3 -Days Online Training Program on “Disaster Resilient Waste Management for Sustainable Spaces”, June 16-18, 2021
IMPRI Team
DAY 1: 16th June, 2021
The three days Online certificate Training Programme on the theme “Disaster Resilient Waste Management for Sustainable Spaces” a joint initiative of National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Centre for Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development at IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi commenced on 16th of June, 2021.
Inaugurating the session Ms Nishi Verma, Research Program Officer at, IMPRI, welcomed the speakers and participants to the programme with an introduction to the eminent panellist. She stated the fact that integrating disaster waste issue is a critical component that requires a fundamental shift towards a model that not only strengthens the response to crises but also learns and adapts in order to anticipate and act before such waste garnered. Hence. Recognition of local risks, including everyday risks emanating from environmental degradation, needs a wider understanding by stakeholders at all levels.
She highlighted that as scholars, practioners and policy makes there is need to understand the background, issues and problems thereby objectively analysing them to chart the best ways forward.
Day 1 of the programme included eminent speakers Prof Anil Kumar Gupta, Head ECDRM, NIDM, New Delhi, Prof Shyamalal Mani, Senior Advisor WASH and waste Management, Public Health Foundation of India and Mr Harshad Barde Director, SWACH Pune, with patron being Maj Gen Manoj K Bindal, Executive Director, NIDM, New Delhi and convener Dr Simi Mehta, CEO & Editorial Director, IMPRI.
The convener of the session professor Anil Kr. Gupta Head ECDRM, NIDM, New Delhi
Starting with his remarks professor Gupta shared that there exists a strong nexus between waste, cities and disasters which plays an important role today with increased urbanisation. Waste has always been a huge challenge in terms of the amount and characteristics which human civilization is facing and stated that waste itself is a type of disaster and when disasters struck they leave a lot of waste which create serious issues. He highlighted that India has emerged as a leader in representing resilient infrastructure globally but the facilities needed to uphold these infrastructures like water supply and waste management need more focus.
He further underlined that there is a need to look at the interdependency of infrastructure.
He highlighted that globally talking about zero waste cities is an important aspect for making a waste management system resilient that nothing goes out as disposal or discharge. Hence there exist a number of issues that need to thought upon and worked on to integrate to the overall concept of smart cities using modern technologies. He further added that the community plays an important role in waste management both as a beneficiary, contributor to challenge and part of the solution and hence their participation is essential.
Prof Shyamalal Mani, Senior Advisor WASH and waste Management, Public Health Foundation of India
Dr Mani shared her views on ways of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable thereby combating climate change and its impact. Starting with she gave an introduction to solid waste and stated this waste has implications not only for sustainable development goals 11,12,13 but many more like SDG 3 healthy lives and promote well-being and SDG 6 water and sanitation. She further touched upon various legislations provided in India for solid waste management.
Talking about Solid waste management she stated that solid waste can be segregated in to three types of waste i.e. household waste, E-waste, industrial waste and bio medical waste. She added that solid waste impacts environment in various forms including water, soil and air contamination leading to deterioration of ecosystem.
Stating various remedial action Dr Mani shared waste management hierarchy with steps of prevention, minimization, reuse, recycle and proper disposal of waste. The waste needs to be segregated into various categories such as chemical, biological, thermal and waste for dumps and landfills. She further added that for segregation of waste the segregated solid waste should be stored at the source and then it should be collected, transported and finally processed.
She highlighted that disaster waste management does not only include one sector and there is a need to look at intersectoral cooperation for bridging the gap. She further stressed increasing renewable energy share in the country.
Sharing some of the learnings she said that there is a need for investing in data and technology for yielding exponential returns, revisiting city planning instruments, strengthening local governance framework and capacity tools, making cities financially self-reliant, reimaging collaborative architecture at local levels. She also stressed technological solutions for waste management with skill developments and training. She emphasized the use of more earth-friendly and less non – biodegradable components.
