India's waste management crisis has serious implications for its environment, economy and public health. We focus on creating technologies and solutions that minimize waste generation and convert all waste into useful products. This includes initiatives to promote a circular economy through resource efficient and cleaner production in industries, and maximize resource recovery and recycling for landfill-free cities.
In this article, Hans Nicolai Adam, Emmy Noklebye, and Girija K Bharat discuss biomedical and plastic waste management in the post COVID-19 world. The authors focus on the role of the informal sector, which plays a significant role in India's waste management systems, and is assuming a growing role in plastic waste management. Yet, the informal waste management sector remains highly vulnerable, as evidenced by the authors' study.
GIZ India and TERI under the Indo-German project titled 'Development and Management of Waste NAMA (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action) in India' have adopted the city of Panaji for pilot demonstration of better waste management practices.
महासागर सबसे बड़े डंपिंग ग्राउंड बन रहे हैं जिसमें हर साल एक मिलियन टन प्लास्टिक कूड़ा पहुँच रहा है। महासागरों में मौजूद लगभग 80 फीसदी कूड़ा, प्लास्टिक का कूड़ा है। इससे समुद्री आबादी जोखिम में है। प्लास्टिक कचरे का उचित प्रबंधन कर इसे रोका जा सकता है।
Marine plastic litter is a global result of our local actions and inactions. The focus should not only be on removing plastic but also on the creation of economic models, development of strategies, and proper prediction of future consumption patterns.
The per capita water availability depends upon the population of the country and with the increasing population; the per capita availability of India is reducing and is expected to reach 1,367 cubic meters in 2021. As per Niti Aayog, 21 major cities (including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad) are racing towards zero groundwater levels, affecting access for 100 million people. In such a situation we need to look for alternate sources of water to meet our ever-increasing demands as water conservation and efficient use will not suffice.
कोरोना वायरस की इस वैश्विक आपदा में न सिर्फ़ कूड़ा प्रबंधन की बल्कि अनौपचारिक क्षेत्र से जुड़े कचरा इकठ्ठा करने वाले लोगों की दशा दयनीय है। कचरा प्रबंधन के इस दौर में, भारत में लगभग 40 लाख अनौपचारिक कूड़ा इकठ्ठा करने वाले हैं। जहाँ भारत की राजधानी दिल्ली में अकेले ही लगभग 5 लाख अनौपचारिक कूड़ा इकठ्ठा करने वाले रहते हैं, वही भारत के प्राचीन शहर वाराणसी में ये लोग लगभग 12000 हैं जो कि इस अचानक से हुए लॉकडाउन में यथा स्थिति में फंसे हुए हैं।
During COVID-19, the management of single-use plastic (SUP) items remains a challenge in India. TERI is hosting a webinar on plastic waste management and raising public awareness on plastic pollution.
COVID-19 outbreak was declared as pandemic and health emergency was announced by the World Health Organisation on March 11, 2020. Research studies also revealed that waste materials like cardboard, plastics and steel also are carriers of COVID-19 virus and it can last upto 72 hours on these, reflecting concerns for waste stream workers and recyclers.
To envision a new world post COVID-19 in the context of urban sanitation and planning and define the priorities for action by the development community.
Large amounts of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated has become an increasing problem in all tourist destinations.
Large amounts of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated has become an increasing problem in all tourist destinations.
Large amounts of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated has become an increasing problem in all tourist destinations.
According to Mr Sourabh Manuja, Fellow, Centre for Waste Management, Environment & Waste Management Division at TERI, our cities need appropriate training and capacity building along with the infrastructure to manage the bio-medical waste they generate, including domestic hazardous waste.
Cellulose acetate-based cigarette filter is considered the world's most littered form of plastic. With close to 4.5 trillion butts polluting the global environment, this form of litter accounts for close to 26,454 tonnes of waste generated annually in India. Though one of the neglected waste streams, Oceans Conservancy, an international advocacy group, categorised cigarette butts as second among the top three articles collected during beach clean-ups globally.
All policymakers and administrators dealing in waste management thoroughly understand the wealth potential associated with this MSW, which can be unlocked with appropriate energy and economic linkages, yet the codes to unlock such potentials are not unified. Once mixed, many potentially recyclable items lose their value for recycling. Hence, segregation at source is the key to manage MSW in an efficient manner.
India is considered the twelfth-largest source of marine litter and is projected to become the fifth-largest by 2025. The Ganga has been documented as one of the top-five rivers dumping plastics into oceans. India, as per 2017-18 estimates, consumes 16.5 mt of plastic annually, 43% of which was towards the manufacture of single-use plastic material. The Covid-19 outbreak has exacerbated this situation, with the pandemic demanding the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as suits, masks and gloves that are often discarded in unscientific ways.
According to TERI, which is actively involved in solid waste management at Varanasi, the Solid Waste Emissions Estimation Tool (SWEET) is being used for emissions estimates for Varanasi as well as Panaji under the Varanasi Waste NAMA programme.
Plastics, as materials, are not an issue, but it is their management that has been a challenge. Their negative impact on the environment, specifically marine life, comes from land-based activities. India generates around 26,000 tonnes of plastics every day from urban areas. The informal sector plays an important role in the management of plastics. The recycling rate of plastics in India is expected to be around 60 per cent, though 94 per cent of plastics that we use a Sourabh Manuja re of thermoset category and can be recycled.
Plastics not only are enduring, lightweight, and available at low prices, but also have very good thermal and electrical insulation properties. The versatile properties of various plastic polymers— being water-resistant, non-porous, ductile and malleable—make them suitable for manufacturing a wide range of products that also bring medical and technological advances in our modern society.
Fostering circularity in plastic use is an effective way to reduce contamination of marine and coastal environments with plastics and man-made debris. However, there are many challenges down this path.
Anthropogenic activities like (i) agriculture fertilisers, (ii) coastal pisciculture, (i) sewage discharge, (iv) industrial activity, (v) burning fossil fuels and (vi) effluents from ports increase nutrients in surface water and seas. Nitrate pollution is largely caused by agriculture run-off, discharge from industry and manure or sewage. Phosphate pollution is tied to improper treatment of detergents in wastewater and from agro-fertilisers.
Urban Sanitation and Need for Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) in India The Government of India has undertaken an ambitious social change endeavour of clean and open defecation free (ODF) India. Sustained efforts in this direction has improved the sanitation scenario in India, which in turn would help in achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 of universal and equitable access to safe and aff ordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all.
