BEST PRACTICES IN SOLID
WASTE MANAGEMENT 2010
Mrs Almitra H Patel, MS MIT
Member, Supreme Court Committee
For Solid Waste Management
almitrapatel@rediffmail.com
0 98443 02914
www.almitrapatel.com
BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF
MSW RULES 2000
Keep waste off the road, collect door-to-door
Collect wastes Unmixed, ‘wet’ every 24 hrs.
TRANSPORT WASTES UNMIXED:
Wet = Food waste, Dry = Recyclables,
Inerts = Road dust, drain silt, debris
MINIMISE WASTE : Compost wet waste
Landfill only pre- and post- compost rejects,
NOT MIXED WASTE even with soil cover !
SURYAPET, A.P. is the only ZeroDustbin AND ZERO WASTE TOWN
Got ISO 14000 in 2006. Secret of success:
Only Administrative WILL with No Excuses.
TOTAL COMMITMENT to Waste Management
by BOTH Commissioner AND Councillors.
Achieved by Cmr Khadar Saheb in 18 months
from 2002 only with own Mpl labour and
NO State or Central funding,
NO user charges to citizens, NO NGO support.
(Suryapet’s Powerpoint available)
Suryapet Waste is TRANSPORTED
UNMIXED so citizens cooperate
For 1.03 lakh town in 2002,
8 Self-Help Groups given
Transport Contract in own
SJSRY Tipper-Tractors.
Stops every few houses to
pick up UNMIXED waste.
Dry waste compartment
was raised with wire-mesh
cage for higher volume.
Wet waste tipped out first for
stack- and vermi- composting
Dry Waste unloaded next in Mpl
shed with sorting bays. Wastepickers hired for sorting & baling for
sale, net income upto Rs 1 lac pm
Inert waste collected
SEPARATELY in afternoon.
½ km drains per man,
silt directly into
wheely-bins unloaded
into truck along with
debris, for roadside
widening & pot-hole
filling.
Senior citizens enjoy
evenings on stone
benches over odorfree drains now.
Managing construction waste is
very important to keep streets
clean. Sweeping should be done by
long-handled brooms.
Decentralised waste mgt can use
city spaces. Park wastes must be
managed on-site, with once-a-week
collection of garden waste.
Market waste is easy to compost or feed
to goats/goshala. Can collect stall-to-stall
hourly for fresh waste, spotless market.
TRANSPORT SAVINGS EASILY PAY FOR
DECENTRALISED BIO-BINS TO
BIOCULTURE-TREAT WET WASTES
Unload handcart drums into
covered bio-bins instead of
open waste-points or street
dustbins or dumper-placers.
Mumbai’s ALMs replaced street
open dumps or dumperplacers with bio-bins and
pretty plants. Biotreatment
services by an NGO.
Bio-bins can be paid for by free
advertising rights to sponsors.
Two biobins 6’x3’x2.5’ high serve 1-200 apts.
Waste added daily is sprinkled with bioculture
or 5%-cowdung-water or good compost and
turned daily with a three-prong fork
Hand-sieve bio-bin-stabilised compost to
beautify street, or sell if there is demand.
“Mera Aangan Saaf” policy keeps drains
clean, locals happy, less desilting cost.
Every ground-floor
occupier must keep
clean the open
drain and footpath
adjoining their
frontage.
May need city Rules.
Collect Dry Waste SEPARATELY from
Wet waste, at a different time or fixed
day of the week or month. Provide
Ward-wise Collection Points or cash
counters to Wastepicker Associations.
Plastic wastes are a major problem
in composting and need very costly
machinery to remove
Compost is just well Stabilised waste, sieved.
After the 1st 8-hour
operation of Mysore
compost plant, volume
of thin plastics, right,
(only 8% by total weight)
was more than volume of
sieved fine compost, on left,
awaiting blending and
bagging for sale.
SHREDDED PLASTICS MAKE
EXCELLENT BITUMEN ROADS :
1200 km in Tamil Nadu in 1 year!
T N Rural Dev Dept gave
plastic shredding machines to
self-help groups, purchased it
at Rs 12 per kg to replace 10%
bitumen by weight, making far
better roads at no extra cost.
