Custom «Sustainable and Low-Cost Sanitation for the 21st Century» Essay Paper

Introduction

The global population in cities has increased tremendously in the past years, especially, in developing nations. According to United Nations (2004), it is expected that the global population will concentrate in cities. Economic growth, rising standards of living, and urbanization in urban centers have resulted to rise in complexity and quantity of waste produced. These factors, combined with ineffective waste disposal and management practices, have severely affected the urban environment and pose serious challenges and stress on available natural resources, thus weakening sustainable and equitable development of cities. It has been approximated that 5.2 million tons of waste is produced daily globally, where 3.8 million tons are from developing nations (ADB 2009).

In developed nations with rich experience in waste management practices, incineration is acknowledged as the single most efficient and successful method for MSW treatment, as it minimizes waste volume by 90% and rids off methane emissions. Incineration produces heat, which is captured via waste-to-energy infrastructure to produce electricity, which is fundamental towards development agenda of government. Nevertheless, there is a number of main variances in the waste features of developed and undeveloped nations. The waste management and policies in developing nations, principally in South Asia, is characterized by a considerably high density and moisture, chiefly organic waste with minimum caloric values (700–1,000 kilocalories). In South Asia, this is mainly appropriate, given the huge number of individuals with vegetarian diets, approximated 42% of the Indian population.

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As waste production in the cities rises considerably, it leads to municipal solid waste (MSW), which leads to increase in demand for both innovative treatment and waste collection approaches.  The study focuses to explore an alternative strategy to the management of the municipal solid (MSW), via efficient public private partnership (PPP) strategy and utilization of appropriate technologies that will be capable to meet the environmental, economic, social requirements of the community, and case study (Robinsons 2006, p.79). 

The Background Study

The rising urban population in cities especially in developing nations has posed many environmental challenges and has impacted human population in many ways, which include poor water supply, waste management strategies, and sanitation. Inefficient municipal waste management strategies in urban centers and the rising population, pose serious challenges to urban population. For example, the rapid rise in population of Indian megacities such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Hydebrad, Bangalore, and Kolkata require efficient and sustainable municipal waste management.

According to Robinsons (2006), there is a wide gap between development and modernity that can be seen in Indian metro urban centers. Therefore, sustainable municipal waste management is essential in dealing and converting treated waste to value-added resources, for instance, as agricultural fertilizers and alternative fuels. It has been found that total waste generation in developing nations is low as compared to waste production in developed nations. It is estimated that 60-70% of the regional municipal waste production in developing nations is eco-friendly. In addition, processes, which include composting, anaerobic respiration, refuse-accrued fuels and landfill gas extraction, provide an inclusive sustainable approach that will reuse, reduce and recycle waste (Bergs 2009).

The Ministry of Environment in 2008 enacted guidelines for Service level blueprints to check and evaluate the performance of municipalities at national and municipal level. These National service level strategies and blue prints are currently dealing with issues related to municipal waste management towards sustainable community, to resolve and reinforce the  following aspects: to prevail over poor monitoring and enforcing of regulations  and policies on waste management, funding of municipalities to recycle and treat waste, maintenance and operational capability building of municipalities, create awareness towards waste management in the community, developing of Sustainable MWM policies and structures, and  accomplishment of waste treatment technologies and practices (Bergs 2009).

Sustainable waste management is a well-coordinated approach that can be implemented and executed, and ranges from waste collection to treatment and resource recovery. The key objectives of MWM are to attain economical, self-sustaining and productive urban environment that converts waste into valuable resources.  The public-private partnership should be supported and sustained by the city’s authorities in order to realize the objective. In India, for example, municipal waste management organization is centralized under the Local Urban Bodies (ULBs), which implies that municipal authorities have the responsibility of collecting and managing liquid and solid wastes (ADB 2009). Therefore, the municipal is charged with responsibility of scaling up of waste management as a fundamental aspect in developing a prospective future plan to control and manage the rising population and growing need for waste management in cities. The public and private partnership can be effective in waste management by developing policies that promote economic and environmental strategies thus reducing waste in cities.

