Inspiring Progress document - Exnora Green Pammal

• Localities should prohibit multiple SWM
service providers from operating in the same
neighborhood. In areas of Panipat served by
Exnora Panipat Navnirman Samiti, some
households hire private waste collectors. Some
of these private collectors litter the area served
by EPNS, while also reducing the revenue
available for EPNS, yet EPNS is responsible for
cleaning the area where private collectors work.
This collision effect complicates quality control.
• Contracting solid waste management services to
NGOs or SHGs is unlikely to solve a significant
share of the nation’s waste crisis. Generally, such
groups lack the professional expertise required
to anticipate and satisfy a contract’s legal and
financial obligations. Few NGOs or SHGs are
able to pay the compulsory caution deposit,
afford start-up costs and secure bank guarantees
required by standard contracts. Furthermore,
contractors are seldom appreciated or respected
by residents and local authorities. Contracts
establish a business-oriented relationship
between residents, officials and the service
provider, which sets all parties in a competitive,
rather than a collaborative relationship. Solid
Waste Management is a science that should not
be treated as a casual cleaning assignment.
• Frequent turnover of government staff is
detrimental to the continuity of SWM.
Transfers of local and district officials make it
additionally challenging to initiate and establish
new solid waste management services.
• Removal of street bins, together with punctual,
daily door-to-door collection of waste result
in a dramatic improvement of neighborhood
cleanliness. After residents experience the
benefits of daily waste collection at their
doorstep, they will not go back to the street bin
collection system.
• Solid waste management should be
decentralized. Every local body should create
facilities to process and dispose of their waste
within their vicinity. Waste should not travel
more than five kilometres from its source.
The MSW Rules – Fundamentally
Sensible, A lthough Some Points
Require Clarif ication
Based on the principles of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, the government’s rules prescribe sensible, economical
and appropriate waste management practices. For a country with a large population, financial constraints
and scarcity of land, it is imperative to minimize landfilling by removing and reusing as much material as
possible from the waste stream. House-to-house collection of segregated solid waste is an ideal method for
collecting uncontaminated biodegradable matter for composting, maximizing the recovery and value of
recyclables and preventing methane generations in landfills.
European studies have found that compost made from source-segregated waste contains on average onefourth
the heavy metal contamination of compost made from mixed municipal waste (Brinton 2000, 9).
Heavy metal contamination of compost made from mixed municipal waste was so high that Germany,
Switzerland, France and Austria have stopped producing compost from mixed waste.
It is important to minimize heavy metal levels in compost that might be used in horticulture or agriculture
because some crops, including brinjal (Topcuoglu and Onal 2007), mushrooms (Woodbury 1993), rice
(Bhattacharyya et al. 2008) and spinach (Brinton 2000, 10), have been found to take up such metals.
India’s Central Pollution Control Board tested compost made from mixed municipal waste and found that
it contained 108-203 mg of lead per kg of compost, a range that exceeds the 100 mg per kg safety standard
for lead levels in compost, established in Schedule IV of the rules (CPCB no date). Analysis of three samples
of EGP’s EXORCO compost detected lead levels of 11, 33 and 16 mg per kg.
According to scientists at Cornell University,
“Source separation composts have the lowest
contaminant levels, . . while delaying separation
until after composting normally results in the
highest levels of metal contamination.”
“Those metals of greatest concern in compost
–cadmium, mercury, and lead – can be harmful
to animals and humans at relatively low
concentrations and tend to accumulate in soil,
plants, and animals.”
“Batteries, consumer electronics, ceramics, light
bulbs, house dust and paint chips, lead foils .
. . , used motor oils, plastics, and some glass
and inks can all introduce metal contaminants
into the solid waste stream. . . . Plastics are
estimated to contribute approximately 30% of
the cadmium as well as significant amounts of
nickel and lead.”
Richard and Woodbury 1993
Composting biodegradable waste also prevents
such waste from generating methane in landfills.
Methane produced by waste is estimated to
account for 31% of methane emission in India
(Ravindranath no date).
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