Satyamev Jayate Episode 3: Convert garbage into Gold!

We take some much from the environment but what do we give in return? Mindlessly throw away waste matter that keeps on rotting in our neighbourhood, thereby, disturbing the habitat of all the living creatures on earth. It is not fair to be that selfish as long as we are sharing the same space as other living entities on the planet. That is what the primary message of SMJ’s latest episode was.

Aamir began the talk by introducing the Malipura residents near Bengaluru city, who narrated how the dumping grounds in their locality have made their life difficult. They said that they can’t even eat their food due to foul odour and pregnant women are suffering from miscarriages due to the harmful pollutant emitted by the garbage. Moreover, diseases like Chikanguniya are rampant in the area.

Social activist Rishi Aggarwal simply gave one word to all the mismanagement of garbage disposal going on – Badmaashi (hooliganism). “Badmaashi hai yeh” (this is all hooliganism), he said. He further iterated that this fraud involves mafia, corporates, bureaucrats and politicians. All these people should be in jail currently for the kind of work they people have been doing.

Mr. Aggarwal explained about ‘Tipping fee’ – which is a scheme introduced by the corrupt authorities to eat up as much public money as possible. In this scheme, the dumping grounds, which are public land in reality, have been illegally handed over to a certain nefarious groups so that they could transport and process the solid waste. In return, the contractors will be compensated for the job. Unfortunately, the solid waste in not getting processed by the contractors and they are looting public money for nothing!

The tipping fee ranges from Rs. 500 per tonne on an average and every time a truck carried around 5 tonnes of waste matter to the dumping ground. This clearly implies that the more the waste contractors have to transport, the more profitable it is for them. In a bid to increase the weight of the transport lorries, the contractor even add solid waste like bricks, stone etc.

The Indian law states that every Municipal corporation should tell its citizens to keep solid and liquid waste in different disposal bags. But none of the MCs have followed this rule till date and none have heeded the fundamental principle of waste management - reduce, reuse, recycle.

Mr. Aggarwal also highlighted the indifference of the general public towards the increasing garbage as they pay the taxes but never care to know how their money is being used by the government.

Dr. S.R. Maley, a well-reputed Scientist was introduced during the talk to tell about the fantastic job he has done with his associate Binrju Mandra, to deal with the waste matter in Mumbai’s dumping ground named Gorai. According to the Bombay High court‘s order, the 80 feet mountain of garbage was brought down by them to convert into a habitable ground for the Mumbai MC.

Here’s how they did it:
1. They sanitized the garbage with herbal products so that no disease spread in the nearby areas.
2. They also took help of house flies as they eat up the waste protein and substances found in meat etc, thereby, decomposing the garbage.
All in all, it took them 60 days to clean up the waste and that too by spending a mere sum of Rs. 9 lakh (approx.) per hectare.

He said the best way to recycle liquid waste is by way of composting which is a balanced plant food and can be used as a fertilizer in agricultural fields.

In technical terms, 1, 60,000 tonne waste is produced in India on a daily basis by 424 Municipal Corporations. By way of composting, we can make 90, 00,000 tonne compost per year by using the liquid waste. This number is equivalent to Rs 27, 000 crore spent per years in agriculture. So, the gist of the matter is that 45, 00,000 acre barren land will be made fertile and could produce 90, 00,000 tonne of additional food grains for the country by following this method.

Dr. Sharad P. Kale – Scientist - Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) - elaborated the process of making biodegradable gas which is an economically viable idea to save energy and reap benefits by paying a nominal amount.

Also, entrepreneur Nuriel Pezarkar put forth an open offer before the Municipalities of the nation during the how. He said that his company has the know-how of cleaning up liquid waste by collecting the raw material from bulk liquid waste generation centers like restaurants, marriage halls, etc. as more than 50% of total waste is generated by these places. The company’s mission is to convert waste into productive gases and can be sold in the market. Additionally, unlike the typical contractors, they won’t be charging any tipping and transportation fee form the government for ferrying the garbage.

Pezarkar said that he has even shared some models that will enable them to share the revenue generated by them with the MCs. However, the sad part is that they have been turned down by MCs in the past ‘coz they say they have allocated the contract to other party.
Mr. Ravi Agarwal- director of Toxic Link, threw light on the sewage treatment plant being operated in South Delhi which is producing toxic effect on the health of nearby residents.
The sewage plant uses burning facility to treat the waste which in turn produces the life threatening Dioxin gas. And, such plants are in place because of the subsidy that the central government offers them for operation.

Host Aamir Khan went on to reveal that the show makers had invited 8 Municipal Commissioners for an on air talk but 7 out of the total number did not reply at all. The only answer they got from the remaining one was that he does not have time to turn up!

However, there are those, who are proving themselves to be a new ray of hope to the future generations by their innovative deeds.

In Vellore, C. Srinivasan Project director, IGS, uses animals like cows, ducks, frogs and worms to turn waste matter into reusable content. It is a fact that once a cow gives birth to 4-5 calves, she becomes dispensable. But Srinivasan has been making his cows lead a retired life albeit in a productive way. In his farm, every 4 hours they go to vegetable market to collect waste veggies that is eaten by the cows eats the fresh waste veggies to give the dung. The dung is immediately put in the bio digester machine to separate methane gas from it. The methane-less matter is given to worms who feed on it to produce worm cast which is the best compost in the world also called Black Gold. This is also a very time saving process.

The waste matter which can’t be given to the cows is left in a separate place to produces maggots. This is later given to hens as a feed. Similarly, the ducks are served with waste fish meat from the fish market to get nice eggs the next day.

The show was wrapped up with the advice that no matter whether the Municipalities do their work or not, we as the responsible denizens have to put liquid waste and solid waste in separate bags. This way, we can make the authorities accountable to us and assert our rights fearlessly.

Satyamev Jayate!