Digitalising waste management can make Indian cities & towns cleaner, more sustainable

Expanding urban areas, growing populations, increasing incomes and changing lifestyles are rapidly increasing the amount of municipal solid waste. To address the emerging waste management issues, the Government of India has launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014 and updated the Solid Waste Management Rules in 2016. 

In the wake of these efforts, urban local bodies (ULB), in partnership with non-government organisations, private sector waste processors or self-help groups started setting up material recovery facilities (MRF). 

MRFs are centres where dry waste is collected, further separated and sent to recycling facilities ensuring technology set-up and occupational safety. They help to keep waste in the recycling loop, thus helping cities to become waste-free and achieve ambitious objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban 2.0. 

Currently, there are more than 2,000 MRFs in India and many more facilities are in the process of being set up. The MRFs are designed as an integral part of the waste (resource) ecosystem for collection, weighing, segregation and further processing of dry waste pre-consumer and post-consumer, as well as recovered legacy waste (in some cases). 

The MRF design integrates with a share of mixed and sanitary waste (expected with the dry waste) as well.

For most ULBs, the question is how efficiently the MRFs work and how their performance can be improved. The solution lies in Pearson’s Law, which states “what is measured, improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially”.

According to a recent report released by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), around 154,090 tonnes of waste is generated in the country every day. If municipal solid waste is adequately segregated and sent to MRFs (preferably decentralised) with appropriate linkages to recycling facilities for further processing, the waste can be converted into an important resource. 

However, the efficacy of the current methods of waste segregation needs to be monitored in more detail in most cities. Based on current figures, the MoHUA estimated that almost 76 per cent of the waste is processed and about 93 per cent of all wards separate waste at source. 

The MRFs also provide with the much-needed traceability and transparency a mandate under the new plastics waste management rule -Guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic waste. In fact, going a step further, a similar approach of materials recovery facilities over time will integrate wastes from other sectors such as solar panels, batteries and other material resources, to give a more integrated and circular-holistic approach to material resource efficiency.

In a study conducted in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh under the Indo-German development cooperation project called ‘Cities combating plastic entering the marine environment’, researchers found that 12 per cent of plastics, eight per cent of paper and cardboard, five per cent of textiles, one per cent each of rubber and tyre and one per cent of glass arrive at transfer stations. 

This MSW could be processed in the MRFs if the waste was well segregated at the source itself. The study released in 2022 also indicated that organics, which make up about 43-45 per cent of MSW, can easily be turned into a valuable resource that can be further used in the production of biogas or compost. 

Improper waste management is often linked to global environmental issues such as marine litter, pollution from release of toxic gases, ultimately affecting climate change. According to academic reports, 80 per cent of plastics enter the oceans from land.

The main reason is the improper waste management in cities. It is therefore crucial that cities implement smart solutions that are simple, replicable and scalable, without taking a lot of time. In fact, as effectively shown by many bilateral organisations, non-government organisations and others, this is not a very expensive route and now this has been even getting aptly translated from urban to rural ecosystem. 

The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (water resources), under the Swachh Bharat Mission – Grameen, has also shared guidelines to establish an MRF in every block of India and year-marked budget lines encouraging convergence of rural with peri-urban areas.   

Digitalisation in waste management has the potential and has proven to be one of the most important solutions to make cities and towns cleaner and more sustainable.

Digital tools in waste management will not only help cities and towns identify trends of recycling of different dry waste categories of paper, glass, metals, plastics, tyres and rubber, and other materials getting diverted for recycling through MRFs, but also help city administrators take informed decisions in involving the ecosystem stakeholders, more importantly on issues such as inclusivity of waste-pickers.

Such tools are useful, for instance, in tracking status of policy implementation as single-use plastic ban as well as, identifying recyclers that can be partnered with cities for better material linkages and the waste pickers (safai sathis) getting benefitted as well. 

A pioneering role in this area plays the Sansaadhan Portal that provides ULBs with a simple digital solution to monitor the performance of their MRFs (now trending into rural areas as well). 

The portal was developed by MoHUA with the support of the ‘Cities Combatting Plastics Entering the Marine Environment’ project that the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements on behalf of The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. 

It not only captures the daily data of MRFs on incoming and outgoing materials, but also makes them visible for recyclers and traders who sign up to the portal. It also promotes networking among the relevant actors.

The portal is designed in a manner that cities can easily monitor the performance of their MRFs based on the amount of material in stock or diverted for recycling, energy recovery, road construction and disposal. 

A distinction is made among 68 categories with different colours, conditions and packaging. In addition, city performance can be monitored at the state and national levels. The portal is currently being tested in Ambikapur, Chandigarh, Indore, Kanpur, Kochi, Panjim, Port Blair, Varanasi, spread across seven states and in 54 MRFs. Many recycling associations and traders have already signed up — the partners and tendency are increasing. 

The portal was also showcased at national workshop ‘City Recycler connect’ organised by MoHUA as part of ‘Meri LiFE, Mera Swachh Shehar’ campaign on May 31, 2023, to help create awareness among stakeholders. Mission LiFE or ‘lifestyle for environment’ is described by the Government of India as a 'mass movement for ‘LIFE’ as a key to combatting climate change’.

How quickly such a reporting portal can be scaled up to all ULBs and linked to the existing monthly SBM information system still needs to be explored. However, the time is right for the transition to the digital age and an ecosystem approach.

Sourabh Manuja is technical expert for ‘Cities Combatting Plastic Entering Marine Environment’ project at GIZ India and Prabhjot Sodhi is senior programme director (circular economy), director at Material Recycling Association of India & thematic lead on plastics for Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, implementing CCE-HDFC partnership for MRF establishment. 

Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.

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