Mr Harshad Barde Director, SWACH Pune
Mr Barde threw light on role played by informal sector in waste management. He stated that informal recycling sector is highly resilient part of any urban waste management system including waste-pickers, aggregators, pre- processors and recyclers. There exist around 5 million waste pickers in India who are not recognized, exploited and kept out of waste management systems. He further shared recyclables waste flow procedure in detail.
Talking about Swach Cooperative Pune he stated that Swach created a system where itinerant waste pickers were integrated into a doorstep waste collection system with direct user fee-based doorstep collection. He highlighted the model of a decentralised solid waste management system at Pune.
He threw light on Swach cooperative Pune impact on waste management thereby providing maximum livelihood generation for waste pickers and facilitation of decentralised waste processing and the ability of the system to self-sustain it. He further shared some evolutionary and allied projects for waste management like EPR based waste recycling, sanitary waste recycling, V collect centres and cooperative scrap stores.
He underlined various impacts of disaster and stated that resilience for waste management will come from autonomy and financial sustainability of solid waste management systems, providing labour incentives and high decentralization.
Lastly, he emphasized upon zero waste to be managed at the source ensuring 100% segregation at the source with reduction, recycling and reuse of solid waste.
DAY 2: 17th June, 2021
Day 2 of the programme included eminent speakers Dr Brajesh Dubey, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Ms Swati Singh Sambyal, Waste Management Specialist, UN-Habitat India (United Nations Human Settlement Programme) and Prof Suneel Pandey, Director, Environment and Waste Management Division, TERI- The Energy and Resource Institute, New Delhi. The Patron for the session is Maj Gen Manoj K Bindal, Executive Director, NIDM, New Delhi and Conveners Prof Anil K Gupta, Head ECDRM, NIDM, New Delhi and Dr Simi Mehta, CEO & Editorial Director, IMPRI.
Starting with the session Ms Nishi Verma, Research Program Officer, IMPRI welcomed the speakers and participants to the programme with an introduction to the eminent panellist.
Dr Brajesh Dubey, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Starting with various ways to be prepared for effective waste management Dr Brajesh Dubeye elaborated on the types of disasters occurring at national and international levels and stated that waste coming out of these various type of disasters are nasty in nature. He further highlighted the global economic loss occurring due to disasters. The various types of waste streams in disaster waste include vegetative waste, construction and demolition waste, household waste, vehicles and vessel waste etc.
He stressed having a disaster waste management plan especially in disaster-prone areas for tackling disaster waste effectively. He elaborated on pre-disaster and post-disaster waste management plans. Further, he shared a strategy for separation and treatment of disaster waste adopted in Japan and emphasized proper segregation of waste. He shared steps for disaster waste public information program for community participation.
He stressed working on Mother Nature to make sure nature is protected. He elucidated the fact that waste is an important component as the world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually and hence for effective disposal of waste segregation of waste plays an important role.
He emphasized source segregation for effective waste disposal.
Elaborating further Dr Dubey shared process flow for waste management which include steps of identify needs, review existing systems, review existing regulations, organizing decision-making framework, establishing objectives, identifying potential components, comparing options, developing an integrated solid waste management plan, implementing the plan and finally evaluating waste management systems. He further shared various treatment technologies according to the type of waste.
Ms Swati Singh Sambyal, Waste Management Specialist, UN-Habitat India (United Nations Human Settlement Programme)
Ms Swati Singh Sambyal focused best practices for management of solid waste for building resilience in cities. She shared that main stream segregation should be implemented where every generator must segregate at source as per solid waste management rules 2016.she stated that though COVID has burden the health infrastructure it has also further amplified the challenges of waste management. Thus there is need for shifting to sustainable resource strategies and focusing on rethinking and reinventing of waste management.
She emphasized the need for a comprehensive waste management approach that focuses on waste prevention to avoid sending trash to landfills and incinerators.
She dwelled upon reinventing resource hierarchy in cities for recognizing the best use of the waste components. She insisted on data inventorisation and waste characterization prior to devising a robust waste management system. Also, it is important to understand existing waste characterization and consumption patterns for effective implementation of strategy on zero waste management. She stressed upon ground data assessment.
