1. Adequate Ecosystem
for Waste
Management in
Indian Context
Mr. Sandeep Patel(CEO, Nepra Resource Management Private Limited), Ms. Henna
Jesingh(Project Coordinator – Impact and Evaluation, Nepra Resource
Management Private Limited)
8/31/2015

2. Adequate Ecosystem for Waste Management in Indian Context
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Adequate Ecosystem for Waste
Management in Indian Context
Contents
1. List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................2
2. Abstract.................................................................................................................................................3
3. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................4
4. Challenges in the sector........................................................................................................................5
4.1 Service Level Inefficiency..............................................................................................................5
4.1.1 Solution........................................................................................................................................5
4.2 No Source Segregation..................................................................................................................7
4.2.1 Solution.................................................................................................................................7
4.3 Non-Inclusion of the informal sector............................................................................................9
4.3.1 Solution...............................................................................................................................10
5. References ..........................................................................................................................................11
6. Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................11
1. List of Figures
Figure 1: Proposed Collection Approach ......................................................................................................6
Figure 2: Proposed Complaint Redressal System .........................................................................................6
Figure 3: Process for Tax Rebate in Case of Proper Segregation..................................................................8
Figure 4: Ensured Waste Segregation...........................................................................................................9

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2. Abstract
India generates over 60 million tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) per annum, almost all of which
is land-filled. Increasing urbanization coupled with changing lifestyles has led to sharp increase in the
recyclables or dry waste (paper, plastic, etc.) components which account for nearly 20-25% of the MSW.
In the absence of segregation, waste management in India is largely in the nature of "lift & shift" which
apart from creating strain on landfills also poses threats to public health, depriving a resource deficit
country like India from being able to effectively recycle the dry waste.
Furthermore, marginalized waste-pickers only tend to salvage some amount of recyclables from
community bins but the unorganized nature of this chain leads to significant exploitation (of waste-
pickers) & value-chain inefficiencies.
The solution would come through an initiative that is focused on an organized and reliable supply chain
for dry waste by linking waste-pickers as well as generators of waste for instance households and
commercial establishments with recyclers of waste in a sustainable manner.
An inclusive model should be prepared that provides improved livelihood opportunities to the
marginalized waste-picker segment besides reducing the amount of waste being landfilled and thus
helping to reduce the life-cycle impact of materials like paper, plastics, metals on public and
environmental health. The key innovation is therefore in a model that leverages knowledge of recyclable
waste and their applications, as well as, technology to drive efficiencies and effectiveness across
collections and processing. Incentivizing people for the behavior change towards waste would bring in
incredible results. It would increase the participation with an attitudinal alteration.
Thus, a collaborative approach of government, general masses and private companies is required to
bring about the desired change in the ecosystem of waste management sector in India. Private waste
management companies can get the infrastructure and technology that would play an essential role in
the theory of change of waste management.

4. Adequate Ecosystem for Waste Management in Indian Context
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3. Introduction
India being one of the most populous and most
swiftly developing countries in the world,
generates humongous quantity of waste per
day, be it municipal solid waste, bio-medical
waste, e-waste or hazardous waste. Everyday
urban India alone generates 188,500 tonnes of
municipal solid waste (Annepu).
The Environmental Research and Action Group
of Chintan, waste management NGO in Delhi,
projects that by 2050 the waste generation
would increase to an alarming amount of 150
million tonnes of waste annually. The amount of
waste generation is bound to increase beyond
belief, whereas the landfill space to dispose that
waste off is limited. Apart from posing
environmental and health problems, the
mammoth piles of landfill are a curse for a
resource deficit country like India, where
recyclables are being thrown away. Out of the
total waste generated, 20-23% waste is dry
recyclable waste.
For efficient management of dry waste,
segregation of waste at source is essential.
Though, as per the Ministry of Environment &
Forest Notification 2000(Municipal Waste
Management and Handling Rules 2000), there is
a provision to encourage citizens to segregate
the waste at source into wet and dry waste,
however, only Bangalore Municipal Corporation
and Pune Municipal Corporation have made
waste segregation at source compulsory. Mixed
waste when collected by the Urban Local Body
is disposed of at the landfill. There is no formal
organized approach to segregate the
biodegradable (wet waste) and non-
biodegradable waste (dry waste).
Most of the recyclables (15-20%) is collected by
the informal sector prior to, as well as, after
formal collection by the Urban Local Body
(Gupta), but it is unaccounted. The informal
sector in India includes the waste pickers,
kabadiwalas, sweepers, house-keeping people
at societies and offices and small and medium
waste aggregators. The involvement of the
informal sector but no space in the formal
structure of waste management has made the
sector highly unorganized as well as ambiguous.
The solid waste management system in India is
inefficient and archaic. From the process of
waste collection up to disposal, there is a
dearth of effective planning as well as efficient
technology that can help make them system
more standardized and transparent. This paper
will highlight the current problems in the
system and proposed solution against each
problem.

