Continuing from the Zero Waste Journey series .. AID Supported project at Tungabhadra Block, NGV, Bangalore . Sustainability : Topics discussed are Environmental. This blog would be useful for people who are interested in the economic aspects of waste management. This data could be extrapolated for estimation for your apartment blocks and convincing your residents' welfare association management committee (All values are estimated for an apartment of size 220 )
Economic Sustainability
While the work on zero waste was going on, I remember our treasurer Mr. Hari Madhu asking me "when will someone join you and actively help you "? Even when I started, I never had a clue who would help me, but there was always one belief that if you do things out of passion, there would be people who will come and join you - that is nature's law which is beyond me and you. I believe we are mere spectators in a larger scheme of things, if something has to happen, it will and what we can control is how we react to situations.
There was one such person among the 220 apartment whose active participation has not just helped, but has formed a strong financial monitoring of this project with data - She is Soumya Thontesh , a professional accountant whose profession is to deal with numbers. She sat for my presentation sessions to question on economic sustainability . There was a difference between her and others who questioned on sustainability, once she was convinced of the cause, she became a very active volunteer in the whole process whereas others were no where in the scene . My biggest strength was the active participation of an accountant like her who ensured every single penny spent and received was accounted for .
Sales Split in % - Data from April 2011 - April 2012
Approximately 1.8 lakhs was our income from sales for a one year period from what we throw into landfills and dumpyards . Egg shell powder sales was low because of our low effort in marketing . It has a high potential in gardening considering the high calcium percentage the product can offer.
Ideally, compost and leaf mulch should NOT be sold outside the community, these should be used as input for growing organic vegetable garden within the community . In case of Tungabhadra , we are yet to start an organic vegetable garden ... for which there is a very high potential.
Expenditure on waste before implementing zero waste management :
We spend close to INR 3.36 Lakhs per block per annum ( Rs.130 per month per apartment ) for collection, clearing , displacing and dumping waste to landfills without implementing waste management. This could be in the form of women collecting unsegregated waste in small covers and dumping in nearby dumps which would be cleared by a local contractor once in 2 days. The mixed waste from many such apartments get accumulated for 2 days before it is displaced and sent to BBMP trucks parked in common collection points within the locality. Over and above this, there is a heavy use of fuel to transport waste everyday ... Greenhouse gases are not only emitted in landfills, but also during transportation of waste to landfills in the form of fossil fuel burning.
Then why are we digging our own grave by contributing 3.36 Lakhs ? Why aren't we trying to leverage the same money for "managing waste " and NOT dumping ?
There is a common notion among the educated that once it is waste , the money spent on it is also waste ! Over the decades , people have become insensitive to issues that do not have a direct impact on them . So when landfill issues are articulated with emotion they give a passive response with "so what" attitude . (You will see more examples while articulating people sustainability in the next section ).
It is important for environmental thinkers to also understand economic sustainability - this is the basis of convincing a non - eco thinker NOT resistant to environmental initiatives !
Tertiary Segregation - The revenue generating Step:
Under the guidance of Vellore Srinivasan, we did tertiary for over 6 months and that is when we realized the potential of converting waste into material . I remember few of the tertiary segregation practice where plastic was removed from cardboard to ensure there is no waste generated while pulping.
Tertiary segregation has a potential of making 3 times the revenue from waste when compared to secondary especially when you depend on way side Raddiwalas . However an optimal volume of waste from atleast 1000 households is needed to ensure sustainability.
Demographic Setup of the Community:
The waste generated is proportional to the income earned by the family. This community has 70% bank employees/ people in public sector and 15 % from IT /BPO industry and another 15% in private manufacturing sector / business. Our observation is that the waste generated here is indicative of a middle class society.
Large Companies' waste collecting programmes - Questions to ponder ? : I was astonished to know that the backside raddiwala was willing to give market rate without much negotiation, double that of these large companies who call it CSR. India has a very strong recycling industry that has evolved over many years. The companies who are giving the consumer throw away rate in the pretext of green thinking are trying to make more money. Can't we jointly agree that they have already polluted by adopting un ecofriendly packaging ? So in that context shouldn't they be paying double the market rate ? Isn't their CSR programme a material retrieving programme through cheap means at lesser market rate ? Let them continue doing what they are doing, but it would make ethical sense if they do NOT call it CSR !
.
