SWACHH BHARAT UNNAT BHARAT

After the milestones achieved through the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', the Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), aims to establish a 'Waste to Wealth Authority' that will employ latest technologies across states to address the problem of waste generation and create socio-economic solutions for the nation.

Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood

PSA to Government of India

"Among the many challenges India is addressing in its goal towards sustainable development for all its people - dealing with our environment, our air, water, and waste needs urgent attention. These are parts of the commons and like all parts of the commons, they hjave multiple inputs and multiple solutions."

Mission

As the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan movement swept the nation, India uncovered its path to a cleaner, more sustainable future.

In line with India's declaration in the Paris Accord, the next stride in this direction aims to overstep waste & pollution management, transforming these menaces into productive avenues of energy and growth.

The Waste to Wealth Mission, set up under the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology & Innovation Advisory Council, is an initiative by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India (the O/o PSA) that will leverage global technological capabilities to create socio-economic benefits for 1.3 billion Indians by addressing the issues of waste disposal, deteriorating air quality and increasing pollution of water bodies. The mission is spearheaded by the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), Government of India.

To help achieve India’s commitments to United Nations - Sustainable Development Goals, the Office of the PSA has established a 'Project Management Unit' (PMU) in partnership with Invest India, India’s National Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency.

The mission aims to identify, test, Validate and deploy technologies to treat waste to generate energy, recycle materials, and extract resources of value and provide technology database of national and international technologies to support Urban Local Bodies address their waste challenges.

The mission will assist and augment the Swachh Bharat and Smart Cities projects by leveraging science, technology, and innovation to create circular economic models that are financially viable and sustainable for waste management to streamline waste handling in the country.

SDGs aligning with the global mission of waste to wealth

India Scenario

Overview

India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country by 2027 and by 2050, India’s urban population will nearly double to reach 814 million.

Waste generation in urban areas of India will be 0.7 kg per person per day in 2025, approximately four to six times higher than in 1999. According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India currently generates 62 million tons of waste (both recyclable and non–recyclable) every year, with an average annual growth rate of 4%. Solid waste, plastic waste and E-waste are the principal waste materials.

Air Pollution in India is also a serious health issue. Of the most polluted cities in the world, 22 out of 30 were in India in 2018. As per a study based on 2016 data, at least 140 million people in India breathe air that is 10 times or more over the WHO safe limit.

India's Three Frontiers of Action:

Policy Framework

To promote and support the goals of the Swachh Bharat Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2016, Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2016 and the E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016 have been notified.

In addition to providing a conducive policy framework and promoting responsible behavior, technological advancement is an important factor that can drive effective waste management in India. The use of emerging technologies such as automatic waste segregator, Onsite waste processing like Composting/Biomethanation/Bio CNG, gasifiers/pyrolysis, etc can transform the current waste management scenario in India

Explore More: https://www.wastetowealth.gov.in/policies
Technology Advancement

The use of emerging technologies such as automatic waste segregation, gasifier, and pyrolysis units demonstrates a method to manage waste in India. The way forward must include practices that generate a circular economy in the waste management sector.

In addition to providing a conducive policy framework and promoting responsible behavior, technological advancement is an important factor that can drive effective waste management in India. The use of emerging technologies such as automatic waste segregator, Onsite waste processing like Composting/Biomethanation/Bio CNG, gasifiers/pyrolysis, etc can transform the current waste management scenario in India.
Other initiatives

The government of India has undertaken multiple large-scale national initiatives such as ‘Swachh Bharat Mission, ‘National Water Mission’ and ‘Waste to Wealth Mission” as a part of its commitment to effective waste & pollution management in India.

Emphasis has also been laid on the approach of setting up Decentralised Waste processing sites within Cities to cater to problems of fresh MSW and legacy waste management.

In continuation of the Swachh Bharat Mission objective, The Waste to Wealth Mission has deployed a decentralized waste Processing technology park. This park includes technologies that segregate fresh Municipal solid waste. This segregated waste is used as feedstock for the gasifier and pyrolysis units to generate energy. The park also includes a drain cleaner unit that collects debris from an adjacent drain on-site. This collected waste is also used as feedstock. A wastewater treatment unit is also on site. This unit treats effluent from the adjacent drain. The water is then reused on site.

The Waste to Wealth Mission is also looking at deployments related to cleaning and restoring water bodies, managing e-waste, agricultural waste, bio-medical waste, etc.

Types of Waste

Solid waste

According to a report published by the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), 1.45 lakh tons/day of municipal solid waste (MSW) is being generated in urban India. As many as 67% of the urban areas have a door-to-door collection of MSW. Only about 23% of the total generated waste is being processed/treated (33,215 tons/day) while 72% is land-filled (1.22 lakh tons/day).

India produces approximately 0.025 million tons (MT) of plastic waste/day and this is expected to rise to 34 MT per year by 2031. The per capita plastic consumption in India in 2017 was 11 kg and the percentage of plastic and rubber in municipal solid waste (MSW) has risen to 9.22% as compared to 0.66% in 1996, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

A United Nations report states that India is one of the biggest producers of e-waste in the world. It generates about 2 million tons of e-waste annually. India’s e-waste is expected to grow to 5.2 million metric tons (MMT) by 2020.

Air Pollution

Air pollution is a major cause of disease and death in the world, contributing to 3 million premature deaths worldwide every year. In India, more than 80 % of people living in urban areas that monitor air pollution are exposed to air quality levels that exceed the permissible levels mandated by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Major contributing sources of Air pollution include old vehicles, fuel adulteration, industries and power plants using solid fuels and traffic congestion.

Water Pollution

Only one-third of India’s wastewater is currently treated, resulting in raw sewage flowing into rivers, lakes and ponds - and eventually polluting the groundwater.

The health costs relating to water pollution are estimated at about INR 470-610 billion ($6.7-8.7 billion) per year. Nearly 70% of India’s water is contaminated, impacting three in four Indians and contributing to 20% of the country’s disease burden.

Proposed Sentinel Sites

Facts

Lack of water, sanitation and hygiene results in the loss of 400,000 lives per year in India.
600 million people - nearly half India’s population - face acute water shortage, with close to 200,000 dying each year from polluted water.
Nearly 70 per cent of India’s water is contaminated, impacting three in four Indians and contributing to 20 per cent of the country’s disease burden.
More than 1 in 4 deaths of children under 5 years old are attributable to an unhealthy environment.
One tonne of plastic is used to make one kilometre of road in India. India has built one lakh kilometres of roads in at least 11 states using discarded plastic.
A printed circuit board (PCBs) (used in cellular phones and personal computers) contains about 280 g/ton-waste of gold.
One tonne of recycled paper saves approximately 17 trees, 2.5 barrels of oil, 4100 kWh of electricity, 4 cubic metres of the landfill and 31,780 litres of water.
Recycling has the potential to create six times more jobs and generate around INR 14 lakh crore of additional cost savings by 2030.