Sanitation Park Nathuwawala, Dehradun: A Study of Solid Waste Management in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand is a hilly state which consists of 90 urban local bodies, facing the problem of Solid Waste Management. There are only two solid waste plants in the state. Solid Waste Management process in decentralised method has recently been started at Nathuawala ward in Dehradun, having a population of 13000. The solid waste processing area has been named “Sanitation Park”. The researchers have found that the waste is disposed systematically in a scientific manner in this area, as per Solid Waste Rules 2016. There is no eyesore in this area. All the community members participating in this project have appreciated the work of the leading NGO “Feedback Foundation”. It is a combined effort of Nagar Nigam, Feedback Foundation and Community of Nathuawala ward. It may be concluded that decentralized method is economically sustainable and can be adopted by Urban Local Bodies of Uttarakhand for Solid Waste Management process. This project can turn out to be a role model for other Urban Local Bodies all over India. Current World Environment www.cwejournal.org ISSN: 0973-4929, Vol. 15, No. (1) 2020, Pg. 87-99


Introduction
Sanitation is directly related to public health and a variety of health related facilities are provided by the government to the society but basically public health is associated with sanitation. In general , sanitation is the responsibility of local bodies like Nagar Nigam ,Nagar Palika Parishad and Nagar Panchayat at urban level and Gram Panchayat and Jila Panchayat at rural level. Though these bodies are responsible for multiple services like education, registration of birth/death, street light, construction of internal roads and drains in cities/towns etc but sanitation is the main focus of these local bodies. The base of all the living conditions depends upon sanitation and the level of Sanitation depends upon the solid waste management process adopted by these bodies. Kumar (2010) has indicated a report of a high power committee on Urban Solid Waste Management in India which has pointed out that Urban Solid Waste Management is one of the most neglected area of Urban Development.

Establishment of Solid Waste Management
Processing Plant is essential for proper Solid Waste Management .Waste Management applies those techniques and systems that ensure proper storage, collection ,transportation and disposal of a waste stream (Pichtel,2014). Public Participation is required to solve the problem of any area. The role of NGO is also very important. According to Shorholy and others (2008) the involvement of people and private sector through NGOs could improve the efficiency of MSWM. Public awareness should be created. Proper segregation, Scientific and systematic waste management is required for a successful waste management. Jasti and Subbaiah (2010) has also focussed upon adaptation of technologies to provide environmental friendly processing of waste saying that MSW disposal does not entirely depend upon the efficiency of Municipal Corporation. Ahsan and others (2014) has also stated that integrated solid waste system should be based on local needs, socio-economic setting and technological capabilities. Solid Waste Management Rules (2016)and Advisory on On-site Decentralized Composting of Municipal Organic Waste (2018) focus on decentralized waste treatment system.
In Uttarakhand, all the Urban Local Bodies are facing sanitation problems due to a lack of systematic solid waste management planning. Solid Waste Management Processing plants have been established and are functional only in Nagar Nigam Haridwar and Nagar Nigam Dehradun in the state. Both of the plants are running under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The major objective of "Swachh Bharat Mission" is to motivate private sector in expenditure. In Dehradun, Sheeshambara plant is centralized plant covering 69 wards of the city and whereas 31 wards still uncovered by the plant. This plant was established in 2017 and is facing many problems including public opposition. Waste management problems are enhanced with addition of 40 ward(72 villages)in 2018. So Nagar Nigam has started solid waste management process in decentralized way as a pilot project in Nathuwawala ward, Dehradun (uncovered by Sheeshambara plant) and is handed over to Feed back Foundation ( Non Governmental organisation) for solid waste processing. The Foundation has developed the solid waste processing area as Sanitation Park and declared the Nathuwawala ward zero waste zone. So the researchers have decided to study the Solid Waste Management process of Nathuwawala, which is known as "Sanitation Park " at present.      (Ramchandra, 2009). It was found during field visit that the NGO is using 10 tricycles and 05 vehicles having four sections for different streams of waste. Waste is weighed every day before unloading it in tipping area. In tipping area, the dry waste is segregated again in 28 ways, kept in 28 cabins to be sold to the vendors, whereas cocopeat and bacteria culture is added to wet waste and is shifted to Nadep/compost pit for preparing compost. It is also observed that there are 10 compost pits in recycle area. Date of turning is indicated in every compost pit as waste is turned in three cycles in a cycle of 15 days. After 60 days compost is ready to use. Biomedical waste and hazardous waste is also handed over to vender. Even Construction and Demolition waste of the ward (Inert waste) was used for construction of internal roads of the park.