What was the economic model emulated from Vellore model ? (All numbers are estimated for 220 flats - the estimation was derived from actual project execution of 13 months )
Components : a) Service Charge b) Income from waste d) Estimated Expenditure
a) Service Charge from individual homes for "managing " waste :
Roughly for urban implementation, this would mean Rs. 100 Per apartment = Rs. 22,000 (Per Month per block) (Less than Rs. 130 per apartment per month required for collection, clearing and dumping of waste !!)
b) Income from waste :
Estimated Income without Tertiary : Rs. 5000 per month per block (Inclusive of recyclables, composting, mulching)
Estimated Income with tertiary : Rs.15,000 per month per block (Inclusive of all of the above)
c) Total monthly income (a)+(b) = Rs. 27,000 ( lower sale value without tertiary)
d) Estimated Expenditure
Expense on Labour : Rs. 18 ,000
Other expenses : Rs. 2000
-----------------------------------------
Total Expense : Rs. 20,000 per month per block
e) Net Surplus per month predicted = (c) - (d) = Rs. 5,000 per month per block (minimum)
The net surplus should be managed separately for waste management purpose ONLY . In Tungabhadra , a separate account was maintained for waste management purpose managed by the same signatories as the association's account. This ensured there was better accounting of income and expenditure . Only a fixed amount of Rs.2 per apartment per day
(Rs.13,200 was coming as service charge towards waste management , rest came from income generation through waste, after 6 months of project execution there was a nominal fee waiver (from common garbage collection fee charged to apartment) from KHB for implementing ZWM )
Govt Incentive :
At policy level, it is important that government pays an incentive to apartments who have implemented wet and dry waste segregation. This would ensure the money paid to contractor who is interested in dumping waste is channelised rightly towards waste management at block level. Incentivization would ensure non eco people within apartments are muted easily for their anti zero waste thinking !
Why Service Charge ?
Waste management is definitely not an easy job, considering the amount of mixed waste and irresponsible dumping people practice . It is important that we ensure the women dealing with segregating waste gets adequately remunerated . Also in order for ethical disposal of waste, there is a price that a waste generator needs to pay . This price is far below the price paid by all of us in polluting our environment for generations to come.
a) Equate the pollution caused by lead pollution in our water sources through landfills to the Rs.100 service charge that we are paying per month to manage the same waste that is being offset
b) Equate the pollution we cause in some distant farming land to the Rs. 130 spent on collection and dumping into some BBMP truck ?
c) Isn't Rs.100 cheaper for us to adopt ZWM than Rs.130 for dumping ?
d) Or how does it matter if we were to estimate Rs. 150 service charge and ensure we employ few more people who can ensure the more eco friendly tertiary segregation as suggested by Vellore Srinivasan ?
Conclusion :
Total expenses for segregated collection and waste management = Rs.22, 000 + Rs. 6000 = Rs.28,000 (Rs. 3.36 Lakhs per annum )
We are paying Rs.3.36 lakhs per annum prior to implementing zero waste management for collecting and dumping waste ! ( See section " Expenditure on waste before implementing zero waste management " )
Isn't this economically viable and self sustaining initiative to adopt in your apartment ? It would make it more viable when 2-3 blocks with a total of 1000 houses can manage primary, secondary and tertiary segregation by sharing common resources like labour, infrastructure, transportation expenses . The net surplus thus created can be used for further improving zero waste initiatives and also in initiating organic terrace gardening within the blocks !
NOTE: The economic viability has been discussed in detail ONLY to ensure that apartments who are resisting to do waste management has an understanding of the economics involved. This is NOT a profit making business .... the money generated will only aid in sustaining .
(See the next blog in the zero waste series : Zero Waste Journey 5 : People Sustainability)
http://meeresh.blogspot.in/2012/04/zero-waste-journey-5-people.html
Courtesy : KHB Chief engineer, Asst Executive engineer who supported us in getting the land and our much awaited fee waiver for initiating the project, Balbir Bora who supported us since its' inception by buying leaf mulch , compost and Panchagavya, Oota from Thota where we could sell our Panchagavya, Mr. Jayaraj of Greenpath who gave us opportunity to sell in Era Organics and spread word about zero waste management . Vani Murthy who supported in spreading word about our organic products and project, Antara Mukherji who supported in designing our posters , the various raddiwalas who gave us a good rate to sustain the project inspite of hiccups . SWMRT and BBMP for encouraging us through the Bengaluru Recyclathon Awards, KSPCB who supported our project with a written directive to all apartments within NGV to follow Tungabhadra Model
Economic Sustainability
While the work on zero waste was going on, I remember our treasurer Mr. Hari Madhu asking me "when will someone join you and actively help you "? Even when I started, I never had a clue who would help me, but there was always one belief that if you do things out of passion, there would be people who will come and join you - that is nature's law which is beyond me and you. I believe we are mere spectators in a larger scheme of things, if something has to happen, it will and what we can control is how we react to situations.
