Swachh Bharat Mission

The two-day workshop by the Center for Water and Sanitation on Swachh Bharat Mission focused on ODF (Open Defecation Free) status, Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) plans.  The workshop also included detailed site visits and discussions of operations, and emerging concepts in Solid Waste Management. The workshop had sessions on the following:

How to sustain ODF Status: Some good practices

A session by Mr. Aasim Mansuri, Senior Research Associate at Center for Water and Sanitation focused on how they can sustain ODF status and move towards becoming ODF+ by the implementation of Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) plans.  The session shared the overall systematic approach of the Government of Maharashtra to become ODF, sustain ODF status and move towards ODF+.  It covered various aspects that need to be addressed to sustain ODF status, this was demonstrated by case studies of similar size ULBs from Maharashtra and the presentation concluded with the focus on how cities can think about becoming ODF+ by doing citywide FSSM and how this fits the national and state agenda.  Mr. Harshad Solanki, Director SWM AMC, took a session on Swachh Bharat Mission – Swachh Sarvekshan: How have forerunners done it differently practitioners outlook. He highlighted practical challenges and ways to overcome those to achieve the Swachh Sarvekshan and Swachh Bharat goals.  Both the sessions were facilitated and moderated by Dr. Mona Iyer to bring out the relevant policy and practical aspects for the participants.

Detailed Visit and Discussion of operations at:

Refuse Transfer Station (RTS), GPS system for vehicle tracking and data acquisition at RTS, Construction and Demolition waste facility, Plastic and paper recycling facility, and RDF facility of AMC. 

Emerging Concepts in SWM in Context of SBM SWM Collection to Disposal:  system, quantification Procurement for better SWM

Prof. Devanshu Pandit conducted three sessions on Solid Waste Management in the training program for ULB officers and inspectors.  In the first session he discussed the emerging SWM concepts in the context of Swachh Bharat Mission where at source segregation, zero waste, bin-less cities, and decentralized treatments were discussed.  The second session focused on how to prepare an SWM plan for the town with reference to guidelines of the Swachh Bharat Mission.  Prof. Pandit also discussed various components of solid waste management from generation of waste to disposal and issues and solutions for door-to-door collection systems.  The last session focused on contracts for solid waste management where Prof. Pandit highlighted the need for better consultant selection processes, types of contracts suitable for various types of works and precautions required to be taken in each. 

The sessions were highly interactive where municipal officers shared concerns, raised, and discussed issues they were facing.

Waste Treatment: Methods, Issues, Solutions

The session by Prof. Tushar Bose focused on successful case studies of solid waste treatment in India.  The cases included Mysuru, Allepy, and Ghaziabad.  The session then moved to different methods of waste treatment and delved deeper into the technological requirements of the treatment methods.  The issues pertaining to each of these technologies were discussed in detail subsequently.  The session ended with a discussion on solutions to the issues, the provisions in the new solid waste management rules and overcoming the problems.  The session led to understanding the scale, application, and suitability of waste treatment technologies in India.