Community%20Based%20Waste%20Management:%20Some%20Key%20Experiences

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Community Based Waste Management Some Key
Experiences

• Mrs Almitra H Patel, Member
• Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste
  Management in Class 1 Cities in India
• Ranchi, 16.11.2002

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The best way to keep streets clean is not to
dirty them at all
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Open waste breeds half-wild dogs that bite kids,
spread rabies and attack village livestock
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What is the answer? First, minimise all wastes
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Park and Garden wastes can be composted on-site
or used as fuel or sent to cremation grounds
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Managing all wastes at home is best. Keep
kitchen waste separate, and compost it at home
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Use potted plants or plant beds waste put onto
soil in thin layers decomposes soon and is
fertiliser
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Apartment bldgs can compost their wastes in very
little space
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Planter-composting over drains beautifies the
street while keeping leachate off the road
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Vermi-bins can beautify pavements but should not
make them too narrow to walk on
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Houses on a street can use common compost bins
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Common compost-tanks for a moholla need air and
drainage
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Roadside dustbins are always dirty. Remove them
and grow a garden in that spot to keep it clean
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Moholla waste has to be collected door-to-door at
fixed times
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Handcarts can be of many types, but all should
have bins to avoid manual loading of waste
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It helps to have a shelf and storage space for
sorted dry waste
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Dry recyclable waste can be collected weekly in
larger carts
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Moholla or City must provide space for Collecting
and Storing dry recyclable wastes
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Also space to collect truckloads of dry waste for
shipment out
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Otherwise it will encroach on roads or even
riverbeds
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Market waste is easy to compost
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Use space in Pumping Stations
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Larger quantities of waste are harder to handle
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and need costly mechanised equipment for turning
sieving
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Unturned dumps cause terrible pollution leachate
ruins soil water
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Bulk wastes are composted with the help of
cowdung-water rock phosphate or low-cost
biocultures
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Form waste into wind-rows and spray with
bioculture
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Proper moisture control and turning is essential
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Such compost is used by farmers and returns
nutrients to the soil
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But plastic wastes are a major problem in
composting and need very costly machinery to
remove
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Thermocole and plastic carrybags can be recycled
if kept separate
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Citizens can help by keeping dry waste out of
kitchen waste
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This is the law of the land now daily doorstep
collection of wet wastes for composting, dry
wastes given separately