& TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................. 1 SECTION 2: ULB LED INNOVATIONS .................................... 4 SECTION 3: CITIZEN LED INNOVATIONS ............................ 26 SECTION 4: INITIATIVES BY CIVIL SOCIETY AND CORPORATES ...................................................................... 31 Introduction Innovation and best practices in context of waste management Waste management essentially involves activities Waste management measures should include strategies associated with generation, storage, collection, transfer for urban mining and a shift from primary to secondary and transport, processing and disposal of wastes in a resource use (re-use and recycling). Impact of such manner which is environmentally compatible, adopting strategies will be that on one side urban mining and re- principles of economy, aesthetics, energy efficiency and use/recycling strategies will reduce energy requirements conservation. India need to leapfrog its learning curve in and emissions for material production. For example, the area of waste management by translating science aluminium production from scrap requires about 20 times into technology, knowledge into implementation and less energy than from bauxite ore. But on the other side focus on mitigating negative impacts or adapting to recycling of materials from end-of-life products will face unavoidable negative impacts. For this to happen, best significant quality challenges as the share of old scrap practices should have public participation so that the rises, may create quantitative limits to recycling. This is time lag between research and innovations and its because current recycling strategies are largely based on scaling up into projects for public welfare is reduced. downgrading (e.g., accumulation of alloying elements “Soft” components of a project are as important as due to incomplete separation of scrap types, which limits “hardware” component. Therefore, focus of monitoring the range of applications) and dilution (mixing of scrap waste infrastructure should not be in numbers alone but with more clean primary metals). New technologies and also in terms of outcome. For example, monitoring health strategies are required for closing the loops based on old productivity of sanitation scheme compared to merely scrap. monitoring number of toilets constructed. There is a need Later half of previous century has focused on taking away to document lessons from past actions to develop the of waste from habitat area and land dumping/SLF on the right interface between policy and practice. Capacity outskirts of the city. A shift towards adequate mix of building at various levels including Municipal Councils is technological options for waste processing is best for an important activity in this endeavour. sustainable cities. About 50% of the waste is In India, no significant initiatives are seen for strategies to biodegradable. Hence, bio-methanation and use of reduce waste generation. Traditionally India had low per bioenergy is good option followed by composting and capita waste generation rate compared to developed use of manure for agriculture. Recovery of plant nutrients and many developing countries, however, with changing such as Nitrogen and Phosphorus will close the nutrient lifestyle, this may not be the case. Public awareness for cycle retaining these scarce resources for longer duration ‘reducing or refusing’ to generate waste and storing of on land. Resource and energy recovery will make these waste in a manner to allow downstream interventions is a technologies fiscally sustainable. good practice in this context. Innovations in the area of There are not enough evidences of the negative impact ‘sustainable production and consumption’ is required in a of septic tanks and soak pits and therefore they continue big way. Behavioural changes among citizens would to enjoy main stay in public policies specially in the promote reduction in waste or source segregation and context of decentralised lavatories. Huge target, PPP and utilization within the household, for instance, through CSR funding resulted in the focus on “low hanging fruits” innovative engagement with ULBs. completely ignoring the high hanging fruits which could Scientific literature has established that energy use and be dangerous for long term sustainability. For example, emissions are involved in waste transportation. the word sanitation itself is liberally interpreted as Decentralised management of waste and concept of construction of toilets, completely ignoring the whole zero campuses is also a good practice to be followed and cycle of water and sludge management. Decentralised replicated for low carbon and low energy-based treatment systems like soak pits and septic tanks shift the management of waste. problem of pollution from surface to below grounds that can have long-term irreparable damage. Initiatives that 01 blends sanitation practices in the context of cultural and composting and minimizing dependence on chemical social traditions is important to achieve objectives of fertilizers are utilized across the country and community cleaner India. composting projects or home composting is widely practiced. Source segregation of waste and its Indicators 7.1 and 7.2 in Swachh Survekshan 2019 measure decentralized management at city level can reduce the initiatives led by ULBs and citizens respectively for pressure on ULBs to manage the same. Inorganic wastes innovation and best practices in the field of waste have been segregated and recycled across the country. management. Innovation is defined based on the For instance, innovative use of waste plastic for pavement interpretation of newness of the service and the value it blocks, or construction of walls reduces plastic waste creates not just for the developer (in this case ULBs), but reaching landfill or dump sites. also the customers (in this case the citizens)1. The European Union defines innovation as “the successful Management of liquid waste, including faecal sludge production, assimilation and exploitation of novelty in the management economic and social spheres”.2 For the purpose of this Faecal sludge management continues to remain one of report, best practices are those initiatives where the ULB the biggest challenges among the ULBs and a robust or citizens have taken a lead in scaling up projects thus faecal sludge management is yet to be seen. While reducing the learning curve for others to emulate or have prompt desludging and removal of overflowing waste significant impact in terms of health outcome. through tankers are practiced by many ULBs, few ULBs are City-level Innovations and Best Practices also in advanced stages of construction of faecal sludge treatment plant. ULBs and citizens across the country have undertaken Site remediation various initiatives supporting Swachh Bharat Mission, which focus on innovative ways of community Several ULBs have provided beautifully transformed areas engagement to bring behavior changes as well as to their citizens, which existed as big garbage dumping technological interventions to strengthen existing waste yards or Garbage Vulnerable Points (GVP). These points management practices. We have endeavoured to have been converted into parks or play areas for senior showcase but a few of these shining examples in this citizens and children. With community engagement, its report. upkeep and maintenance are joint responsibility of ULB and citizens. Scientific bio-remediation of landfill sites are ULBs and citizens across the country undertook various also been taken up. These initiatives have helped initiatives supporting Swachh Bharat Mission, which focus transform an unscientifically managed dumping yard into on innovative ways of community engagement to bring open areas for common use by the citizens. behaviour changes as well as technological interventions to strengthen existing waste management practices. Employee motivation and compliance Some of these initiatives have ben highlighted in this The assessment revealed that several ULBs have taken the report. help of local self-help groups (SHGs) to encourage source Management of solid waste, including waste to energy segregation and other good practices in waste management among citizens. In addition, monitoring of A review of the evidence submitted by ULBs reveal a clear door-to-door collection of waste through radio frequency trend towards source segregation of organic waste at identification (RFID) based garbage collection systems household or at community level providing opportunities and mobile app enabled online attendance and for converting waste to energy, and also for cooking fuel movement through GPS-driven tracking have been can at home through biogas generation and processing be helpful in enhancing employee motivation as well as biogas as transportation fuel. Benefits through Some initiatives have been taken at individual household monitoring the performance at a central level. level in the community, for instance, maintaining gardens 1 Witell, L., Snyder, H., Gustafsson, A., Fombelle, P., & Kristensson, P. (2016). Defining service innovation: A review and synthesis. Journal of Business Research, 69(8), 2863–2872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.055 2 EU (1995), “Green paper on innovation. December 1995”, European Commission, available at: http://europa.eu/documents/comm/green_papers/pdf/com95_688_en.pdf (accessed January 17, 2019) 02 Community engagement in awareness programs