Objectives of the Study
It was also found that the waste generated in ward is scientifically and systematically treated and residents of the ward are motivated to reduce waste by in -house composting process. There are 83 houses and 14 institutions composting wet waste in their own compound.
The results of the survey are similar to observation as presented in table given below. Students are also associated with this programme. Public educational programmes are very essential to change the attitude of the people. Education can provide knowledge but continuous efforts are necessary to change attitude. The World Bank (1999) argued that education equips people with knowledge, skills and attitude to tackle any crises. Fredric and others (2018) have indicated that education is used to install knowledge, change attitude and develop skills to transform communities in management of resources, including waste management.
The researchers gathered information regarding public education programme through interview and survey. During interview the project manager stated that in first phase the NGO has started public education programme (picture-2) towards sanitation for the residents of the ward. The project was completed in three months and public education programmes were started in a planned way. Every ward is divided into six clusters. All the institutions, commercial and residents of the wards are covered by the programme. Cluster co-ordinators are appointed specially for public education. It was identified that NGO has adopted different practices, like door to door campaigns, meetings, Rallies, informative sessions to motivate the residents / shopkeepers/and other people of the ward for source segregation.

Pict. 2: Public Education Programme in Nathuwawala ward b. Meeting a. Informative sessions d. Awareness programme in School c. Door to door campaign
Community participation is essential for the smooth and efficient operation of a SWM system (Bajaj, 2010). The researchers found that community participation and change of attitude are taken as essential parts of the programme as these are the key factors for behavioural change. According to Fredric and others (2018) education and change of attitude are interrelated. But change cannot be brought about by education alone and that behaviour changes can be brought about by social and psychological factors. Foreign countries are organising public education campaign for this purpose. Joshi and Joshi (2016) have also found that knowledge is included by adding topics in text books of different classes in Uttarakhand but results are not positive yet now. So public education is necessary. It was found that through public education campaign the NGO has made a bonding with community to join the project so that they become aware towards the cleanliness and sanitation-bringing about an inherent change in their behaviour. They have educated them about the four categories of waste, harmful results of unscientific management of waste, benefits of segregating the waste, techniques of reducing the waste and motivated them for in-house composting to reduce waste. Results of the survey regarding public education of the NGO are presented in table-6. Table-6 shows that a public education has influence upon the citizen of the ward. A large number of respondents have accepted that Feedback foundation is the source of knowledge for them regarding waste management and 100 percent respondent have accepted that public education has improved the sanitation level of the park and they use their knowledge for waste management. So public education is found as the basic factor for community participation towards zero waste management. It was found in an observation that every waste generator of the ward has given a specific card with a specific code number having the information about the name of waste generator, type of waste generator, number of family members and address of waste generator in it. Dry waste and wet waste and hazardous waste is treated systematically on daily basis inside the Sanitation Park, while biomedical waste is handed over to Nagar nigam on alternate days at present till the search of biomedical treatment agency(search is in process).The park has no eyesore even in collection and segregation area. Recreational facilities are provided in Sanitation Park. Facility for playing badminton and basket ball is provided to the children of the ward(picture-3) and there is future proposal for fixing benches and rides in Sanitation Park .
Concept of waste reduction is also practised in Sanitation Park. The waste from one person is used by another person as a resource. Outer wall of the sanitation park is used as "Neki ki Diwar" and the needy are finding resources (clothing and other items)here. During interview project coordinator has stated that the NGO was getting a large amount of clothes, footwear and other items in posh area. So the NGO has decided to start Neki ki Diwar. Pichtel (2014)has described textile as a common component of MSW and kept clothing, footwear, carpet and non durable items in this category. According to him a total of 13.1 million tons of textile was generated in 2010 in MSW category.
The survey results regarding evaluation of the Sanitation Park by the residents of Nathuwawala is presented in Table-

Conclusion and Suggessions
The factors responsible for the success of the solid waste management in Sanitation park are given below- It is found that in the decentralized method, collection and transportation services are properly managed and residents of the ward are convinced through public education and motivated to pay user charges. It can be also concluded that public education campaigns are helpful in changing behaviour of the community. The NGO earned USD2877. 10 per month as user charges in 3535 waste generators in a single ward while in Centralized method USD18861.01(comparatively low) earned per month(Dec.2019) from 0.126 million waste generator in 69 ward due to lack of motivational activities and improper collection and transportation services. Nagar Nigam has to pay total USD29.37 (Processing fee USD 13.31and collection and transportation fee USD16.06) for waste management of per ton garbage. Whereas Nagar Nigam is not paying any fee to Sanitation Park, so economically decentralised process is better for Nagar Nigam.
In this project special emphasis is given to source segregation and door to door collection and found that source segregation and door to door collection is feasible in decentralized model. Joshi and Ahmad (2016)have also focused that PPP mode is not successful in India under Municipal Solid Waste Management. Installation of decentralized solid waste units in metropolitan cities is the need of the hour.
This pilot project is an example of successful waste management process. In Uttarakhand, out of 90 Urban Level Bodies, 47 have a population less than Nathuawala Ward (See table No -1). They can adopt the waste management system of Nathuwawala ward in which segregation, collection, transportation and processing of waste is according to SWM rules 2016. It may be taken as a role model for urban local bodies all over India.
It is also suggested that project work of 10 marks should be included in Science subject to develop attitude and skill so that behaviour of the future generation could be changed towards solid waste management.