IDP 2011

University of Amsterdam

Improving the supply chain by a micro and macro solution

Research Project 2011 A collaboration between Sefa, De Pellikaan and Rajagiri College Marije Duijn Stijn Bartelink Paul van Kekem

Research Project 2011

An Amsterdam Remedy for Kochi’s Waste Menace Improving the supply chain by a micro and macro solution

A collaboration between: Dutch researchers:

Indian researchers:

Marije Duijn

Krishna Priya

Stijn Bartelink

Hridya Dileep

Paul van Kekem

Justin Joseph

Schermer-Voest Foundation

De Pellikaan Foundation (Develop2Create)

University of Amsterdam

University of Amsterdam

Acknowledgements

First of all, we would like to thank everyone that has made this incredibly beautiful experience possible. We would like to thank Han Wijns, Frank Donkers and Hugo Velthuijsen, who, together, constitute the board of’ Stichting De Pellikaan'. Without their strong belief in the value of intercultural experience, we would not have gotten the opportunity to conduct this horizon widening research in India. We would like to thank Schermer-Voest foundation and all friends of Stichting De Pellikaan who have contributed in order to make us realize this project. We would like to thank Sandy David for his initial enthusiasm, his willingness to think out-of-the box to make our field work possible, his time and efforts made in order to get this project running. We would like to thank Mary David, beloved mother of Sandy, for making our stay in Kerala the most warm and pleasant stay in India one can ever imagine. We would like to thank the staff of Rajagiri Outreach, in particular Mr. M.P. Antoni, for being willing to cooperate with us and to guide us in the broadest sense during our field work in Ernakulam district. Special thanks to Shaju for all the pleasant early morning rides we had in his car from Kandanade to Rajagiri College. We would like to thank Krishna Priya, Hridya Dileep and Justin Joseph, our fellow researchers from Rajagiri, for giving us the unique experience of intensively cooperating with peers from a different culture. Special thanks go out to the people of Plan@Earth for sharing all their ideas with us, for their willingness to continue cooperation in the future, for their fresh and creative approach in a problematic surrounding. We would like to thank the Kerala Chamber of Commerce for sharing our thoughts and concerns, and for enabling us to organize a last minute seminar on Waste Management in their conference room. Last but not least, our thanks go out to all the organizations, representatives and passionate people that we have had interesting conversations with during our wonderful time in India.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 3

University of Amsterdam

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 7 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Research timeline and project deliverables........................................................ 8 Research timeline .................................................................................................................................. 8 Chronology of meetings, visits and other activities ............................................................. 9 Deliverables and benefits ............................................................................................................... 10 The supply chain of waste .............................................................................................................. 10

Part I.

Findings

2

Preparatory Research ............................................................................................. 12 Methods ................................................................................................................................................... 12 Waste management in The Netherlands ................................................................................ 12 Types of waste and processing possibilities in rural areas .......................................... 13 Waste and Energy Company Amsterdam .............................................................................. 15 Indian best practices ................................................................................................ 18 The case of Dharavi............................................................................................................................ 18 The case of Pune .................................................................................................................................. 18 Ernakulam District ................................................................................................... 22 Method ..................................................................................................................................................... 22 The political system and demographics ................................................................................. 22 Citizen’s behavior and awareness .............................................................................................. 23 Collection and transportation ...................................................................................................... 24 Processing and final product ........................................................................................................ 25 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 26

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 3 4

3.1 3.2 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6

Part II. Recommendations 5 6 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8

Macro plan: A processing solution ....................................................................... 28 Micro plan: A solution in progress ....................................................................... 30 Awareness .............................................................................................................................................. 30 Merge forces .......................................................................................................................................... 31 Effectiveness ......................................................................................................................................... 32 Recycling ................................................................................................................................................. 32 Kalamassery .......................................................................................................................................... 33 Social responsibility .......................................................................................................................... 33 Near future actions: ........................................................................................................................... 34 Other suggestions:.............................................................................................................................. 35

Part III. Discussion and Conclusions 7 7.1 7.2 8 9

Future steps ................................................................................................................ 37 Macro plan .............................................................................................................................................. 37 Micro plan ............................................................................................................................................... 38 Research evaluation ................................................................................................. 39 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................. 40

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 4

University of Amsterdam

Part IV. Appendix 10

11 12 12.1 12.2 13 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 14 15 16

