Best Practices for Solid Waste Management in Indian Cities - Workshop

On behalf of the CCAC Waste Initiative, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) conducted a workshop for cities in India with an aim to develop a city network to improve the solid waste management practices. A two-day workshop on “Best Practices for Solid Waste Management in Indian Cities’ was organised during 20-21 March 2017 at TERI RETREAT, Gual Pahari, Gurgaon, India.

Objectives of the workshop

• Briefly introduce the CCAC MSWI procedures, tools, and resources.
• Identify the main solid waste-related challenges the Indian cities are struggling to address.
• Define actions to address solid waste management challenges and achieve actual and significant SLCP reductions.
• Define how the CCAC MSWI and participating experts could support cities in their efforts to improve solid waste management and reduce SLCP emissions.
• Support the establishment of a regional network for knowledge exchange and expert advice.

Participants

The workshop was attended by 29 participants, which included municipal officials from different Indian cities, domestic and international experts in waste management and the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India. There were 10 Municipal Officials from six different cities (East Delhi - 1, South Delhi - 2, Mumbai - 1, Chennai - 2, Coimbatore - 1, Kolkata - 2, Pune – 1). A few cities also presented case studies of best practices in solid waste management adopted by them.

Presentations by experts and case studies by the Cities

• Overview of CCAC Waste Initiative: Nimmi Damodaran, Abt Associates
• Climate and Clean Air Coalition Municipal Solid Waste Initiative: Tools and Resources for Cities: Joe Donahue, Abt Associates on behalf of the U.S. EPA
• Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM): Rohit Kakkar, MoUD, Government of India
• Introduction to the CCAC Waste Initiative Indian Cities Network: Suneel Pandey, TERI, Delhi, India
• Solid Waste Management in Urban & Rural areas:  PU Asnani, UMC Global Pvt Ltd
• Integrated Solid Waste Management in Pune: Rajendra Jagtap, Pune Municipal Corporation
• C40’s Collaboration with the CCAC to Reduce SLCPs in India: Sanjay Sridhar, C40 Regional Director, South and West Asia
• Case Study - Kolkata Transfer Stations: Kolkata Municipal Corporation
• Solid Waste Management at a Glance in Zone 2 (Manali): Chennai Municipal Corporation

Site visit

Participants visited the South Delhi’s Compost Plant in the Okhla.  The Okhla compost plant is set up on Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework in association with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Today, the plant processes 500 tons per day (TPD) of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) each day and produces 75 TPD of compost which is compliant to the Fertilizer Control Order (FCO). The plant works on mixed MSW and focuses on quality and refinement, ensuring removal of inerts and other unwanted material while producing compost by windrow method.

Breakout sessions

On the 2nd day of the workshop, all participants were divided into three different themes –Waste collection and transport, Landfilling and Organic waste processing. Each group comprised of participants from two cities and experts to assist and guide them, to identify the waste management challenges/problems and to come up with an action plan.