There was one such person among the 220 apartment whose active participation has not just helped, but has formed a strong financial monitoring of this project with data - She is Soumya Thontesh , a professional accountant whose profession is to deal with numbers. She sat for my presentation sessions to question on economic sustainability . There was a difference between her and others who questioned on sustainability, once she was convinced of the cause, she became a very active volunteer in the whole process whereas others were no where in the scene . My biggest strength was the active participation of an accountant like her who ensured every single penny spent and received was accounted for .
Sales Split in % - Data from April 2011 - April 2012
Approximately 1.8 lakhs was our income from sales for a one year period from what we throw into landfills and dumpyards . Egg shell powder sales was low because of our low effort in marketing . It has a high potential in gardening considering the high calcium percentage the product can offer.
Expenditure on waste before implementing zero waste management :
We spend close to INR 3.36 Lakhs per block per annum ( Rs.130 per month per apartment ) for collection, clearing , displacing and dumping waste to landfills without implementing waste management. This could be in the form of women collecting unsegregated waste in small covers and dumping in nearby dumps which would be cleared by a local contractor once in 2 days. The mixed waste from many such apartments get accumulated for 2 days before it is displaced and sent to BBMP trucks parked in common collection points within the locality. Over and above this, there is a heavy use of fuel to transport waste everyday ... Greenhouse gases are not only emitted in landfills, but also during transportation of waste to landfills in the form of fossil fuel burning.
Then why are we digging our own grave by contributing 3.36 Lakhs ? Why aren't we trying to leverage the same money for "managing waste " and NOT dumping ?
There is a common notion among the educated that once it is waste , the money spent on it is also waste ! Over the decades , people have become insensitive to issues that do not have a direct impact on them . So when landfill issues are articulated with emotion they give a passive response with "so what" attitude . (You will see more examples while articulating people sustainability in the next section ).
It is important for environmental thinkers to also understand economic sustainability - this is the basis of convincing a non - eco thinker NOT resistant to environmental initiatives !
Tertiary Segregation - The revenue generating Step:
Under the guidance of Vellore Srinivasan, we did tertiary for over 6 months and that is when we realized the potential of converting waste into material . I remember few of the tertiary segregation practice where plastic was removed from cardboard to ensure there is no waste generated while pulping.
Tertiary segregation has a potential of making 3 times the revenue from waste when compared to secondary especially when you depend on way side Raddiwalas . However an optimal volume of waste from atleast 1000 households is needed to ensure sustainability.
Demographic Setup of the Community:
The waste generated is proportional to the income earned by the family. This community has 70% bank employees/ people in public sector and 15 % from IT /BPO industry and another 15% in private manufacturing sector / business. Our observation is that the waste generated here is indicative of a middle class society.
Large Companies' waste collecting programmes - Questions to ponder ? : I was astonished to know that the backside raddiwala was willing to give market rate without much negotiation, double that of these large companies who call it CSR. India has a very strong recycling industry that has evolved over many years. The companies who are giving the consumer throw away rate in the pretext of green thinking are trying to make more money. Can't we jointly agree that they have already polluted by adopting un ecofriendly packaging ? So in that context shouldn't they be paying double the market rate ? Isn't their CSR programme a material retrieving programme through cheap means at lesser market rate ? Let them continue doing what they are doing, but it would make ethical sense if they do NOT call it CSR !
.