Minutes ........................................................................................................................ 43 Collaboration partner ....................................................................................................................... 44 Dutch waste companies ................................................................................................................... 44 NGO’s ......................................................................................................................................................... 47 Governments ......................................................................................................................................... 52 Chamber of Commerce .................................................................................................................... 56 Companies .............................................................................................................................................. 58 Other useful parties ........................................................................................................................... 63 Other contacted big companies in Kochi Area ..................................................................... 64 Father Peter’s plan ................................................................................................... 66 Publicity....................................................................................................................... 68 Article in Malayalam ......................................................................................................................... 68 Article in diverse media .................................................................................................................. 69 Personal information, goals and reflection ....................................................... 70 Stijn Bartelink ....................................................................................................................................... 70 Paul van Kekem ................................................................................................................................... 72 Marije Duijn ........................................................................................................................................... 74 Krishna S. Priya .................................................................................................................................... 77 Hridya K. Dileep ................................................................................................................................... 78 Justin Joseph .......................................................................................................................................... 79 Realized budget ......................................................................................................... 80 Photo impression ...................................................................................................... 81 Flyer network meeting and auction in Amsterdam ........................................ 92

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 5

University of Amsterdam

This report contains the next figures, tables and photos: Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3: Figure 4:

Supply chain waste management in The Netherlands ............................................11 The ’ladder van Lansink’ .......................................................................................................14 Energy and Waste Company Amsterdam, the Netherlands ..................................17 Waste problem publicity walk ............................................................................................67

Table 1:

Area statistics of India compared to The Netherlands............................................23

Photos:

All visible in the appendix ‘photo impression’ (H15)................................................81

Photo 1: Photo 2: Photo 3: Photo 4: Photo 5: Photo 6: Photo 7: Photo 8: Photo 9: Photo 10: Photo 11: Photo 12: Photo 13: Photo 14: Photo 15: Photo 16: Photo 17: Photo 18: Photo 19: Photo 20: Photo 19: Photo 20: Photo 21: Photo 22:

The whole team The Indian Students Segregation in Delhi Waste collectors in Kochi Segregation in Dharavi Disassembling in Dharavi The Hub of Plan@Earth Eloor composting plant Eloor waste collectors hub Pune waste collectors hub Kalamassery plastic recycling factory Eloor Dumping ground Brahmapuram entree Brahmapuram – composting machine Bin system at the boulevard of Kochi Gasification unit for households of Rajagiri The vermicompost pots for households The vermicompost bins (mainly for flats) Solar driven center of Renewable Energy Center Mithradham Father Peter next to his solar cooking system and his vegetable gardens in the back Awareness campaign Mumbai Awareness campaign Pune The Stakeholder conference at the Kerala Chamber of Commerce Ms. David in front of the house where we could stay

Appendix 16: Flyer network meeting and auction in Amsterdam ..................................................92

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 6

University of Amsterdam

Introduction With approximately 1.200.000.000 inhabitants, India is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Every day this population generates 0.1 million tonnes of municipal solid waste which amounts to approximately 36.5 million tonnes per year. About 95% of the waste collected is simply dumped on the city outskirts where it stays, developing toxic gasses and damaging not only the environment but also the health of the people living close to these areas.

Governmental institutions are not capable of managing these amounts of garbage efficiently due to a flawed infrastructure, increasing consumerism and exploding urban population growth.

Other measures are needed in order to process the waste and solve the problems associated with it.

Three students of the University of Amsterdam, all being in their final phase of their studies Economics and Business, have contacted The Pellikaan Foundation to collaborate in a project abroad. The aim of The Pellikaan is to bring young people together in intercultural projects with a good cause and to be charitable by the use of a social responsible business model.

We have focused on the waste management because garbage creates a big problem in India and, as we have learned in The Netherlands, waste still contains value and can serve a social goal. To improve the current situation of waste management The Pellikaan Foundation has brought together the three students from the University of Amsterdam with three students of the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences. The field research is carried out in the district of the Rajagiri College; Ernakulam (city Kochi), State Kerala, in the southern end of India.

