India is one of the world’s fastest urbanising countries. It has its advantages and disadvantages. But if we are also the dirtiest then obviously there’s a problem. The solid waste generated in big cities and small towns is acquiring humongous proportions, notwithstanding the admirable “Swachh Bharat “ campaign, the pet project of PM Narendra Modi.
Solid waste, also known as municipal solid waste (MSW) in urbanisation parlance is one issue which is multi-dimensional and by the sheer failure and incompetence of local self governments, it is giving birth to social, economic and health problems which were non-existent just about, say two decades ago. The solid waste generation issue is not a result of growing population alone but mainly due to increasing consumerism, rapid life style changes, economic growth, industrialisation and lack of collective responsibility of the citizenry.
The policy makers are aware of the intensity of the problem but are largely clueless about disposal techniques and methodology. As late as in November 2016, NGT asked Delhi government to find out the total quantity of waste generated in the national capital. Gazipur landfill near Delhi, Bhalsawa landfill under North Delhi MC and Okhla, besides the Deonar garbage dump in Mumbai are just a few glaring big examples which poke a finger at the face of Indian urban administration. I have seen Gazipur landfill and its inhuman surroundings where people eat in the open, and are forced to live life and breathe toxic gases daily. Often fires erupt from such dumping grounds releasing dangerous methane gases but apparently, neither in Mumbai nor in Delhi there exists a fool-proof plan to control these frequent fires. The scenario elsewhere in the country could be imagined if things are so bad in Delhi and Mumbai.
India’s municipal solid waste collection per day has shockingly tripled in the period between 2010 (50592 TPD) and 2015 (143,449 TPD) and to add insult to injury, only 23-24 per cent is processed or treated scientifically. The capacity of municipal bodies and absence of political will to address the issue are making it worse. Delhi’s frequent strikes by garbage collectors point to another angle-finances.
Waste to energy potential
Is then the government in deep slumber? Not really! According to the Action Plan for management of municipal solid waste prepared by Central Pollution Control Board in February 2015, Ministry of Urban Development aims at 100 per cent scientific disposal of the MSW by October 2019, that is in just about two and a half years from now. Solid waste being a state subject, the State Pollution Control Boards are mandated to monitor it but the ground reality does not give us a cause to cheer. The Action Plan of Government of India itself is quite ambitious by any standard, especially when comparatively better literate or progressive states like Maharashtra top the list of daily generation (26,820 tonnes per day) in the country. Delhi’s generation of daily waste was put at 8,390 TPD in February 2015. The other ministry which is doing its bit is Ministry of New and Renewable Energy which had a status of 33 projects in 2014-15 which are in pipeline at various stages of turning garbage into electricity. Energy statistics say India has 2556 MW of energy generation capacity from waste but only 150 MW is being harnessed presently.
In a country where more than 45 per cent of rural households do not have access to electricity which, in other words, translates to 80.07 million households (census 2011) without electricity, is renewable energy (wind, solar , biomass) going to light all houses in the country by 2022? According to an estimate if all green power combined is required to be generated to meet the target of 175,000 MW, the capital investment would be close to a whopping Rs 10,54,855 crore.
Perhaps realising this, urban development ministry notified in April 2016 rules for waste to energy sector, a clear and defining step to boost the investors. How many new investors it would attract is anybody’s guess, though. While India has declared its intentions at various global fora, including at Paris climate change summit of 2015 to go for solar energy in a big way to reduce its carbon footprint, waste to energy is one sector where the government could do more such as technology transfer, and industry-friendly policies to derive WtE projects benefits compared to other long term solutions. In most developed countries waste to energy projects are being seen as a step towards ensuring clean environment more than energy security. India, unfortunately, is both energy deficient and facing environmental threats. At least for last two decades or little more one has been hearing about transforming waste into energy to achieve the dual purpose of mitigating energy demands and cleaning up our dirty cities at a much lower cost. During the first few years there was no clear model available but now things on this front have improved as one or the other project is coming up in each state, though the scale and technology are different.
Clearly, WtE is a new mantra for integrated solid waste management. Since the waste generation speed is likely to increase by a frightening 50 per cent per decade, this fledgling sector holds out the real hope for all of us. What is required is to clear hurdles to bring in more investment in this sector. Some of the big industry groups like Essel, Jindal, ILF and ORS are engaged in turning the waste into a useful resource which India badly needs. Delhi, Pune, Solapur, Chennai, Hyderabad, Varanasi and Jabalpur are some cities where waste to energy plants by these groups and other local private investors are either operational or have been set up to deal with the ever growing menace of garbage and waste strewn all over. Solapur, the constituency of former union Home Minister and ex-Maharashtra CM Sushil Kumar Shinde is showing the way, as per the union urban development ministry website. The small city near Karnataka is spewing close to 400 tonnes per day of solid waste and is producing four megawatt energy which goes into the electricity grid. The pilot of the project by ORS was done in 2013 and it is doing
well, as per the local municipal corporation officials.
Organic Recycling System Pvt Limited (ORS) has developed a new technology called DRYAD which is patented and based on the principles of Anaerobic Digester a technology based on principles of Thermophilic bio-methanation, which is more environment friendly as it reduces gas emissions into environment, something that the Sukhdev Vihar Residents Welfare Association of Delhi had pleaded before the NGT principal bench saying such plants nearby Delhi are using mass burning technology which causes severe air pollution and hence should be banned.
Suhas Bhand, the head of ORS Pvt Ltd that is successfully running a smaller and cost effective plant in Solapur says: “since in India segregation of solid waste is a major issue, the ORS invented an indigenous technology which is based on enzymatic decomposition of organic matter by microbial action. He said the process involved segregation of plastics, batteries, and kitchen waste to produce energy resource, “adding” the technology is increasingly getting finer with better and better use.”
However, considering the heaps of waste all over the country and the growing trend, more and more technological solutions are required to be brought into practice to deal with this issue on priority. Waste to energy plants in Delhi or other places like Solapur in Maharashtra would have to be replicated elsewhere fast so that the issue of cleaning up urban waste gets top priority from the government. One urbanisation expert says that landfills like Deonar or Gazipur would take years to be completely cleaned up, even if no new garbage was dumped at these sites.
Already they have contaminated our water resources and air badly. Clearly, urgent and multi-pronged actions are now required to remove the stench-filled garbage heaps in hundreds of our big and small cities. This sector is also marred by lack of cooperation by municipal corporations to private sector investor or an NGO. Most developed countries have left waste disposal to private investors with necessary support from the government for generation of energy.
The urban development ministry in India has covered waste to energy under the Swachh Bharat campaign and MSW Rules have been notified last year. However two years record of the clean-up campaign is not very encouraging. But if the figures about waste accumulation given above in are threatening to go northwards due to multiple reasons, government and experts in the field should now sit up and take a close look at the waste to energy conversion aspects as one of the cheaper and quicker solutions. Synergy between energy ministry, urban development ministry, NITI Aayog and private investors would augur well for the country.