Collect through schools:
1 free pencil for 1 kg plastic;
Sell pooled class collection for
Eco Club activities.
DO NOT WAIT
FOR PERFECT SOLUTIONS!
STOP dumping of mixed waste at once!
Stop ’dozing & levelling untreated wastes.
In the same spot, unload waste in rows,
use JCB to form wind-rows (long heaps)
and spray with composting bio-cultures.
This BIO – STABILISING reduces volume fast,
controls odour and flies, and reduces
offensive liquid leachate formation .
Heap gets very warm, this kills pathogens.
To bio-stabilise waste, first unload it
in 2-meter-high long heaps called
wind-rows, with space between for
air and 4-6 weekly turnings
Spray heaps with bioculture before
and after forming a new heap
After spraying, shape the heaps
into windrows 2 meters high.
Turn heaps weekly by hand or JCB,
and spray with water if it is too dry. It
is ready for sieving after 4-6 weeks.
Use simple mechanical sieves to sieve
matured heaps for sale as compost,
which farmers badly need today.
20-yr Dryland Millet yields decline
without Farm Yard Manure:
Yield kg/ha
Millet Yield
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1979- 1986- 199383
90
97
Year
FYM
10t/ha+100%N
PK
FYM
10t/ha+50%NP
K
FYM 10t/ha
Recommende
d NPK
Control
Paddy, 6 wks after transplanting.
City compost used on left-side plot
Sona Masuri paddy benefited from
compost use AT NO EXTRA COST:
With Mysore city compost
0.5t city compost = Rs 1750
15th day DAP 100 kg Rs 800
35th “ 19:19:19 100kg 800
55th day urea 50 kg
230
potash 75kg
350
Total Cost =
Rs 3,930
Without compost
0
200 kg Rs 1600
200 kg
1600
100 kg
460
150 kg
700
Rs 4,360
Bellary photo March 2004 Bellary and data from Vennar Organics.
City compost used from next year on 60 acres after this 1 acre trial.
IPNM = COMBINED USE OF CITY
COMPOST & CHEMICAL FERTILISER
BENEFITS: Humus helps retain Soil Moisture
Avoids re-sowing if rains delayed. Less wilting.
4-5 waterings per crop instead of 6-7.
MICROBES HELP FERTILISER UPTAKE :
Urea absorption 40% goes up to ~ 90%
STRONG ROOT SYSTEM=HEALTHY PLANT:
Less pesticide required, less flower drop.
Better size, colour, flavour, shelf life in fruits
vegetables and flowers.
Compost also helps saline soils (top)
to grow crops again (below, after 1 year)
OLD OPEN DUMPS MUST BE IMPROVED
For small scattered heaps, make them convex to prevent
rainwater pools on top and percolation, forming leachate.
Make diversion drains on uphill side to keep out
groundwater flow. Collection drain on downhill side.
‘BIO-MINING’ is best for larger heaps, successfully done
at 6 locations, being started at many more. It removes
90% of waste to almost-level ground, no pollution.
Do not use soil cover as leachate and methane will still
form underneath.
Do not use plastic Capping for unlined open dumps.
It makes them an environmental time-bomb as at Malad,
Mumbai. Methane escapes from sides into nearby bldgs.
HOW TO BIO-MINE OLD OPEN DUMPS
30-cm layers of waste are loosened and shaved
off the top of old open dumps
Bulky waste is hand-picked and sold or land-filled
Composting bio-culture is sprayed on this, along
with odour-control bio-cultures if required
Then it is moistened & shaped into normal 2m high
aerobic windrows, and turned weekly, 4 times.
Temperatures reach 60-70oC, volumes reduce by
40%. Resultant “bio-earth is used in parks or to
cover road/rail embankments for revegetation
BENEFITS of GARBAGE BIO-MINING:
RECYCLING OF LAND SPACE
Clear old dumpsites rapidly to almost ground level
and reuse for waste stabilising or as landfills for
stabilised or inert wastes.
Useful recycling of organics for use on road/rail
embankments or to blend with fresh compost.
Drastic volume reduction of waste needing
landfilling. Extend life of precious site, no objections.
Inner-city land is levelled, with near-zero emissions
of leachate and methane, so can use at once for
parks or playgrounds.