Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management, 5 - 7 September 2007, Chennai, India. pp.504-507
Community Participation through Information, Education, Communication and Capacity Building of ULB for Solid Waste Management Gurdeep Singh1, Tauseef Zia Siddiqui2 and Anshul Jain3 1
Centre of Mining Environment, 2Environmental Science and Engineering, 3Mining Engineering Indian School of Mines (ISM) University, Dhanbad (Jharkhand) Email:
[email protected] ABSTRACT
Community participation is the process by which individuals and families understand responsibility for their own health and welfare of societies. Communities should be motivated enough to solve their common problems themselves. This enables them to become agents of their own development instead of positive beneficiaries of development aid. The key to the success of solid waste management system in any city is the cooperation of citizens. Citizens ought to be involved in proper storage, collection and safe disposal of waste. Community should also be made aware of health risks associated with improper solid waste management. The existing management of solid wastes in India depends completely on municipality services, which eventually led into the scenario of solid waste disposal as only government’s responsibility. But, with a rapidly growing urban population, current institutions are unable to provide an adequate level of services, posing a serious threat to public health and environment. The waste is just dumped at such sites and remains littered/unattended causing unhygienic conditions, foul smell, environmental pollution, unsightly appearance etc. Consequently, vulnerable group/direct stakeholders are at much higher risk of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Hence, it is essential for the success of SWM project to understand the requirement of public participation and support. In the past there have been no major efforts to create community awareness for citizens, which is a vital component of solid waste management system. The community participation can be strengthen through multidisciplinary nature of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) for the citizens one side and Capacity Building Programs for the ULB officials & staff another side. Keywords: SWM, community participation, education, capacity building 1.0 INTRODUCTION There has been a significant increase in municipal solid waste management (MSW) generation in India in last few years. This is because of the rapid growth of population and per capita waste generation. Per capita waste generation in Indian cities lies between 0.2 to 0.5 kg/day. Presently, the systems are assuming larger importance due to population explosion in municipal areas, emergence of newer technologies and rising public awareness towards cleanliness (Kumar et al., 2004). The average collection efficiency for MSW in Indian cities is about 72.5% and around 70% of the cities lack 504
Sustainable Solid Waste Management
adequate waste transport capacity (TERI 1998). Due to rapid urbanization, prevailing land use regulation and completing demands for available land, it is desirable that sufficient land be earmarked at the planning stage itself for solid waste disposal. Waste reduction at the source can also be accomplished by education and voluntary compliance with policies by business and consumers (Marcin, Durbak and Ince 1994). Private sector, NGOs and rag pickers play important roll in MSW management in India. Local Resident Welfare committees exist every where from jhuggis to the middle class housing. They should be actively engaged in segregation and collection of waste at the house level and community level (CPCB, 2004). 2.0 COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION Community participation is the process by which individuals and families understand responsibility for their own health and welfare of societies This enables them to become agents of their own development instead of positive beneficiaries of development aid. The key to the success of Solid Waste Management system in any city is the cooperation of citizens. The existing management of solid wastes in India depends completely on municipality services, which eventually led into the scenario of solid waste disposal as only government’s responsibility. with a rapidly growing urban population, current institutions are unable to provide an adequate level of services, posing a serious threat to public health and environment. Thus Communities should be motivated enough to solve their common problems themselves. 3.0 NGO’S PARTICIPATION NGOs have emerged as important partners in SWM. Their work could include Capacity building for the informal sector. Developing managerial, technical and other skills amongst other sectors required to be able to participate in new and innovative means of waste management. Capacity building for the Municipality 4.0 COMMUNITY BINS Properly designed community bins should be used for collection and storage of waste and should be located at central point so that they are accessible to everybody. The community bins shall be created and established by taking into account quantities of waste generation in a given area and the population densities. These bins should be fully covered, must be placed at short distances and properly advertised so that every body should be aware of them. 5.0 REQUIRED MSW SYSTEM IN INDIA Solid Waste Management is a vital, ongoing and large public service system, which needs to be efficiently provided to the community to maintain aesthetic and public health standards. There has to be a systematic effort in the improvement in various factors like institutional arrangement, financial provisions, appropriate technology, operations management, human resource development, public participation and awareness and policy and legal framework for an integrated SWM system. Community participation is necessary for the success of such good systems. In order to have a