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4. Challenges in the sector
4.1 Service Level Inefficiency
In majority of Indian cities door to door
collection of mixed municipal solid waste occurs
but only in the limited part of urban population,
the inhabitants those who are left out are from
the lower income groups. Lack of financial
resources, inadequate technology and ever
increasing urban population hampers the
service level of waste collection.
The municipality collects tax for the waste
pickup service that they provide. The tax
payment procedure is cumbersome and
outdated, which gives people an option to shun
the responsibility to pay taxes. In case of
nonpayment of tax the service is cancelled and
the garbage is dumped somewhere outside the
lane which then becomes the breeding ground
for harmful mosquitoes.
Another drawback in the service offered by the
municipality lies in the complaint redressal
system. There is no proper mechanism adopted
for customer feedback and lodging complaints.
At times the complaints lodged are overlooked
rendering the complainant unsatisfied.
The involvement of private players in waste
collection has been initiated. Despite being
successful in short run, the model will not be
sustainable if adequate checks and monitoring
is not done.
4.1.1 Solution
Customer service is not only important for a
successful business but also for changing the
mindset of people towards the governmental
services. It generates positive reputation and an
attitudinal change amongst the citizens, they
start appreciating the efforts and getting
themselves involved in the endeavors taken by
the government. Once the first step towards
improved service is taken, it would be easy to
motivate people to segregate waste at source.
With the advancement of technology, the
comfort level of people with mobile phones and
various applications on them have increased.
Municipalities can take advantage of the
situation by developing an application for the
customers availing collection services and a
software for the internal team.
With the use of software, route planning for
waste collection can be done in a way that
reduces the distance travelled while increasing
the amount of waste being collected. Using the
same software notifications/intimation can be
sent to the concerned person through SMS or
through the app prior to waste collection.
The mobile app can also serve as an essential
tool to lodge their complaint, track the
complaint and pay taxes. Trailing diagrams will
help provide a better understanding of how
technology can be a boon for improving the
service effectiveness and efficiency.

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Figure 1: Proposed Collection Approach
Figure 2: Proposed Complaint Redressal System

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4.2 No Source Segregation
The only solution to sustainable waste
management is waste segregation at source. In
India, waste segregation is an obligation to the
people and not their habit. It is an issue of lack
of awareness and attitude.
Even if the citizens are motivated, there are
other problems to cater to from the
municipality’s side. Although municipalities hold
the primary responsibility for solid waste
management, the key obstacle is inadequate
investment on developing human resources for
its management. Despite existence of home and
community segregation programmes, neither
are the municipal workers trained to collect this
waste separately nor are they properly
motivated to transport or store them
separately. This leads to de-motivation among
citizen groups to segregate their waste at
source. If segregated and stored separately dry
waste and other recyclables can itself lead to
20% of resource recovery from MSW. (Ministry
of Environment and Forests, 2010)
4.2.1 Solution
To achieve waste segregation at source, it is
essential that along with local government and
private entrepreneurs, the state government is
also envisaged to play an important part in
providing the appropriate infrastructure,
policies, and directions for waste segregation.
(Ministry of Environment and Forests, 2010)
Sensitization and training of the collection
executives about waste segregation is the very
first step. They should be taught in detail about
various waste items that fall under wet waste as
well as the items that fall under dry waste.
Incentives to the citizens can be used to
increase the extent of source segregation, both
financial and incentives made to recognize the
efforts of the citizens can serve the purpose.
Positive reinforcement methods such as giving
tax rebate to citizens for waste segregation will
motivate the generators.
State governments have the authority to make
source segregation compulsory and can levy
penalty on the generators who do not perform
the act. The stakeholders involved in the waste
collection process should be vigilant enough to
catch the defaulters. The collection executives
with the help of the hand-held device can click
images of the un-segregated waste and upload
them, the image would then be sent to the
deputy health officer or any concerned person
along with the waste generator, who could be
the chairman of the society or manager of the
corporate house. The image would be followed
by a notification to segregate the waste within
24 hours. Only if the waste segregation occurs
within that duration, will it be collected else
penalty would be imposed on the
society/corporate house.
More responsible citizens, vigilant executives
and standardization of processes using
technology will help make a sustainable model
of waste management.

