swm

Data Driven Planning for Solid Waste Management in Chennai

Tue, 06/10/2015 - 20:19

Author

Presentation by Harsha Anantharaman on data driven planning for SWM based on experiences in Chennai at the "India's World of Waste" conference hosted by NUS, Singapore in July 2015.

Source

Transparent Cities Network, CAG

Licence type

Open Source

Integrating informal waste workers through identity cards issued by the municipal government

The primary objective of this project is to achieve the de-criminalization of waste-picking through the introduction of of Corporation of Chennai issued Identity Cards to waste pickers in Chennai city. This project is undertaken by CAG as part of the Initiative on Waste, Informal Workers, and Chennai’s Future, which CAG anchors.

Informal waste workers, referred to as rag pickers or waste pickers form the backbone of waste recycling in the city. They provide an invaluable service to the city as well as to the environment by diverting large amount of wastes from landfills towards recycling. However, due to archaic provisions in the Corporation of Chennai Act, that have remain unchanged since 1919, their source of livelihood is legally questionable. As a result they face constant harassment from the authorities. Additionally, the work itself carries with it a social stigma, making waste pickers amonst the most vulnerable of the urban poor.

Our work with informal waste workers involves working for their right to livelihood through research and advocacy. Towards this end, we follow a multi-faceted approach –

• Through field engagements and community meetings we seek to create awareness among waste pickers on the need for occupational ID cards as a safeguard of their right to livelihood. This we do with the active support and assistance of our partner organisations.

• We use our field engagements to collect data on the activities of waste pickers, their socio-economic status and their access to social welfare measures.

• We create research outputs based on the data we collect and use these to advocate with the Corporation of Chennai for identity cards and improved social welfare benefits delivery to waste pickers.

Our engagements with the community and with the Corporation of Chennai towards the de-criminalisation of waste picking have been as part of a wider platform of allied civil society organisations – the Initiative on Waste, Informal Workers, and Chennai’s Future, that is anchored by CAG.

In addition, with our partner organizations we are facilitating waste picker’s access to basic identity documents such as Aadhaar, Ration cards and Voter IDs as well as registering them with the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers’ Welfare Board.

In late 2014, the Corporation of Chennai agreed to issue Identification Cards to waste-pickers on the basis of a proposal by the Initiative. Towards issuing these cards, we assisted the Corporation of Chennai in holding two camps at Kodungaiyur and Perungudi over three days each in July. Over 950 waste pickers were registered at these camps, and over 300 waste pickers were surveyed. The Corporation also simultaneously held a health camp for the waste pickers over the six days.

This ID will officially decriminalise their livelihood and recognise their pro-social contributions to the city. The CoC plans to hold a ser9es of camps this year (2015) to issue said I.D.s.

Additionally, we have helped conceive and form a multi-organisation platform with several Community Based Organisations. This has helped to intensify our research and outreach activities as well as in facilitating waste pickers’ access to obtaining basic documentation such as Aadhaar, Ration cards and Voter IDs and registering them with the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers’ Welfare Board.

Sustainable SWM through a Zero Waste Pilot at Ward 173

Following a detailed proposal (based on a comprehensive mapping and rigorous waste characterisation study conducted in Ward 173) prepared by the Initiative on Waste, Informal Workers and Chennai’s Future and accepted for implementation by the Corporation of Chennai, this project involves assisting and advising the Corporation of Chennai in the implementation of the pilot, as well as promoting sustainable solid waste management practices elsewhere in the city.

Starting in 2013, a series of public consultations anchored by the Initiative on Waste, Informal Workers and Chennai’s Future came to the conclusion that Chennai needed to pursue sustainable and inclusive SWM practices and in order to move the city towards sustainable SWM, a working zero-waste pilot in a single ward was required as a model. This led to the Zero-Waste pilot at Ward 173.

In our work, we employ a combination of rigorously conducted research focusing on the creation of both quantitative and qualitative data, as well as advocacy and stakeholder engagement.

As a part of the research we engage with both Governmental agencies as well as a diverse group of non-governmental actors (including RWAs, workers groups, other researchers, etc.) to advocate for the implementation of a zero waste pilot in Ward 173 (in Zone XIII – Adyar). At the one end we work with residents and commercials establishments in the ward to create awareness on source segregation and in situ organic waste processing and at the other we advocate with the Corporation to stream line door-to-door collections, establish resource recovery parks and organic waste processing units in the ward. We are also facilitating the process of organizing a monitoring committee of citizens to oversee the implementation of the pilot in the ward. Through the model that we propose we also support for the inclusion of informal waste workers in the system.

We also advise resident welfare associations and others on the implementation of sustainable waste management.

The Initiative’s work on sustainable SWM, led by the team now at CAG, has produced a detailed and scientific methodology for conducting waste characterization studies to better inform the planning of waste management systems in urban landscapes.

The insights gained from data collection along these lines have supported the city’s efforts to pilot sustainable SWM in Corporation of Chennai Ward 173.

The Initiative has also prepared a Waste Diagnostic Toolkit that gives step by step instructions on how to plan for sustainable SWM using a data-driven approach.

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