How can स्वच्छ भारत be made a reality quickly and ensure that it sets international standards for other countries to follow?
The Problem is broken down broadly in 14 Major categories
(1) Not Depositing waste in the dustbins - People are not habituated to put the waste in the dustbins
(2) Not collecting waste properly - We do not have the system to collect the waste properly(lack of dustbins). Even if the dustbins are present they are not emptied or collected on timely basis. if they are collected they are spilled over on the way till they reach the dumping ground
(3) Not classifying and segregating the waste properly - All types of waste plastic, food, paper, solid or electronic all is collected together.
(4) Not dumping the waste collected properly - After putting so much of effort in collecting the waste - it is not dumped at the right place.
(5) Not reusing the waste properly - Even when it is dumped in the right place, it is not used for recycling and making something better out of it.
(6) Differentiating People who follow good practices and do all the right things are not even identified, leave about recognition. So there is no differentiation between people who are adopting all the best practices to keep the environment clean.
(7) No comparison or grading of states within the country, within the states - districts, within a districts - localities, within localities - lanes, within lanes - flat system where several families live in the same building or houses and finally within house comparing people who is doing better.
(8) Open defecation/ Lack of Toilets / Cleanliness in Toilets Most of the people in villages do open defecation and in public places we do not have considerable clean toilets which can motivate people to use public toilets.
(9) Maintenance of dustbins and toilets at regular distance We are not able to see dustbins or toilets at regular distance. If we see them the cleanliness around them is not maintained properly as required.
(10) Menstrual hygiene challenges faced by rural women in India
https://womennow.in/5-menstrual-hygiene-challenges-faced-rural-women-india/
(11) Personnel Hygiene Our outside world is the reflection of our inner being. When we are not habituated to be maintain bodily cleanliness and wear clean clothes, we cannot say that we will be clean completely. People are habituated to wear to dirty clothes and be very less hygenic when moving around in public places.
(12) Spitting in India is a big-time habit Paan and Ghutka chewing has been tracked down to be a part of Indian traditions. Spitting in the street is one of the growing concerns of sanitation issues around the world. Though many countries have taken charge of this issue, India is yet to take a strong stand on it. Spitting in public places is not only a major threat to hygiene, but also
an act which is considered ugly and anti-social.
has now caught fantasy of all- young and old, male and female.
(13) Hygienic cooking of food Most of times we see that food preparation is done in very unhygienic conditions and also after the food is eaten the plates are utensils are not properly washed or cleaned to maintain good standard of cleanliness
(14) Last, but the most important - people who manage the waste are given the least priority in respect, wages, instruments/tools/masks and facilities. Most of the money is spent on advertisement and very less on the betterment of the people who are actually working at an ground level.
Some good to known facts about भारत/India have been enumerated to understand the issue with bit more clarity.
The Numbers are very considerable and would be much higher, than what have been projected.
An 8.3-bn tonne problem: How to manage plastic waste - In India, 80% of total plastic consumption is discarded as waste and official statistics say the country generates 25,940 tonnes of waste daily. At least 40% of this is uncollected.There is a bit of plastic everywhere, in our wallets, on our dining tables and kitchens, in our cars and buses and in our phones and offices. It is nearly impossible to imagine a world without plastics. Of the 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic produced, 6.3 billion tonnes have been discarded. Every year, nearly 13 million tonnes of plastic waste are added to oceans. Given their durability, plastics do not decompose.
Of the 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic produced, 6.3 billion tonnes have been discarded. Every year, nearly 13 million tonnes of plastic waste are added to oceans. Given their durability, plastics do not decompose. Plastic bottles, jars, and containers, also known as rigid packaging, find their way into the reusing and recycling economy through informal chain of rag pickers and kabaadi wallahs or scrap dealers. There is a concerted effort to increase recycling of rigid plastic packaging by companies as well. But other single use plastics such as bags, candy wrappers, tobacco and pan masala sachets, soap wrappers and shampoo sachets are either too difficult or not lucrative enough to collect. These plastic items then find their way into landfills, unauthorised garbage dumps, or simply remain uncollected on road kerbs. Eventually, these single-use plastic items clog rivers, other water bodies and the ocean. They are consumed by animals, and often find their way into our food systems.
Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/64420276.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/paper-/-wood-/-glass/-plastic/-marbles/our-plastic-pollution-problem/articleshow/64420276.cms
Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/64420276.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst. With landfills ranking third in terms of greenhouse gas emissions in India, and increasing pressure from the public, the Government of India revised the Solid Waste Management
Waste Generation in India Source: https://www.epw.in/engage/article/institutional-framework-implementing-solid-waste-management-india-macro-analysis
According to the Press Information Bureau, India generates 62 million tonnes of waste (mixed waste containing both recyclable and non-recyclable waste) every year, with an average annual growth rate of 4% (PIB 2016). The generated waste can be divided into three major categories: Organic (all kinds of biodegradable waste), dry (or recyclable waste) and biomedical (or sanitary and hazardous waste).
