INTEGRATED SOLUTION FOR SANITATION,WASTE MANAGEMENT AND RENEWABLE ENERGY – A CONCEPT by Devesh Bhatt

PRESENT SCENARIO

Various schemes, various policy initiatives of the Govt of India/States and yet the desirable results do not show.

Furthermore, countless NGOs are working towards sanitation, waste management and renewable energy but the money and manpower are not translating into a sustainable model in India.

Why?

ü The efforts are directed through corrupt channels. Most of the reality reflects:

o Most initiatives only done on paper[Solar, Wind Energy, Waste Disposal, Toilet construction]

o If they are subcontracted, bribery prevails and an incompetent private subcontractor does these works with piss poor quality, rampant exploitation of resources (allocated inventory, fuel, water, wood, gravel, food, cash, etcetc). Intention is to milk the Govt for maintenance contracts and also charge the local people a minimum fee for the usage. Earn from both ends.

o If there is a delay in payments or the project isn’t economical, just packup the public owned / Govt owned asset and walk off with a claim that it has been stolen.

o It is possible that a local goon vandalizes or steals inventory/ installation for ulterior motive of politics or profit.

ü Corruption – all are aware. But corruption can be avoided. So it boils down to approach and policy flaws.

o People are poor. Suppliers of prescribed inventory are few. Skill set required for maintenance is rare. Simply put, people cannot afford to maintain the prescribed installation. If a solar panel or windmill or perhaps a toilet gets damaged/stolen, replacement, Self Governance bodies at local levels cannot manage. If they do learn to manage, they also get a crash course in corruption and eventually end up the same way.

o Government allocates funds for private toilet construction and Renewable Energy assets in the interiors. Farmer wants debt clearance, irrigation and financial assistance, instead, gets a toilet and something he cannot repair himself. He ends up falsely accepting installation of renewable energy assets for a small amount of money.

o Lastly, this toilet initiative doesn’t stick. Rather than the open, pollute the water table and collect everything for drainage into water bodies. The sewage treatment plant is again, only on paper. Really stupid.

ü Now to the specifics of waste disposal and waste collectors:

o Waste collectors have poor working conditions, inadequate pay, poor social status due to work and caste and no scope for incentives, growth and improvement of socio-economic status within the waste disposal domain.

o The Govt employees are slightly better off than Private workers but they often prefer to sublet their work (illegally) to daily wage workers at very low wage rates. A pay increase does not ensure accountability as the workers have become habitual to this system.

o Basically the money isn’t good enough to demand a good effort and the waste, even if segregated by the people, gets dumped or burned at roadsides.

o If it does reach the fictitious waste facility, it gets dumped or burned at a landfill. If the waste facility exists, it is a highly polluting Waste to Energy Plant.

The Union Budget was presented on 2nd Feb 2017, followed by the Central Pollution Control Board briefing on 6th Feb 2017. Although implementation is done by State Governments, I was interested in the Fund Allocation, Labour Laws and Policy Focus. Only the loopholes have become bigger.

THE CONCEPT:

ü A six seater Public Toilet Complex with:

o Biogas Plant to produce Power and Compost.

§ It can be repaired by local mason and no one would steal it.

§ It will earn from selling power/saving power which maybe used for residential/commercial purposes or even Electric Rickshaws(three and four wheelers) which are battery operated and are increasingly gaining popularity.

o A Sensor enabled inlet to dump organic waste into biogas plant wherein waste collector gets incentives as per prescribed credit score in the digital wallet or by SMS.

§ These incentives can be converted to Insurance payments, education/healthcare/transport payment, Govt payments, Development Bonds or Fixed Deposits or purchases of Equipment/Eco-friendly products/anything as prescribed by Client or Partner.

§ Incentives are cashable only when waste collector completes minimum days of work and ensures efficient segregation of waste for a minimum number of days. [true even this system can be gamed, but the waste won’t be dumped or burned in the open]. Efficiency would also enable revision of credit ratings as good or poor. The per weight credit payment would be highest for efficient systems

o Manual Collection of Inorganic Waste akin to present Local Body system where it maybe collected by transporter of local waste management body. THIS TOO IS INCENTIVISED AS PER WEIGHTAGE.

o Roof top Garden/Nursery/Hemp Farm Claire 🐝 Cardwell

o If established at an Urban Centre/Highway or high population area, a split shop [two compartments] maybe included and given on rentwith a part payment in money and part payment as maintenance and waste collection.

Advantages:

o It is compliant with Govt schemes. It has been validated by Authorities and Local Bodies are interested. Problem, they wish to wait till election time i.e. 2019

o It is a self-sustainable, locally maintained solution that has less per-capita set-up cost and even lesser operational cost. On the other hand it is a good source of income and the Poor/anybody doesn’t have to pay money to use it.

o Market Associations, Hotel Associations, Highway Moteliers and small Mall Owners can introduce this as a private model wherein they can from it as an asset and possibly secure Govt fund release during election time.

o It is affordable to Rural Governance bodies who have funds, manpower and intent to initiate this. Just paper pushing is a little slow in changing landuse and fund use. 2018 then

o Waste Collectors can earn upto three times their income without stressing Govt Budgets directly or indirectly for operations. Do their Job right and get recognized for performance.

o Poor people don’t have to pay for usage. Get motivated to avoid the open.

o We reduce Air, water and ground pollution and perhaps generate some power and compost for greening and farming.

Why do I post it here?

Claire 🐝 Cardwell, I was wondering if it can be replicated in other countries. I will surely have proof of concept and a functional system in a year or two.

Perhaps we can work out its acceptability in African Nations? Till then this will also work out.

Anyone else interested? feel free to contact me. I have other projects to monetise on, this is for nature :)

FEEDBACK? I have a detailed proposal but it needs to be modified for location specific requirements.