Abhishek Singh & Chandarprabha Sharma 
Founders of eArth Samvarta Foundation, Mr Abhishek Singh and Ms Chandarprabha Sharma
Mention ‘Ayodhya’ and the first thing that comes to mind is the decades old Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid dispute. Finally, after the Supreme Court’s November 2019 verdict permitting the construction of a temple, work is on in full-swing to build one of India’s grandest temples at the site believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram.
Yet, few are aware that Ayodhya is also home to a great ecological heritage that is largely unknown and neglected: The great Saryu river, which is the largest tributary of the Ganges, flows through the city and is home to freshwater Gangetic Dolphins (International Union for Conservation of Nature Status: Endangered).
There is little doubt that over the next few years, Ayodhya – a small city in Uttar Pradesh with a population of 2.21 lakh (as per the 2011 census) – is all set to be transformed forever. Religious tourism will change the city’s landscape, placing severe strain on its existing infrastructure, be it roads, water supply and solid waste management (SWM) system.
Ayodhya serves as the administrative headquarters of Faizabad district. It shares the Nagar Nigam with its neighbouring twin town of Faizabad. Nagar Nigam Ayodhya generates 140 tonnes of waste per day alone. The other four municipalities of Ayodhya district generate approximately five to seven tonnes per day and the Cantonment board generates another five tonnes of waste per day.
In the coming years, Ayodhya city will host a record number of tourists. One of the major by-products of tourism is waste. Waste generation will increase manifold and the Nagar Nigam must start preparing systematically in anticipation of the rise in its waste footprint. Ayodha’s waste management plans and policies must be systematic, sustainable, efficient and economically viable.
Currently, there is no MSW processing facility in Ayodhya. The Nagar Nigam performs partial processing of collected waste and is targeting complete processing in the near future. Dumping of waste in open grounds is also seen in some places. There are six legacy waste dumping sites within 500 meters of the Saryu river in Ayodhya with an estimated quantity of approximately 370 MT. This data is provided by the UP Pollution Control Board’s Action Plan For Restoration Of Polluted Stretch Of River Saryu: From Ayodhya To Iltifatganj released earlier this year.
Naturally, this neglect of SWM comes with immense environmental and public health hazards. Ayodhya’s wetlands and the iconic Saryu are choking with trash and toxic waste. Lal Dighi, a wetland in the heart of Ayodhya that was earlier filled with waste (including hazardous medical waste) is being cleaned by eArth Samvarta Foundation (eSF) in association with Nagar Nigam Ayodhya.
Uncontrolled dumping of garbage also pollutes the groundwater with toxic leachates that percolate through the soil. Increasingly, compaction of waste is also being favoured by the administration since it helps reduce the volume of waste, which in turn reduces transportation costs and the size of piles in the dumping areas. However, compaction of waste in the current scenario is ill advised because it is mixed or unsegregated. Compacting unsegregated waste reduces the recyclability of different types of waste and precludes any possibility of converting waste into wealth. Composting is also another commonly recommended solution. However, composting at the scale of entire districts is not recommended because it releases alarming levels of methane, thus contributing to climate change.
The UPPCB’s Action Plan outlines the need to establish a MSW Treatment & Disposal Facility as early as possible. Dr. Neeraj Shukla, Municipal Commissioner, Nagar Nigam Ayodhya informs us, “Given the challenge of growing trash owing to Ayodhya’s future development, Nagar Nigam Ayodhya has been actively planning to purchase land to develop a systematic model for waste management in Ayodhya.”
Our NGO eArth Samvarta Foundation (eSF) has developed a comprehensive waste management solution with its consortium partners, Trashcon and Bioen. eSF’s 360-degree waste management facility helps turn a fragmented, inefficient supply chain of waste into a circular economy of waste. eSF’s waste facility has four units: a segregation unit, a biogas production unit, a non-biodegradable, non-ferrous waste processing unit and a construction and demolition (C&D) waste recycling unit.
The segregator unit uses innovative technology developed by Trashcon which helps segregate mixed waste that arrives at the facility. With this technology, local authorities can efficiently achieve the goal of converting waste to wealth while reducing rag-picking or manual salvaging of trash in landfills.
The biogas technology being developed in this 360-degree waste management facility is one of the most efficient technologies in terms of water and energy requirement and tolerance for nature of waste. The plant requires water only at the start of the reaction and later every three to five years when it is cleaned. After the initial round, the plant uses water from the waste itself. This helps save millions of litres of water and since there is no wastewater released, the plant does not need a sewage treatment plant. The biogas plant, unlike other technologies, allows MSW and agricultural residues to be combined. This can greatly solve the agricultural residue-burning problem that is choking India’s northern cities.
The non-biodegradable, non-ferrous trash including single-use plastic segregated from the mixed waste is converted into refuse derived fuel (RDF) briquettes with calorific value of 7,800 kcal (roughly double that of Lignite coal). Recyclable plastic will be segregated and shredded into granules for recycling as recycled plastic. Finally, C&D waste which is expected to spike in the near future, will be recycled at a waste management facility into bricks.
Our 360-degree waste management model is scientific and economically viable. It provides a sustainable solution for waste to wealth conversion in Ayodhya.
The authors of this blog founded eArth Samvarta Foundation (eSF), an award-winning NGO empanelled with the Deputy Divisional Forest Officer on the committee which conducts performance audits of waste management in Ayodhya. eSF was awarded the 2019 Paryavaran Mitra Award by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Ms Sharma (CEO, eSF) and Mr Singh’s (CMD, eSF) organization has also been felicitated by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai for raising awareness among citizens regarding responsible waste generation and disposal. For more information, see https://samvarta.org/