As shown in Figure 1, nearly 50% of the total waste is organic with the volumes of recyclables and biomedical/hazardous waste growing each year as India becomes more urbanised (McKinsey Global Institute 2010).
There is a marginal increase in waste generation with rise in incomes, as shown in Table 1. While the “high income” group produced an average of 0.902 kg of organic waste and 0.378 kg of recyclable waste per household per day, the “middle income” group produced about 0.015 grams lesser organic waste and 0.143 grams lesser recyclable waste every day.
.
.
As shown in below Figure, less than 60% of waste is collected from households and only 15% of urban India’s waste is processed in a country 12 times as dense as that of the United States (US) (PIB 2016)
Some of the efforts to bring Swach Bharat are listed below with some links, you can click and read them (there can be many more, not all of them can be listed over here)
(1) https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/expert-opinion-two-bin-waste-segregation-system-india-launches-world-environment-day-8178/
(2) https://www.skymetweather.com/content/weather-news-and-analysis/6-important-eco-friendly-steps-taken-by-narendra-modi-government/
(3) https://yourstory.com/2017/10/swachh-bharat-citizen-initiatives
(4) https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/indian-railways-takes-another-step-towards-swachh-rail-swachh-bharat-will-provide-disposable-eco-friendly-towels-pillow-covers-rajdhani-express-14221/
(5) http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=171138
(6) https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/There-are-laws-against-spitting-but-govts.-walk-around-them/article14497724.ece
(7) http://www.paryavaranmitra.in/Go Swachh Be Swasthh/Spitting.pdf
(8) https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/stop-the-spitting-in-india-1.1886240
Good solutions should ensure that it fulfills as many conditions as possible in the best possible way
(1) Easy to implement - should require minimal time and effort.
(2) Minimal cost
(3) Eliminate the existence of waste itself (Origination point)
(4) Maintenance of dustbins and toilets becomes easy and should get an alert when it is not in proper state.
(5) Cleanliness of toilets and places around where dustbins are kept
(6) Ensure peoples behavior changes where ever they are and avoids them in spitting and doing toilet in open places. People do not throw waste in the open places and drop them properly in dustbins.
(7) Dustbins are emptied and cleaned up on timely basis.
(8) People in waste management industry get paid very well and are provided with all the tools and facilities to do the work.
(9) Usage of waste in the most optimal way
(10) Clean hygiene where people are neat and clean
(11) Hygienic cooking of food and utensils by maintaining good standards.
(12) Ensures that no waste can be seen within or outside buildings.
(13) Easy to spread and replicate the best practices from other areas - Creates a sense of self awareness to take up the latest measures to reach new standards.
(14) Ability to identify people who are helping in spreading the cleanliness drive and provide avenues where they are recognized and rewarded.
- KKrishna Heda @krishnaheda
From a long time Bharat is trying to achieve cleanliness through various measures and activities. We have to look from different perspectives and dimensions if we want to become the cleanest country in the world and set example for others.
(-3) Eliminate all possible modes through which waste is generated ( Saves Approx 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste annually which gets dumped in landfills leading to land pollution)
-
(a) Ban plastic water bottles and promote reusable bottles - this saves cost and improves probability of repeat customers for sellers. This also give opportunity for sellers to advertise their products on bottles, which people would carry every where. This also improves the health as anything which is stored in plastic water bottle is harmful to health.
-
(b) Eliminate all plastic packaging and wrappings to ensure that landfills don't pollute land
-
(i) Eliminate all the plastic or glass packaging and wrappers and go backwards in time where people were purchasing all their necessities by bringing their own utensils. Currently every time - we want to buy anything requires a new plastic bottle which is an additional cost to the manufacturer. Instead use
This also helps in generating employment opportunities to crores of people -
Example 1: Currently we are buying a chips packet which has been made several days ago and now you will buy fresh potato chips which have been fried/cooked just few hours back.
Example 2 : Shampoo refill can be made using recyclable pouches which customers can use again and again. This saves cost and helps in avoiding small plastic waste which is very difficult to manage.
Example 3 : Fruit drinks can be refilled by the general merchant using a 5 liter bottle. The consumer can bring any bottle to get the fruit juice refilled
Example 4: Shampoo refills can be made using 5 liter cans which small general stores can have - This saves the need to manufacture plastic pet bottles and saves the cost to the manufacturer and the same can be passed to the consumer. -
(ii) Use only bio-degradable natural fertilizer based packaging - which can be decomposed into fertilizer quickly (This can be done using banana leaves, cow dung and other natural products). This step not only avoids waste, but actually helps us to grow more and create more value even from the wrappers and outer cover of products which are currently being just thrown away.