She shared a roadmap in order to make cities more resilient towards waste management these include mainstream segregation, effective collection and transportation of waste, setting up systems for resource recovery, creating engagement and awareness, social integration and inclusion of the informal sector and finally policy integration for promoting sustainable circular systems.
Prof Suneel Pandey, Director, Environment and Waste Management Division, TERI- The Energy and Resource Institute, New Delhi
Prof Suneel Pandey illustrated hazardous waste spill management. He started by defining hazardous waste and why disposed of hazardous waste different from parent chemicals. He shared that most hazardous wastes are complex, multi-phase with a great variety of physical and chemical properties. Major hazardous waste includes cyanide waste, heavy metals, organic waste including solvents and tars, inorganic waste, asbestos waste etc. He further highlighted the impact of waste disposal to land in an unorganised manner resulting in contamination of groundwater and surface water contamination. Further exposure of disaster waste to land leads to human exposure to waste through inhalation, direct contact and ingestion.
Prof Pandey shared some CPCB guidelines for handling, transportation, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste. He highlighted measures for the management of spill waste and stated that site investigation is required to be performed on land where the suspected release of hazardous waste has occurred for developing sufficient site characterization information to provide recommendations for future activities to rehabilitate the site.
He underlined that one of the critical steps in site investigation is to identify sensitive receptors that are directly affected or threatened by the release.
He further stated risk assessment approach i.e. qualitative approach involving sampling of contamination concentration for each pathway and quantitative approach i.e. using risk assessment methodology using modelling tools. He talked about the need for an emergency preparedness action plan for onsite storage and transportation of waste and an emergency plan to minimise hazards to human health or the environment. He further shared various PPEs and labels used for handling and transporting hazardous waste.
DAY 3: 18th June, 2021
Day 3 of the programme included eminent speaker’s special addressee Prof Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director, Integrated Research for Action Development (IRADe), Prof Prasad Modak, Executive President, Environmental Management Centre LLP, Dr Rachna Arora, Team Leader, Circular Economy Solutions Preventing Marine Litter, GIZ India. The Patron for the session is Maj Gen Manoj K Bindal, Executive Director, NIDM, New Delhi and Conveners Prof Anil K Gupta, Head ECDRM, NIDM, New Delhi and Dr Simi Mehta, CEO & Editorial Director, IMPRI.
Starting with the session Ms Nishi Verma, Research Program Officer, IMPRI welcomed the speakers and participants to the programme with an introduction to the eminent panellist.
Prof Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director, Integrated Research for Action Development (IRADe)
Starting with Prof Jyoti Parikh comments that disasters are increasing and one has to be ready to face it since it is being noticed that disaster frequencies are increasing with cyclone in east and west coast. She talked upon climate resilience and smart cities and state that smart cities mission launched in 2015 focusses on sustainable and inclusive development in 100 cities with an idea to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring cities. She elaborated smart cities mission strategies including redevelopment projects, Retrofitting projects, green field projects etc.
She highlighted IRADe’s “Climate Change Adaptive Programme for Urban Development” focusing on disaster resilience and smart cities, heat stress management, air pollution and human health. She stated that for sustainable urban development there is a need for vulnerability assessment for climate resilience, vulnerability index, disaster management strategies, disaster resilience action plans and GIS and remote sensing applications.
Talking about India’s climate disaster vulnerability she states that disaster’s often lead to high economic losses taking away all the development made. It is estimated that extreme weather events are costing India $9-10 billion annually with the major contributor being floods. She highlighted a HIGS framework for rapid Vulnerability Analysis of cities where H stands for Hazard Exposure, I stands for Infrastructure for Governance and S for Socio-Economic Variables.
She talked about Hazard Vulnerability maps which can indicate the precise location of sites where people, environment or property are at risk due to potentially catastrophic events/climate hazards. Also, ward-level information helps in developing effective planning, adaptation and mitigation strategies.
She highlighted the need to follow comprehensive Disaster response, recovery and risk reduction plans for disaster management.
