Analyzing the economics of dry waste

A recent study by Bengaluru-based Saahas Zero Waste and Bangalore Apartments’ Federation finds that a majority of the waste collected from South Bengaluru homes is of little value to recyclers.

The study was carried out in June on waste collected from over 6000 flats in 30 residential complexes including JP Nagar, Electronic City and Begur among others, over a period of nine days. A total of 4463 kgs of dry waste and 1533 kgs of e-waste was collected.

The study found that over 98% of the waste received from apartments was of either negative (15.8%), low (48.5%), or medium (33.7%) value. Only 2 percent of the waste, comprising mild steel, PET, and aluminum cans was considered high value. This implies that when sold to recyclers, the revenue would not meet the costs of formal collection, transportation and processing. In addition, certain negative value waste requires payment to the end-destinations such as cement plants for proper processing. Thus, it was only possible to recover 67% of the expenses from the waste revenue. “Therefore, the collection of the service fees from waste generators to support holistic waste management is critical. This also ensures social and environmental impact as set out in the next section,” the report proposes.

On the other hand, the report emphasizes, in a formal system, when waste is sorted into 25+ categories, 100% resource recovery is possible. “However, this requires investment in terms of labour, finances, infrastructure for channelization of different waste streams to appropriate processing destinations,” it states.

Saahas Zero Waste hopes that the report will become “a point of discussion at Managing Committee meetings when crucial decisions are taken with respect to selection of waste management partners and help them make the right choices.”