-
(iii) Ban all the plastic covers and promote people to buy reusable jute bags. Jute bags should be allowed to sold-back when people have lot. Similar to how we sell cartoons to scrap collector/ raddiwala.
The Cultivation of jute provides several benefits and it is also known as golden fibre of India. Jute is rich in minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. It also contains iron, calcium, sodium, phosphorus, potassium, proteins, fibers, Vitamins A, C and E, riboflavin, niacin and folate. The cultivation of jute improves soil fertility status by shedding its leaves in the field. https://zodml.org/blog/health-facts-10-nutritional-benefits-‘ewedu’-leaf#.XHJYz1wzbIU
-
-
(c) Eliminate all the plastic disposables which are used by people. They can use transparent fiber based glasses, plates and other cutlery which can be recycled again and again. Portable small cutlery sets which people can carry when they are going outside in functions can also help them a lot. Everything can be carried in a small easy to carry packet (Glass, spoon, bowls, plate).
(-2) Avoid recycling and Promote composting - Recycling comes with an cost and also leads to pollution.
In every home providing high quality compost kits which will help in providing fertilizer and cooking gas at very competitive prices. Where people are not able to afford provide community based bio-digester plants. This helps in providing direct value to the people for the waste which they have accumulated. This also avoids the cost of transporting the waste to long distances.
(-1) Make common sense work to benefit people themselves.
- (a) Make people carry a small innovative waste bag along with them - so that they can collect the waste and throw them in the dustbins/ compost pits whenever they find one. This helps in reducing the cost of deploying multiple dustbins. Most of the waste now will be beneficial, so people would want to use it for their benefit in their homes or in nearby places.
Example: Currently a banana peel which was being thrown - (b) Eliminate paper napkins - This promotes people to carry handkerchief wherever they go. This saves lot of cost and saves millions of trees every year.
-(c) Promote Digital newspapers and devices - Provide Digital devices with an bundled offer of newspapers, magazines and books which will be a lot cheaper when compared to buying newspapers. This will help in improving the digital literacy rates and help people to do more with the same amount of money spent on newspapers which were getting sold as waste. This saves trillions of trees every year. - (d) Promote gardening and taking care of plants as a big initiative and make it very popular - The Fertilizer generated should be used to create as much greenery as possible to ensure that there is no mud which can be seen. Make cows free instead of keeping them in gowshalas/cow shed. Build rest houses for animals where they can take rest in the night and ensure proper care for the animals by having good number of veternary doctors. This also ensures that the grass is levelled at regular intervals when the manure is picked up. The Cow dung can be collected using machines quickly and can be used as manure.
-
(e) Promote the habit of carrying innovative collapsible dining kit. Make popular cleaning the plate with water and drinking it - by making this popular people will not shy away to do the same in public places. This will result in avoiding food waste, avoids plastic/paper wastage, saves water to clean the utensils.
Example of a norm: In any invitation for any party, you will be asked to carry a dining kit with you. This saves the cost of the organizer. -
(f) Cleanliness comes before Godliness - Make big advertisements in places of worship on how important it is to keep your self clean by wearing daily fresh washed clothes. This helps people to keep their surroundings also cleaner. This gives a big opportunity for employment to start laundry business at competitive prices.
-
(g) Create awareness of cooking food in a hygienic place and ways along with good cooking tips - Showcase the benefit of using hygienic techniques along with interesting recipes. This will make small vendors to grow their business and also builds a consciousness to have a clean environment around them. Over a period of time make Hygienic cooking certificate mandatory for even small vendors to sell food even on street.
-
(h) Promote quick vehicle cleaning - when the vehicles are being parked. This again gives good employment opportunity and promotes cleanliness among people.
-
(i) First Sunday of every month across the country will be used to promote cleanliness.
- 5S Program (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain, 5S System) will be taught using social media and people will be encouraged to learn and participate by going through practical examples
- People will be asked to participate and learn about how to keep the surroundings clean and learn on new techniques and best practices. Every individual will be encouraged to take up the cleanliness activity practically in their area.
- Tips on how to keep your house clean and how to save cost by adopting best practices.
- Tips on how to save water and electricity will be shared
(0) Create mega campaign for making Waste management industry popular.
- (a) Privatize all the wast management activities with stringent Service levels. As this will enable them to earn by using the waste generated.
- (b) All factories/ industries will be encouraged to have waste utilization plants whereby they are able to create value added products from the waste generated instead of disposing off. People who are not capable of doing so - can be linked to the waste management plants - so that they get good value for the their waste products.
