Sorting waste is the ‘A’ of Waste Management

Have you ever wondered about the ease with which you dispose your waste? The process is amazingly simple: collect your daily waste in any container and dispose it off at a local community bins or through a local collector (kacharawala/ raddiwala). If on any day either was not been possible then just dump it anywhere you feel plausible.

Such a process should have won India some International accolades for its simplicity and flexibility. However, in reality, our system is pre-historic compared to that in the developed world. According to me, for a country with population statistics such as ours, we have one of the weakest waste disposal mechanism and policy in the world.

Multiply the urban/rural population by the high risk of a local epidemic or inability of our government to effectively control/ respond to a global epidemic or the effect on the local bio-diversity due to poaching of landmass by waste landfills etc. All this can translate into an unprecedented effect on our social welfare – worse than any war – imagine as if we were waging a biological war against ourselves.

And the risk can be substantially reduced if we become more “aware” of our own duties.

Let me explain through a simple comparison:

The population density of Tokyo, Japan is 6,027.2/km² (source: Wikipedia) is comparable to the population density of New Delhi at 5,854.7/km² (source: Wikipedia).

In mid 1960’s, the waste collection system of Tokyo was modernized, just before the Olympics. This modernization hinged on ‘sorting of waste’, i.e. segregation of the waste into various categories at the source of waste. At present, the waste is sorted at the source/ point of generation into various categories mentioned in the depiction below, into designated collection bags available at a local supermarket. The municipal collection of waste has been systematically drawn out into a category wise fixed schedule.

Over the years, the number of waste categories for sorting has increased. In some cities in Japan, the number of categories are as high as 44. Though the process is complicated, it works remarkably well in reducing overall waste collection, reducing usage of incinerators, increasing recycling and also in reducing the need for expanding landfills. This further, helps the government impose the producer’s responsibility to aid the society in disposing the waste created through consumption of their products.

However, having said this, there have been some baby steps towards streamlining the sorting paradox. I recently noticed at the Delhi airport twin-bins for segregating the recyclable waste from non-recyclable. In addition, the Delhi government in 2010 launched an e-waste disposal system by proposing to install e-waste bins at various places across the city. However, I am yet to see any such bin.

Thus, it is “winning” to sort. Instead of waiting for the government to respond to the dire need of managing waste more efficiently, we must take it on ourselves to educate each other of the perils and the expectation going forward towards social welfare.

We at Afterelife can help you understand the sorting paradigm further. Mail us or just leave a comment to this blog.