505
Community Participation through Information, Education, Communication and Capacity Building of ULB
satisfactory, efficient and a sustainable system of solid waste management, the following aspects need consideration. 6.0 SEGREGATION AND RECYCLING There is no alternative to source segregation. The segregation of waste should be worked out by the active engagement of local bodies with waste generators, an area where other organizations, such as NGOs could assist. Other alternative to either dumping or burning of waste is recycling of waste. Recycling is the processing of discarded materials into new, useful products. It saves money, energy, raw materials and land space, while also reducing pollution. Recycling also encourages individual awareness and responsibility for the refuse produced. Recycling not only cuts our waste volume drastically but also reduces the pressure on municipality. 7.0 AWARENESS OF COMPOSTING Composting is the process of decomposition and stabilization of organic matter under controlled condition. Many cities have banned yard waste from municipal garbage, rather than bury this valuable organic material, they are turning it into a useful product through composting. Composting can be carried out at local level through compost pits and heaps and at the central level, through composting plants (CPCB, 2003-04). The society may establish personal common composting plants in their colonies itself. It will not only reduce the quantity of waste but also gives good nutrient soil. NGOs may come to promote the activity. 8.0 FUTURE SCENARIO Urban India is likely to face a massive waste disposal problem in the coming years. Until now, the problem of waste has been seen as one of cleaning and disposing as rubbish. But a closer look at the current and future scenario reveals that waste needs to be treated holistically, recognizing its natural resource roots as well as health impacts. Developing countries such as India are undergoing a massive migration of their population from rural to urban centers. New consumption patterns and social linkages are emerging. India will have more than 40 per cent, i.e. over 400 million people, clustered in cities over the next thirty years (UN, 1995). The urban poverty is directly related to the waste. In India about a million people find their livelihood from the waste collection, recycling and segregation. The requirement of the time is to organize the ragpickers and encourage them and try to improve their living standard. 9.0 CONCLUSION Most of the waste whether municipal or biomedical, is dumped in open low lying areas with no provisions for liners, leachate collection and treatment system or gas collection system. Although many attempts are being made by municipal corporations in the different cities but until and unless community is engaged, proper solution is difficult to achieve. Time has come to aware the people about the problems of municipal solid waste and to organize the camps to educate the people about reduction, reuse and recycling the waste. The municipalities are the primary institutions responsible for solid waste management in India, but 506
Sustainable Solid Waste Management
most the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) are unable to provide the desirable level of conservancy. Though Community projects are working well and fulfilling the greater objectives of environmental safety but there is neither recognition nor support for such activities. Local resident welfare committees exist everywhere from slum to middle class housing. They should be actively engaged in segregation and collection of waste at the household level and community level. These committees should be given the collective responsibility of implementing various ongoing schemes of the SWM in their areas a part of a formal system. A group core must be formed and responsible contact person be identified. The municipal authorities may offer incentives to such communities and coordinate with them. communities should be able to participate in policy making. REFERENCE CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board), Municipal Solid Waste processing technologies. Delhi: Central Pollution Control Board (September 2000). CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board), Information manual on pollution abatement and cleaner technologies, series: IMPACTS/11/2003-04 (2003-2004). Kumar, S. and Gaikwad, S.A., “Municipal Solid Waste Management in Indian urban centers: An approach for betterment”, Urban development debates in the new millennium, edited by K.R.Gupta, Atlantic publishers & distributors, New Delhi, pp.100-10 (2004). NEERI report “strategy paper on solid waste in India”, pp 1-7 (1996). Sunil Kumar, Municipal Solid Waste Management in India: present practices and future challenge (2005)
507