Aims of the Study

The purpose of the study is to analyze public-private collaboration as innovative strategy towards sustainable municipal waste management amid the increasing population in urban centers. In addition, the study will examine challenges and issues that can emerge in the process of implementation of effective and sustainable waste management via PPP in Indian perspective with a case study.

Method

Literature  review  is  utilized  as  a  method  to  investigate the  case  studies  with  the  Baud  Schenk and Baud   perspective of  Public  Private  Partnership (PPP) in  the  Urban  local Bodies.  Literature  review  is  a commonly  used  method  to  comprehend  in  depth  by comparing the various studies in waste management practices.  Literature review follows the principles of research methods that promotes the quality and integrity of the research methods (Bergs 2009).  This study entails data collection, interpretation, and analysis.  The study utilizes use of secondary data, which include books, magazines, journals, government publications, reports, internet sources, and periodicals.

Results

Innovative Approach –PPP

The first phase PPP waste management focuses on a cleaner and better public health environment in the cities that will support effective and sustainable waste management practices. During the second phase, efforts were up-scaled by integrating community-based waste management and resource recovery and recycling projects. The municipality, private operators and community-based organizations devoted to the project and co-funded accomplishment over a period of four years. With substantial results attained in local service delivery via multi-stakeholder corporation programs that were largely pro-poor PPP, the Government has wholly acknowledged their prospective, developing PPP principle modality as one of the pillars of government economic policy. The government through the municipal authorities has constantly offered policy support, technical assistance, and capacity development in efforts to reproduce and up-scale PPP strategies to attain maximum potential to public in need of better essential services, whereas contributing to the goals of waste management via empowerment of earlier underprivileged groups, formation of local business opportunities, improved environmental initiatives and projects.

It is approximated that, daily waste production from developing nations is 3.8 million tons. There is a huge difference in production of waste between developed and developing nations.  The rising quantity of waste production considerably leads to increased responsibility of municipal authorities in urban centers, which has a role of treating waste. Lack of sustainable waste approaches results to soil pollution, health risks, GHG emissions, ecological devastation, and water pollution. These are the chronological results of non-compliance to efficient and sustaining waste management system. The municipal authorities should implement those processes, which include incinerations and composting that will considerably reduce wastes in urban centers. In this perspective, there is a big difference in accessing technology for waste management and treatment in developed and developing nations.  Developed nations have been using incineration to eliminate 90% of water level present in the waste, where incineration generates heat energy, which can be changed into electricity (ADB 2009). Though land filling is easy, and cheap process, some reasons such as absence of scientific methods of waste treatment and poor monitoring will result to unsanitary dumpsites.

Rajkot Municipal Corporation: Case Study of Successful Partnership

The case study is as example of effective and successful execution and implementation of PPP in municipal waste management. According to Rajkot Municipal Corporation (2006), Rajkot is India’s fourth largest and densely populated city of Gujarat state. This city produces approximately 300 metric tons of solid waste daily. Before the start of the project, waste was dumped in an open field in the outskirts of the city thus posing serious environmental challenges. By the incentives of Municipal waste management regulations and rules-2000 from The Ministry of Environment and Urban Development, Rajkot Municipal Corporation established a waste processing factory with partnership of ‘Hanjer Biotech energies Private Limited’ under PPP (Hanjer Bio energies 2011). The Government of Gujarat State allocated 30 acres of land under lease agreements to Hanjer energies at the rate of one rupee per square meter per annum to establish and erect waste treatment factory.

Hanjer treatment plant used remaining portion land for purposes of hygienic landfill. Execution of this partnership commenced in 2003 and in 2006 the plant was in place to commence treatment of waste. Currently, the plant operates 16 successful plants across India with partnership of different State Governments under Public Private Partnership. From the plant, 20 % wet organic waste are taken to composting sites to manufacture compost fertilizers as value added products. The other 70 % of dry organic waste are compacted in bales as green coal and sold to different industries that utilize green coal as fuel. 5 % of solids such as metal, plastic, and rubber are sold to recycling companies (Hanjer Bio energies 2011).

