWM and spreading the awareness) - though there is a long way to go - the initial steps have been taken.

    Hopefully, we would not need the landfills of size of Mumbai+Chennai+Hyderabad to manage Municipal Waste of India!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Priyanka,

      We will need so much land only if we continue with our business-as-usual scenario, dumping more than 90% of our waste. Looks like public awareness coupled with technological solutions will reduce requirement of land.

      Thank you for sharing the link. You should find it shared on WTERT's facebook page. It is a good example of community participation and will be included in my future presentations on the topic. Thank you again for your participation here and in your community.

      All the best

      Delete
  2. Environmental organizations United Nations agency oppose these 2 suggests that on principle, in impact area unit perpetuating ancient landfilling.

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  3. Very informative article...Keep posting more article ..

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Glossary

CH4 Methane
CO2
Carbon Dioxide
GOI
Government of India
INR Indian Rupee
JnNURM Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission
LFG Landfill Gas
MBT
Mechanical Biological Treatment
MSW Municipal Solid Waste
NEERI National Environmental Engineering Research Institute
RDF
Refuse Derived Fuel
SLF Sanitary Landfill
SWM Solid Waste Management
USD United States Dollar
WPs Waste Pickers
WTE Waste-to-Energy
WTERT Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council