(1) Swach Bharat Monitoring Group - Recognizes and Compares cleanliness at every nook and corner of the country. (instead of advertising monitor the cleanliness across the country). Specific teams in every lane/street will be made by people who are volunteering to participate. They have to undergo a small training on how to operate on a daily basis and how to work collaboratively as a team.
- (a) Identify and award people who are helping the community to drive cleanliness basis participation in events. Make these people popular in social media.
- (b) Compare and grade states within the country, within the states - districts, within a districts - localities, within localities - lanes, within lanes - flat system where several families live in the same building or houses and finally within house comparing people who is doing better.
This grading can be done using specific standards and using visual management boards on the roads and signals. Every intersection of roads will have colored visual symbols to indicate the cleanliness of that specific place. - (c) Monitor and see the cleanliness using digital devices. People can report inaccuracies or where every they feel it is not clean on a click of a button or by giving missed call.
- (d) Volunteers will be empowered to work with the respective municipalities and raise concerns.
- (e) Mandatory space in all news channels and newspaper on the front page and in headlines to give an update on swach bharat and the activities being done to make it better.
(2) Avoid unnecessary cartoon packaging and instruction manuals.
- (a) Currently whenever we buy any item - it comes with packaging which is thrown away immediately.
- (i) Get immediate cash back on returning the original packaging - This benefits both the seller and buyer.
- (ii) Have scrap managers who can actually take back the cartoon and provide a cashback, they can transport it back to the shop again to ensure that it gets recycled with the same product. This helps in generating lot more employment opportunities to uneducated people.
- (b) Provide Digital instruction copies instead of providing books and manuals - People can scan the product using the scan code on the product to get all the details. Where people do not have digital devices they have to pay to get the instruction manual. This helps in avoiding unnecessary printing of instruction manuals which hardly is read by any one.
(3) Showcase the benefits of maintaining clean toilets
Most of the people do not know the benefits of having clean toilets, we only advertise of having clean toilets.
-
(a) A person character should be analysed with his ability to clean the dirt or dirty things. A person who is able to clean the dirty things of others is always humble and happy. They do not develop much ego and have very less desires. Such people also cause very less harm to others.
Why does Japan follow cleaning practice as a mandatory guideline? Their motto is simple: if you are using a particular space, it is your duty and responsibility to ensure that you leave that space clean. It helps people to learn the importance of cleanliness -- an important life skill that millions haven't mastered around the world! Just imagine how much most of us crib when the domestic help skips a day? Moreover, if you know you have to clean frequently, you are less likely to litter the classroom.
https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/featurephilia/story/students-in-japan-clean-their-own-classrooms-and-school-toilets-and-the-reason-is-incredible-1227619-2018-05-06 -
(b) Make a habit of everyone cleaning the toilets once a month at home as well - when people start doing so, they will know the problem which they will cause when they leave the toilets unclean.
-
(c) In all public toilets make all the people use the aadhar card finger print authentication to use it. This will help in tracking the people who have used it and ensure that people who have used the public toilet 10 times should participate in the cleaning drive at-least once. Failure to do so, should attract a huge penalty and also imprisonment. (The only exception will be either the person is not in the age bracket or has got disability or is having disease)
(4) Measure cleanliness of toilets in an automated way.
-
(a) Have a scan code in every toilet for people to rate or a missed call number to report - when the toilet was unclean. Encourage people to provide mandatory feedback, after they have used the toilet. When the toilet was unclean - a message should be triggered to people who have used the toilet before with a very good heart touching message.
-
(b)
(5) Provide very good pay, facilities, tools, rewards, recognition and respect for people who are cleaning the dirt or sweeping or cleaning toilets.
- (a) Pay scale should increase with more dirt the person is required to clean. Currently people who are cleaning gutters are paid very less when compared to the MLA or MP - People who are cleaning the worst things should be paid significantly.
- (b) People who have shown considerable effort, punctuality and passion in sweeping the streets/toilets/gutter should be invited in big functions and should be given the respect to sit on dias along with other famous people. This makes others understand the importance of cleaning and keeping the surroundings clean.
- (c) Reward and recognize people who are keeping the toilets neat and clean regularly. This motivates others to follow the same.
(6) Construct toilets at equal distances and people should be able to find the nearest toilet similar to an ATM or a petrol bunk. ( May be with waiting time also - if there are many people in an emergency :)
- (a)
(7) Provide EZY spitting bag (similar to kerchief) to people - who are addicted to eating pan and Gutka.
People who are addicted to spitting most of times, should be made to carry a spitting bag in their pocket. They can spit and empty it at regular intervals in washrooms. This ensures that people can spit quickly and they are not required to move around while spitting and still keeping the surrounding clean.
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/ezyspit-pouch-world-s-first-spit-pack-19939017773.html -