With Swachch Bharat Abhiyan the catch phrase of the day, officials across cities are scrutinising waste management systems. Chennai generates approximately 5,000 metric tonnes of waste per day. A survey conducted in Ward 173 by Transparent Chennai (TC) revealed that 74 per cent of the waste generated by households and small commercial establishments is organic and 12 per cent inorganic. The survey also found that 17 per cent of the total waste generated is recyclable with a proper waste management system. Vijay Senthil Kumar, a researcher at TC, says, “Chennai used effective and sustainable waste management in the early 90s but today only some pockets such as Harrington Road, MRC Nagar, Keshavaperumalpuram, and Boat Club use segregation and door-to-door collection.”
Sadly, the city lags way behind in sustainable waste management. Shobha Menon, founder and managing trustee, Nizhal, says, “When we begin to make changes in our lifestyle and surroundings, we can reduce the mountain of garbage we generate. Sensitive strategies tried and tested in other Indian cities can be implemented here.” Vijay adds, “It’s high time the Corporation enforced strict rules on residents and commercial institutions for waste management. It should take a tough stand against commercial institutions that dump garbage at Corporation dumpsites without a fee. This will force them to take greater responsibility.” And possibly encourage recycling.
The dump yards at Perungudi and Kodungaiyur are reaching their maximum capacity and will reportedly overflow by next year. Officials plan to close them down and start a new landfill on the outskirts of the city.
However, say experts, the long-term solution lies in creating integrated and decentralised solid waste management models. Systems need to be put in place to manage different kinds of waste. Says Vijay, “Dumping into a landfill cannot be the final solution. We have proposed a decentralised zero waste management model to the Corporation in which we have stressed on mandatory source segregation, comprehensive door-to-door collection, and establishment of resource recovery parks at the ward level. Community participation and monitoring are central to the model.”
M. B. Nirmal, founder, ExNoRa International, says that we lost almost 90 per cent of the marshland at Pallikaranai, Perungudi and Kodungaiyur due to indiscriminate garbage dumping. He says: “Waste is not waste until it is wasted. If we follow this mantra, waste will be converted into wealth. Three levels of waste management systems must be put into practice — Source Solid Waste Management (at the home, office, school level); Decentralised Solid Waste Management (at the street, colony, ward level); and Centralised Solid Waste Management (final level where residual waste alone is dealt with, which should be barely 20 per cent),” says Nirmal.
Source segregation and recycling are important and need to start at the household level. The TC study finds that people are ready to adopt source segregation provided they are given a proper system of door-to-door collection every day and they see that their effort is yielding results. “Both the government and citizens are accountable for keeping the city clean. Any effort can bear fruit only when they work hand-in-hand,” says Vijay.
