How to Keep Our Smart Cities Clean

7/25/2019 How to Keep Our Smart Cities Clean

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How To Keep Our Smart Cities Clean

Credits: The article was frst published here.

SnapshotAs part of Swarajyas Smart Cities series, here are some ideas and

proposals that can make Smart Cities clean and turn them into rolemodels for other towns.

It is time also to further consider whether our Smart Cities canpioneer administrative changes that will make these proposalswork.

Citizens want clean cities above all.

Clean cities are an outcome of good governance and cooperative

leadership. That is ke to ensuring that doorstep collection of waste

is regular, punctual, dependable and visibl designed for receiving

and transporting !wet food wastes unmi"ed with an other !drrecclables like plastics.

Citizens readil cooperate when the see that the cit is serious

about keeping wet and dr wastes unmi"ed during primar

collection and delivered to separate destinations like reccling

centres.

#olar for e"ample, a cit three hours east of $angalore with a

population of %&',''' people, was able in (ust one month in )une

*'%+ to achieve %'' percent doorstep collection and about '

percent waste segregation at source into unmi"ed !wet waste and!dr recclables, thanks to the e"cellent and united commitment of

its -istrict Collector, its appointed Commissioner and its elected

resident /maor0. Toda, ** months later, #olar continues to be a

dustbin1free dump1free cit, earning 2s 3',''' a month pro4t from

decentralized stack composting, auctioned to farmers for soil

enrichment.

%5 South Indian towns toda are similarl near zero1waste, as both

!wet and !dr wastes are converted to useful resources. The secret

is micro1planning of doorstep1collection routes, providing non1

mechanised pushcarts that enable further waste sorting at each

doorstep and giving the doorstep collectors full rights for the sale of

dr recclables. #eeping the collection teams unchanged and

undisturbed reduces absenteeism and improves collection

performance and citizen satisfaction. At least %' percent or more of

these teams should be drawn from wastepickers or self1help

groups.
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6ver Smart Cit can ver rapidl achieve similar results. All these

steps and man more are described in detail in a practical

guidebookon the Swachh $harat website.

Smart Cities also need to manage their collected wastes without

creating pollution in their surroundings. 7herever the are

currentl unloading their wastes, the must immediatel ensure

nuisance1free conditions there. This can be done b unloading the

waste in long parallel heaps called wind1rows and turning these

weekl, four or 4ve times, to stabilize the waste. It is a simple step

that re8uires some pre1planning, like parking1lot management.

Stack Composting

9sing the same e8uipment and labour now engaged for (ustdumping and leveling, the weekl turnings of windrows e"pose allparts of the waste to air. This prevents airless conditions in whichmethane is formed /leading to repeated 4res as at -eonar in:umbai0 and leachate formation which contaminates groundwateraround open dumpsites. Compare a rotten tomato dring open inthe sun to a similar one inside a plastic bag, releasing smell li8uid.

The airing and turning of biodegradable waste stabilizes it to ahumus1rich odour1free soil1like material, like leaves decomposing ona forest ;oor in thin laers. Such stabilised waste is the 4rst step inever composting operation, in which it is screened to tea1powder4neness and then enriched and bagged for sale if re8uired.

The stabilised waste is useful as it is and need not await installationof a compost plant. It onl needs to be free of plastics, b screeningif necessar. Cities must show its usefulness b using it in all theirparks, tree pits and road dividers.


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stabilised waste free or at nominal cost as an organic manure toenrich their soils. It is as useful as farmard manure /


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Such biomining or bioremediation is done b loosening laers of oldwaste, picking out large ob(ects before forming into wind1rows forturning and volume reduction through waste stabilising, preferablwith addition of composting biocultures, then gravit1screeningwith a blower to recover plastics and other recclable fractions.About %'1%& percent b volume remains on site in the form of

slightl raised ground levels.

This biomining becomes costlier and more di@cult for dump siteswhere raw waste has been covered with laers of earth forcosmetic reasons, totall in violation of the :S7 2ules whichpermit land14lling onl of waste1processing re(ects and inerts. Theraw waste covered b soil becomes even more airless than an opendump and continues to generate methane and leachate for *&ears or more.


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redesigned for greener and walking paths beside low1;owchannels within the wider storm1drain that can accommodate ;ash;ooding. These recreational green ribbons will be a valuablecontribution to the 8ualit of life in Smart Cities.

7ater1weeds choking both urban and rural surface waters are an

unregulated waste which cities are forced to deal with, at greatannual deweeding cost. 7ater plants thrive on the phosphorus indetergents, which was the cause of eutrophication of ake 6rie. Thisled to a %53 9S1Canada treat limiting phosphorus in detergentsto *.* percent. India needs similar legislation. 9ntil then, SmartCities should mandate sale and use of onl low1phosphorusdetergents within their cit limits.

It is also ver important to protect lakeside wetlands from the greedof land developers. Sewage treatment plants ma removepathogens and reduce the o"gen demand of treated water, butnitrogen and phosphorus are not removed and will pollute thesurface waters into which the are released. Dnl natural wetlands

will remove these nutrients through plant uptake.

Smart Cities should also opt for decentralized sewage treatment,mandating this for group housing above, sa, *' families and forbulk generators like hotels and part halls, hospitals, institutionsand commercial comple"es. Dnsite solid waste managementfacilities should be similarl mandated for all these. Dnsite !wetwaste management is now possible with a variet of small1scalecomposting or biogas options. The clean unsoiled !dr waste goesto scrap dealers for recclers.

Currentl, metallised multi4lm packaging for snack foods isunrecclable for plastic products because of a thermoset laer of

polmer between otherwise1recclable thermoplastic laers. SmartCities need to strictl enforce 6"tended roducer 2esponsibilit/620 for end1of1life packaging b those using such ;e"iblepackaging. Shredded multi4lm and even shredded thermocole/e"panded polstrene0 can be used to improve bitumen road lifeb two to three times, when coated onto hot stones b a half1minute of pre1mi"ing before bitumen is added.

Cities must mandate such !plastic roads as in Tamil >adu andEimachal radesh, but the collection, shredding and suppl to hot1mi" plants of non1recclables must be enforced as an 62responsibilit. Another upcoming development, also from :adurai,is a snthetic stone which can consume large 8uantities of

otherwise nonrecclable plastics and does not need overnmentpolicies for its consumption.

-omestic sanitar waste like used bab and adult diapers andsanitar napkins are increasingl a problem for both urban Indiaand rural areas where the are now being distributed as a populistmeasure. These should necessaril be made with onl compostablenon1woven outers and compostable bottom barrier14lm. Ideall,such sanitar waste should be collected dail but separatel from
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the dail1collected !wet waste, and sent to e"isting biomedicalwaste facilities or for deep burial.

Smart Cities must similarl make their own rules to minimize thehazards arising from di?erent potentiall to"ic wastes.

Documents

How to Keep Our Smart Cities Clean