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Figure 3: Process for Tax Rebate in Case of Proper Segregation
Database of
waste generator
Database will include following details: -
1. Name and Address of the society
2. Corporate code of the society
3. No. of household in the society
4. Approx. No. of persons in society
5. No. of dustbins
6. Name and contact details of Chairman
7. Approx. quantity of segregated waste
generated at society /year
From database, we can
get quantity of
segregated waste
required for tax rebate
for each society
Compare this approx
segregated quantity with
actual quantity of waste
from collection software
for each society
Collection
Software
Condition
of tax
rebate
Society is
eligible for tax
rebate
Society is not
eligible for tax
rebate
Yes No
Condition for tax rebate: -
If actual quantity of waste from collection software is
90% or above of required quantity of segregated waste
from database than that particular waste generator will
be eligible for tax rebate

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Figure 4: Ensured Waste Segregation
4.3 Non-Inclusion of the informal
sector
The International Labor Organization (ILO)
defines informal sector waste workers as
individuals or small and micro-enterprises that
intervene in waste management without being
registered and without being formally charged
for providing waste management services. The
sector is not recognized formally and
acknowledged; still their members provide
waste management services to the citizens.
(Gupta)
They play an important role in the waste
recycling value chain by collecting, sorting and
trading waste. A huge quantity of waste is
recovered by the informal sector. In most
developing countries, 15-20% of the waste
generated is managed by the informal sector,
providing financial and environmental benefits
to municipalities. (Gupta)
Since there aren’t any welfare benefits available
for the waste pickers, they majorly depend on
the local money lenders and intermediaries for
emergent needs. The waste-pickers get trapped
in the loan cycle which adds to their plight.
Another issue is the non-transparent nature of
the informal sector (local kabadiwalas) in
household waste collection as well as trading
the waste to authorized recyclers, cheating in
weight measurement while collecting waste
form households is a common problem that is
encountered in the country.

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4.3.1 Solution
Financial and social integration of the waste
pickers is of prime importance. NGO’s,
international organization, government, and
private organizations have to come together to
bring about a change.
Providing ID cards should be the first step to
boost their confidence and recognize the work
that they do. The next step could be inculcating
the saving habit amongst the waste workers by
providing bank linkage. Since most of them do
not have a legal id proof, private waste
management companies to whom the waste
pickers sell their waste can become the
guarantors or business correspondents.
Engaging waste pickers at the dry waste
facilities of municipalities for waste sorting and
making daily payments can be another essential
move towards formalizing their role in the
waste management sector.
Informal workers can organize in small
enterprises or cooperatives, manage sorting
and recycling centers and provide the local or
international recycling market with valuable
materials. The workers once integrated into
cooperatives would have increased bargaining
power than before.

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5. References
http://www.novonous.com/waste-management-market-india-2014-2025
http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/print/volume-14/issue-6/wmw-special/a-billion-
reasons-for-waste-to-energy-in-india.html
http://www.chintan-india.org/documents/fact_sheets/chintan_waste_tales_fact_sheet.pdf
http://www.moef.nic.in/legis/hsm/mswmhr.html
http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0313/ijsrp-p15129.pdf
http://cma.tn.gov.in/cma/en-
in/Downloads/Improving%20Municipal%20Solid%20Waste%20Management%20in%20India.pdf
http://www.moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Roadmap-Mgmt-Waste.pdf
http://www.transwaste.eu/file/001441.pdf
6. Bibliography
Annepu, Ranjith. A billion reason for waste to energy in India.
Gupta, Dr. Sanjay K. Integrating the Informal Sector for Improved Waste Management .
Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi. 2010. Report of the Committee to Evolve Road Map
on Management of Wastes in India. March 2010.