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 … Continue reading Disaster Resilient Waste Management for Sustainable Spaces