Street dustbins are the problem, not the solution!
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Long before a Supreme Court deadline for the implementation of the Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2000, came into effect in January 2004, Suryapet in Andhra Pradesh had showed the way to the rest of the country by cleaning up its waste in a safe, environment-friendly manner
The sleepy town of Suryapet woke up to a reality that has caught most other towns and cities napping. Although of little historical value or tourist significance, this small town in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, is way ahead of many urban centres in the country. It has earned the rare distinction of being India's first 'dustbin free' town.
Spread over an area of 34 square kilometres, Suryapet supports a population of 1 lakh and thirty thousand. Some 20,000 people from adjoining villages throng here every day, as the town is an important commercial and educational hub. Needless to say, the town's resident population, as well as its daily visitors, put an enormous strain on its 218 km of drains and 241 km of roads.
"Overflowing dustbins, garbage-littered streets and a stinking town was my inheritance," recalls municipal commissioner S A Khadar Saheb who took up his appointment towards the end of 2002. Like most other towns its size, Suryapet's annual income of Rs 8.45 crore was too small to manage its annual garbage output of 12,000 metric tonnes. Seized of the situation, Khadar Saheb knew he was up against a formidable challenge.
Within days of taking up office, Khadar Saheb took to the streets with his small army of 235 public health workers. He set about clearing the streets of their overflowing dustbins; some 360 overburdened dustbins were soon relieved of their duties! "Only by removing the dustbins could we have thought of better options," quips Khadar Saheb. Instead, each household was provided with two different-coloured bins in which to put their rubbish.
The aim was to involve the entire community in the transformation. Street meetings, street plays and door-to-door visits marked the social mobilisation process. In addition to their routine duties, municipal workers distributed leaflets and encouraged households to segregate their waste at the source. Municipal staff greeted members of every household with traditional kumkum and made them feel proud of being part of the effort.
Sensing growing enthusiasm amongst the communities, Khadar Saheb brought several important issues -- the right age for marriage, the importance of education, the need for family planning, healthcare for pregnant women and the dangers of communicable diseases -- up for discussion at public meetings. Focus group discussions with college students, commercial establishments and women's groups addressed specific issues and the role each group could play.
As soon as people in the town began segregating their wet and dry garbage into the green and red bins provided by the municipality, nine tractors, three tricycles and three cycle-rickshaws were pressed into service, collecting the garbage from homes. It was a treat watching people rush out to unload their bins into the municipal vehicles, at the blow of a whistle!
Unbelievable though it may sound, the municipality spent just Rs 1.24 crore in a year on cleaning up the town. No additional workers were hired, nor were extra resources mobilised. "Transparency and efficiency were nevertheless revived," says Khadar Saheb. Motivational incentives, regular monitoring and efficient management provided back-up support to the much-needed cleanup effort.
Long before the Supreme Court deadline for the implementation of the Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2000, came into effect in January 2004, Suryapet had already achieved the rare distinction of being the first town to have segregated its waste at source; to have collected it without littering the streets; and to have composted the same to generate additional income. Segregation of waste helped the municipality earn Rs 26,000 in a year, only from the sale of recyclable plastic.
The Municipal Solid Waste Rules call for source segregation as the first step, before cleaner composting and recycling of urban solid waste. This discourages the creation of hazardous dumping sites, on the one hand, and the need for environment-unfriendly waste incinerators on the other. Suryapet has clearly demonstrated that dumping sites and incinerators may become a thing of the past if indeed there is the political will to bring about change.
Khadar Saheb is convinced that Suryapet's success can easily be replicated in towns with a similar population. "Resources are not the constraining factor, good intentions are," he argues.
At a time when most municipalities are experiencing the pressures of meeting the Supreme Court's deadline, Suryapet offers a viable solution to the problem of urban waste. Many municipalities are also considering privatisation as an easy option.
Urban India generates well over 40 million tonnes of waste every year, but it has yet to develop a comprehensive safe disposal and recycling system for small, medium and large towns. Mounting garbage dumps situated in low-lying areas and the outskirts of towns pose serious health and environmental risks. Perhaps we need to be reminded of what Gandhiji said: "For India, sanitation is more important than independence."
InfoChange News & Features, August 2004