SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AT THYAMAGONDLU 

Location:   Thyamagondlu, Karnataka, India
Project:      Solid Waste Management
Duration:    Multi-year project

Introduction

Most villages situated close to large towns in India face challenges of unplanned growth leading to deteriorating civic infrastructure.
Prerak Trust was invited by TD Power Systems, Dabbaspet, to assist them in defining their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy and designing their CSR programs.

Our team identified Thyamagondlu village in Nelamangala Taluk as a command area. The situation existing at the beginning of the project was an inadequate domestic water supply, dumping of mixed garbage in public places including drains and the lack of a proper underground drainage system. This has resulted in rapidly diminishing water levels, a mosquito menace, water-related diseases and visible pollution and poor aesthetic appearance of the village.
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We designed and implemented an Integrated Water and Sanitation Management (IWSM) Program. It consisted of a long-term engagement with the local government and the community. The project implementation timeline was over a period of 5 years using a phased approach. The project was divided into multiple modules and this case study refers to phase 1, Solid Waste Management.

Situation

Our initial assessment led to the following findings in Thyamagondlu:
  1. No door-to-door collection of waste.
  2. No segregation of waste at the household level.
  3. Generated waste is indiscriminately dumped throughout the village.
  4. Garbage is burnt on the roadside or at a landfill site resulting in hazardous emissions of gas.
  5. Garbage is often contaminated with biologically hazardous wastes such as medical wastes.
  6. Additional contamination occurs through materials such as heavy metals from dry cell batteries.
  7. No treatment facilities to treat waste.
  8. Shortage of trained manpower – contract labour employed for transporting waste to the landfill.
Overall, the existing system was found to be inadequate and unsustainable, leading to potential health problems and significant environmental degradation. We found community stakeholders were willing to improve the system but lacked clarity and direction on how to move forward. The situation called for innovative WatSan applications, along with social and political change.
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Prerak Trust brought with them a professional team with extensive experience in WatSan, change management and execution of complex programs with diverse stakeholders.

Solution

​Our goal was to implement a Solid Waste Management (SWM) system that could be integrated into the local government system instead of providing a solution to be implemented as a parallel initiative. There was a convergence by all stakeholders to collaborate and ensure the success of the system.
Prerak Trust’s ability to engage stakeholders and ensure their participation comes from years of experience in change management, learnings from previous programs and studying other organizations who have worked in this space.
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The SWM system components were the following:
  • Segregation at the source.
  • Door-to-door collection of segregated waste.
  • Recycle all dry waste.
  • Convert wet waste to productive use (either as manure or gas).
​The implementation process was executed in phases and the following steps were taken:
  1. Secured buy-in from different stakeholders through IWRM projects executed in other areas such as reviving tanks and building toilets.
  2. Obtained institutional government commitment through continuous engagement. We engaged with functionaries at all levels to spread awareness and get stakeholder commitment.
  3. Trained local government executives and SWM staff.
  4. Engaged communities through Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) campaigns. Individuals from diverse backgrounds and capabilities were enlisted to get extensive support.
  5. Connected with councilors and identified pilot wards. This was done during Gram Panchayath meetings with complete consensus.
  6. Mapped the town and planned a staged implementation.
  7. Arranged finance for auto-tippers from the Government. This required advocacy at multiple levels of government.
  8. A temporary arrangement was reached with a local farmer to receive the wet waste for composting into manure. This was a win-win arrangement for the village.
  9. House-to-house training: clusters of households were brought together for the demonstration of the segregation process.
  10. Allocated space and created infrastructure for a dry waste centre.
  11. Allocation of a permanent space for a wet waste treatment plant is currently in process.
 
The Prerak Trust ground staff has extensive experience in community engagement which enabled us to start conversations with the residents and spread awareness throughout the village. Partnering with an external consultant with expertise in engineering and Government advocacy gave us the capability to partner with civic institutions and implement a systemic solution.  

Outcomes 

The first phase of the SWM project covered 2 wards consisting of about 3,000 residents and 150 commercial establishments.
This project impacted the following stakeholders:
  • 3,000 residents got access to a door-to-door waste collection facility.
  • Removed all black spots (heaps of roadside garbage) to provide cleaner roads for 2 wards.
  • The SWM staff was encouraged to form a Self-Help Group (SHG) with rights and responsibilities.
  • A revived heritage water body in one of the wards is now protected from contamination from dumping of waste.
  • 7.5 tons per month of wet waste is converted into useful manure.
  • A financial model for creating livelihoods from SWM was created and can be scaled to any village.

The next steps of this project will be to create market linkages for the dry waste, and to expand the project to all wards of the village.