EXNORA- Zero Waste Management project through CBOs, Chennai city, India

‘Excellent Novel Radical’ (EXNORA) is another flourishing waste management project as forwarded by Baud and Schenk. This is a project, which was established in 1988 in Adyar area of previous Madras city (now Chennai). This is a successful and effective implemented Community based Organizations (CBOs) waste management system that has been a reference to many nations around the world. “The population who generated garbage got together to collectively solve the problem of solid waste accumulation, by eliminating and reposition it in a known dumping place. A street beautifier was hired and given a tri-cycle to gather waste from door-to-door, all of which were financed by small subscriptions from the members of the society” (EXNORA 2011). Currently, there are about 5000 CBO based EXNORAs operating successfully in the Chennai city and other States of India such as Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and few other states. These CBOs systems are informal solid waste management program by the society. The revenue of all EXNORAs is Rs.3, 6 00,000 (Rupees) annually. Additional revenue by waste recycles products and sale of compost can be spent to preserve the EXNORAs.  Presently, this program became Civic EXNORA and performing following activities under umbrella of CBOs: solid waste management, rain water harvesting, composting, and liquid waste management.

The CBOs EXNORA concept initiated spreading messages to communities to instigate efficient and sustainable zero waste management. Consequently, lack of adequate finances to execute waste treatment technology and restrictions on hiring human resources and experts have hampered policies and strategies aimed at waste management.  This has also negatively impacted on several Local Governments following PPP as an inventive reform to attain future needs of sustainability in urban waste management. There are also few more successful stories of private organizations PPP and government initiatives towards urban waste management. Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Advanced Locality Management (ALM) regions, Karnataka Urban Water Supply Improvement Project (World Bank funded), Adoption Program for low-income regions, and Hyderabad Urban Development authority that aim at cleaning main roads and markets.

Discussion

The scaling up of waste management is primarily anticipated to prevail over challenges associated with food, global warming, and scarcity of land for land filling, security, and health risks. Public-private partnership plays a leading role in promoting efforts that lead to effective waste management practices and efforts in cities around the world. The privatization of services such as municipal management through implementation of sound policies and structures can provide the anticipated outcomes (Robinsons 2006).

The partnership of private sector, local authorities and community based organizations has promoted waste management strategies, reducing risks associated with wastes. The  Schenk and Baud’s  study  regarding collaboration of local  authorities  and  large-scale enterprises  will  be fundamental in scaling  up  waste  management  towards sustainability (Robinsons 2006).  In industrialized nations with rich experience in waste management practices, incineration is approved as the single most resourceful and successful technique for MSW treatment, as it minimizes appreciably waste volume by 90% and rids off methane emissions. Incineration produces heat, which is captured via waste-to-energy infrastructure to produce electricity, which is noteworthy to government policies. Nonetheless, there are a number of main variances in the waste features of developed and undeveloped nations.

The increase in urbanization poses massive pressure on urban infrastructure such as solid waste management, sewerage and water supply for households. According to Chetan (2009), The Ministry of Urban Development and National Sample Survey 28 percent of families lacked proper septic tanks and Sewerage system, which varies from 46% to 70%. It is approximated that urban areas of India producing an estimate 120, 000 Metric tons of solid waste daily. The solid waste production per capita is 0.3 to 0.5 kg daily and will reach 1.2% annually.