She further showed a presentation on Recovery and crisis management in Handling flood Disaster in Srinagar in 2014. She stressed upon having a waste disposal plan for new emerging E-waste and Biomedical waste along with a focus on re-utilization of products and bringing behavioural change in society.
Prof Prasad Modak, Executive President, Environmental Management Centre LLP
Prof Prasad Modak talked about the global status of disaster waste management. Talking about disaster waste he highlighted that the financial cost of managing disaster has crossed the billion-dollar mark in recent years and disaster waste creates around 5 to 15 times of annual waste generation. He stated if planned better disaster waste can be recycled, disposed of, used to generate electricity or repurposed for land reclamation and engineering fill. He stated two types of disaster waste i.e. primary waste which is generated as a consequence of disaster and secondary waste which is waste generate by relief efforts.
Talking about stages of disaster waste management he stated post-disaster management including response, recovery and reconstruction and pre-disaster management including prevention, mitigation and preparedness. He emphasized having an emergency response for debris management (facilitate the preservation of life, provision of emergency services), Recovery (debris management as part of restoring lifeline restoration and building demolition) and Rebuild (debris management of waste generated from and used in reconstruction).
Prof Prasad Modak highlighted stages of post debris management which includes the estimation of magnitude and composition of disaster waste for each district/type of disaster, developing plans for waste collection and disposal, collating information on available sources in district/state and training for safe collection and disposal. He shared disaster management guidelines of various countries and stated that documents cover solid waste disposal and tend to focus on immediate management of waste generated in an emergency.
Talking on way head for India he emphasizes on urban local bodies to come up with debris management plans to ensure that usable materials are recovered, recycled as aggregates and utilized in development activities.
Talking about waste management strategies in a global context he stated that the major focus is on recycling generated disaster waste using mobile recycling plants and decentralized depots collection and storage. He also elucidated that outsourcing disaster waste management by inviting private parties to provide such services can also be examined as an option that would relieve the district /state machinery to concentrate on relief and rehabilitation efforts.
Dr Rachna Arora, Team Leader, Circular Economy Solutions Preventing Marine Litter, GIZ India
Dr Rachna Arora shared her knowledge on wastes from electronic and electrical equipment and Circular Economy. She highlighted the circular economy pathway of generating resources from waste by utilizing waste as secondary raw material to reduce extraction of primary raw material and associated environmental impacts. She stated that transition to a circular economy requires a paradigm shift across the entire consumption and production system.
Highlighting various strategies in circular economy she stated that it is about narrowing loops approach i.e. creating products and services with the same level of performance but lower environmental impacts with less emphasis on the end of use aspects.
She also talked about slowing loops and closing loops strategies in the circular economy. She highlighted that the circular economy concept is important for India as in India 97% of India’s resources are produced domestically and it is highly dependent on the import of critical raw materials.
Dr Rachna Arora threw light on electronic waste and highlighted various E-waste Rules and objectives i.e. minimizing illegal recycling and recovery operations, enabling environmentally safe and sound recycling, creating E-waste collection channelization etc. She further stated Extended producer Responsibility (EPR) which is a policy principle to decrease the total impact from the product by making producers responsible for the entire life cycle. She stressed increasing EPR awareness and suggested various policy options for Enhancing EPR in India also emphasized promoting the inclusion of the informal sector via dedicated policies and incentives for formalisation. She also shared a policy option of issuing horizontal high-level guidelines for eco-design criteria of EEE in order to increase the longevity of products.
Closing the 3-Day training session conveyor of the session Prof Anil K Gupta, Head ECDRM, NIDM, gave his concluding remarks and thanked all the eminent panellist. He underlined that a lot of important points have been brought up in the training with the objective of building disaster-resilient waste management for sustainable spaces. These kinds of training discourses play an important role in making people on the policy table accepting the existing issues and planning their policies through suggestions and statistics provided in the discourse. He complimented the entire team of Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI) on the successful conduction of the training programme.
The training program ended with a vote of thanks by the moderator.
Training Report