What was the economic model emulated from Vellore model ? (All numbers are estimated for 220 flats - the estimation was derived from actual project execution of 13 months )
Components : a) Service Charge b) Income from waste d) Estimated Expenditure
a) Service Charge from individual homes for "managing " waste :
Roughly for urban implementation, this would mean Rs. 100 Per apartment = Rs. 22,000 (Per Month per block) (Less than Rs. 130 per apartment per month required for collection, clearing and dumping of waste !!)
b) Income from waste :
Estimated Income without Tertiary : Rs. 5000 per month per block (Inclusive of recyclables, composting, mulching)
Estimated Income with tertiary : Rs.15,000 per month per block (Inclusive of all of the above)
c) Total monthly income (a)+(b) = Rs. 27,000 ( lower sale value without tertiary)
d) Estimated Expenditure
Expense on Labour : Rs. 18 ,000
Other expenses : Rs. 2000
-----------------------------------------
Total Expense : Rs. 20,000 per month per block
e) Net Surplus per month predicted = (c) - (d) = Rs. 5,000 per month per block (minimum)
The net surplus should be managed separately for waste management purpose ONLY . In Tungabhadra , a separate account was maintained for waste management purpose managed by the same signatories as the association's account. This ensured there was better accounting of income and expenditure . Only a fixed amount of Rs.2 per apartment per day
(Rs.13,200 was coming as service charge towards waste management , rest came from income generation through waste, after 6 months of project execution there was a nominal fee waiver (from common garbage collection fee charged to apartment) from KHB for implementing ZWM )
Govt Incentive :
At policy level, it is important that government pays an incentive to apartments who have implemented wet and dry waste segregation. This would ensure the money paid to contractor who is interested in dumping waste is channelised rightly towards waste management at block level. Incentivization would ensure non eco people within apartments are muted easily for their anti zero waste thinking !
Why Service Charge ?
Waste management is definitely not an easy job, considering the amount of mixed waste and irresponsible dumping people practice . It is important that we ensure the women dealing with segregating waste gets adequately remunerated . Also in order for ethical disposal of waste, there is a price that a waste generator needs to pay . This price is far below the price paid by all of us in polluting our environment for generations to come.
a) Equate the pollution caused by lead pollution in our water sources through landfills to the Rs.100 service charge that we are paying per month to manage the same waste that is being offset
b) Equate the pollution we cause in some distant farming land to the Rs. 130 spent on collection and dumping into some BBMP truck ?
c) Isn't Rs.100 cheaper for us to adopt ZWM than Rs.130 for dumping ?
d) Or how does it matter if we were to estimate Rs. 150 service charge and ensure we employ few more people who can ensure the more eco friendly tertiary segregation as suggested by Vellore Srinivasan ?
Conclusion :
Total expenses for segregated collection and waste management = Rs.22, 000 + Rs. 6000 = Rs.28,000 (Rs. 3.36 Lakhs per annum )
We are paying Rs.3.36 lakhs per annum prior to implementing zero waste management for collecting and dumping waste ! ( See section " Expenditure on waste before implementing zero waste management " )
Isn't this economically viable and self sustaining initiative to adopt in your apartment ? It would make it more viable when 2-3 blocks with a total of 1000 houses can manage primary, secondary and tertiary segregation by sharing common resources like labour, infrastructure, transportation expenses . The net surplus thus created can be used for further improving zero waste initiatives and also in initiating organic terrace gardening within the blocks !
NOTE: The economic viability has been discussed in detail ONLY to ensure that apartments who are resisting to do waste management has an understanding of the economics involved. This is NOT a profit making business .... the money generated will only aid in sustaining .
(See the next blog in the zero waste series : Zero Waste Journey 5 : People Sustainability)
http://meeresh.blogspot.in/2012/04/zero-waste-journey-5-people.html
Courtesy : KHB Chief engineer, Asst Executive engineer who supported us in getting the land and our much awaited fee waiver for initiating the project, Balbir Bora who supported us since its' inception by buying leaf mulch , compost and Panchagavya, Oota from Thota where we could sell our Panchagavya, Mr. Jayaraj of Greenpath who gave us opportunity to sell in Era Organics and spread word about zero waste management . Vani Murthy who supported in spreading word about our organic products and project, Antara Mukherji who supported in designing our posters , the various raddiwalas who gave us a good rate to sustain the project inspite of hiccups . SWMRT and BBMP for encouraging us through the Bengaluru Recyclathon Awards, KSPCB who supported our project with a written directive to all apartments within NGV to follow Tungabhadra Model
Awesome! The tertiary segregation makes so big difference?
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned about raddiwalas who gave good price; so bargaining is a technique we need to learn, good for us!
You are so right; this blog should definitely help people who want to implement in their premises. I am the one going to do soon.