Aafrin Kidwai The second session of ‘No Time To Waste’, a series of virtual roundtables organized by SolidWasteIndia, in partnership with Theistic Business Consultants, saw top government officials and ULBs in the northern states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh share their views on the biggest challenges in SWM facing their respective states.
Joining them in the closed-door session were private waste sector leaders sharing how they can offer solutions to these challenges. SolidWasteIndia, in partnership with Theistic Business Consultants, is organizing a series of regional virtual roundtables with key public and private sector leaders to discuss some of the biggest challenges – and solutions to India’s waste management sector. The first session was held recently for a select group of invitees from the Western region.
The second session saw government and civic officials from Jammu share some of their biggest solid waste management challenges – mainly processing wet waste, MLPs, and capacity building of civic staff. “We are grappling with under-trained safaai saathis who do not understand the process of waste management. How can they, in turn, be trained to ensure residents also segregate and clear the waste?” Mr Hardeep Singh Mankotia, Chairman – Swachh Bharat Mission, Jammu said. He elaborated how there were challenges in terms of processing wet waste given the climatic and topographic conditions of his state. This point was further raised by Mr Kulbhushan Khajuria, Jt Commissioner, Health and Sanitation, Jammu Municipal Corporation. Mr Khajuria reminded the audience that he has recently taken on this position – newly created at the JMC, which reiterates the civic body’s commitment to improving waste management in the state.
Mr Rakesh Nayyar of the Punjab Pollution Control Board described how public awareness on segregation was the biggest problem his state faced, while elaborating on some of the initiatives taken by his state to promote efficient waste management.
Mr SP Jha of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board described how his state has consistently worked to address myriad waste management problems, making it one of India’s cleanest states. The Indore model was described by Mr Mahesh Sharma of the Indore Municipal Corporation who emphasized that waste segregation at source by involved citizens remained the most important element for successful waste management.
Mr Asad Warsi, CEO, Eco Pro Environmental Services, gave further insights on how Indore showed exemplary determination in fixing its waste management problems in a determined and consistent fashion, which has now yielded results.
Experts from the waste management field provided their insights on recycling – including Mr Prabhjot Sodhi – Director, Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI) and Senior Programme Director for Centre for Environment Education (CEE), as well as Mr Mihir Banerji – Past President, Indian Plastics Institute (IPI).
Vaibhav Jain, Vice President, A K Capital Services Ltd shared how Ghaziabad had raised Rs 130 crores through green bonds and how that can be a possible solution to address financial constraints faced by ULBs.
Participants invited from the private sector provided relevant information on the services and technologies they can provide to the municipalities to address these issues. These included Saahas Zero Waste, CNIM Martin, Ishitva Robotics, Zigma Enviro Solutions, Recykal, Otto Waste Solutions, and Thermax Babcock & Wilcox Energy Solutions.
You can watch the virtual roundtable on our YouTube channel SolidWasteIndia.