In 2000, for example, to study the urbanization influence and pressure in different main cities, Supreme Court of India approved regulations to The Ministry of Environment and Forest to create a solid waste management founded in 2025 urbanization needs (Chetan, 2009). These regulations and measures tailored to manage municipal services delivery as well as Supreme Court proposal of National level bench marking of solid waste management, sewerage, and water supply. In 2008, for instance, The Ministry of Environment enacted guidelines for Service level blueprints to check and evaluate the performance of municipalities at national and municipal level. This National service level service strategies and blue prints are currently dealing with issues related to municipal waste management towards sustainable community, to resolve and reinforce aspects such as funding of municipalities to recycle and treat waste, maintenance and operational capability building of municipalities, create awareness towards waste management in the community, developing of Sustainable MWM policies and structures, to prevail over poor monitoring and enforcing of regulations  and policies on waste management, and  accomplishment of waste treatment technologies and practices (Baud & Schenk 1994).  

The case study of Rajkot Municipal Corporation serves to indicate that stable and sound waste management policies and strategies found on local prevailing situations and features that are focused at overcoming challenges posed by waste production in cities. ‘Excellent Novel Radical’ (EXNORA) is another success story of waste management project as forwarded by Baud and Schenk. This project was started in 1988 in Adyar area of previous Madras city (presently Chennai). As noted earlier, this is a successful and effective executed Community based Organizations (CBOs) waste management system that has been a reference to many nations around the world. “The population who generated garbage got together to collectively solve the problem of solid waste accumulation, by eliminating and reposition it, in a known dumping place. A street beautifier was hired and given a tri-cycle to gather waste from door-to-door, all of which were financed by small subscriptions from the members of the society” (EXNORA 2011).

In addition, there is need for institutional reforms to design an efficient and reliable waste management approaches that will make the all process a success.  Promoting inter-governmental partnership and coordination also promote waste management strategies thus leading to sustainable environment that promote existence of life. The coordination should be among various government sectors. It has been recommended that, there is need to design policies for PPP, which will develop a framework that will woo the private sector to participate in promoting waste management aspects in cities. Community awareness program also plays a key role towards creating sustainable waste environment amid rapid increase in population in urban centers. In addition, collaboration of local authorities and community based clusters appreciably lower costs and assists to improve waste management efforts (Baud & Schenk 1994).

Conclusion

The growing population in the major cities around the world has led to poor water supply, waste management strategies, and sanitation. Unproductive municipal waste management strategies in urban centers and the rising population, cause serious challenges to urban population .This study has shown that effective PPP will result in successful wastage management efforts that will reduce amount of waste in urban centers (Robinsons 2006).

The collaboration of private sector, community based organizations, and local authorities have promoted waste management strategies, hence reducing risks associated with wastes. The  Schenk and Baud’s  study  regarding partnership of local  authorities  and  large-scale enterprises  will  be essential in scaling  up  waste  management  towards sustainability. In developed countries with rich practice in waste management practices, incineration is accepted as the single most resourceful and successful technique for MSW treatment, as it minimizes waste and rids off methane emissions (Baud & Schenk 1994). Incineration produces heat, which is captured via waste-to-energy infrastructure to produce electricity, which is noteworthy to government policies. Nonetheless, there are a number of main differences in the waste features of developed and undeveloped nations.

Thus, Public-private partnership plays a significant role in promoting efforts that lead to effective waste management practices and efforts in cities around the world. Inter-governmental coordination and community awareness program also plays a key role in creating sustainable waste environment amid rapid increase in population in urban centers. Furthermore, partnership of local authorities and community based clusters substantially lower costs and assist to improve waste management efforts .According to  Schenk and Baud’s  they argue that partnership of local  authorities  and  large-scale enterprises  will  be essential in scaling  up  waste  management  towards sustainability (Baud & Schenk 1994).

There have been successful waste management projects in the world that have been implemented and have served the urban communities effectively. Rajkot Municipal Corporation project serves to point out that stable and effective waste management policies and strategies anchored on local prevailing situations and features will overpower challenges posed by waste production in cities. ‘Excellent Novel Radical’ (EXNORA 2011) is another success project of waste management as forwarded by Baud and Schenk. This is a project, which was started in 1988 in Adyar area of former Madras city (presently Chennai) and is a successful and effective executed Community based Organizations (CBOs) waste management project.