The aim of this research has been to get a clear view of the current supply chain of waste in India to find out where the missing links are that can be improved. In Ernakulam the number of waste dumps is rapidly increasing and a district-wide solution seems to be missing. This report includes the findings of the research and gives an overview of the current and potential stakeholders involved in the supply chain of waste. Besides this, we have described possible solutions: a micro plan for Kalamassery municipality with the help of an NGO that is willing to get an important stake in this plan once it will be executed, and a macro plan for a comprehensive long-term solution with contact details of potential investors.

We will start our report with summarizing the different phases of the project and explaining what the deliverables and benefits for the Pellikaan Foundation will be. Subsequently, we will provide a more detailed description of the supply chain of waste. Thereafter the phases of the research will be presented to show how research in India has been conducted. In the next part of this report findings from our preparatory research will be published that has formed the framework of the research. Thereafter, we will present our findings from the field work in Ernakulam district and give a description of (1) the stakeholders within every part of the supply chain and (2) the bottlenecks that are existent. Recommendations will be given for a micro and macro plan in the following parts and we will finish this report with some concluding remarks and a research reflection.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 7

University of Amsterdam

1 Research timeline and project deliverables 1.1 Research timeline For our research the following research design has been set up to get the best possible results.

Pre-weeks:

June 13 – July 8, 2011

Getting familiar with the supply chain of waste in the Netherlands Starting at June 13, the phase of desk research aims primarily at finding out what best practices exist in the Dutch supply chain of waste management. We have done this by interviewing the Dutch waste processing companies ‘Afval Energie Bedrijf’ in Amsterdam and ‘Delta multi-utility company’ in Zeeland and a literature study.

Week 1:

July 11 –July 15, 2011

Learn from best practises in India During the first week of our visit to India we have collected information about existing waste management projects in India to set out a framework for suitable and comparable waste management projects in Kochi. We have interviewed people from the ‘Dharavi Project’ in Mumbai and have seen how the supply chain of waste in Pune has been organized. In Mumbai and Pune we have learned from ‘best practises’ that were beneficial for the rest of our study.

Week 2 & 3:

July 15 – July 28, 2011

Research on status quo in Ernakulam district In Kochi and Ernakulam district we have together with students and staff from Rajagiri College of Social Science made a thorough analysis of the local supply chain of waste management. This has enabled us to come up with a customized manual for improvement of Kochi’s waste management supply chain. We have visited companies, governmental institutions and NGO’s that have a stake in the waste management sector to get a clear overview of the current supply chain.

Week 4:

July 28 – August 4, 2011

Organize a stakeholder conference During the last week we have made a Stakeholder mapof current and possible new contacts that are able to improve the chain and weorganized a seminar on waste management at the Ernakulam Chamber of Commerce were we have presented micro and macro solutions to these stakeholders.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 8

University of Amsterdam

1.2 Chronology of meetings, visits and other activities Pre-weeks Wed June 29 Wed July 6 Sat July 9 Sun July 10 Week 1 Mon Tue

July 11 July 12

Wed Thu Fri

July 13 July 14 July 15

Sat Sun

July 16 July 17

Week 2 Mon

July 18

Tue

July 19

Wed

July 20

Thu Fri

July 21 July 22

Sat Sun

July 23 July 24

Week 3 Mon

July 25

Tue Wed

July 26 July 27

Thu Fri Sat Sun

July 28 July 29 July 30 July 31

Week 4 Mon

Aug 1

Tue

Aug 2

Wed

Aug 3

Thu

Aug 4

Fri Sat Sun

Aug 5 July 6 July 7

Delta utility company Zeeland Afval Energiebedrijf Amsterdam (AEB) Arrival in India Acclimatize in Delhi Fly to Mumbai Meeting Rochem / Kiron (contact given by Dutch consulate) Meeting Dharavi Project Meeting Concord Blue (contact given by Rochem) Tour through Dharavi Bus to Pune Meeting with Pune Municipal Corporation Visited Power plant under construction (Concord Blue) Contact KKPKP Taxi to Mumbai and Fly to Kochi Tour by Ms. David through Kochi area Meeting Rajagiri and Indian Students Tour through Rajagiri campus and some waste/environment projects Visit Eloor Dump Visit Eloor Composting plant Visit plastic recycling factory in Kalamassery Visit Biogas unit of Rajagiri Visit the production point of the Rajagiri Biogas unit Present the project and its goal to Rajagiri Meeting Cumi (factory with CSR projects in Kalamassery) Meeting Renewable Energy Center Mithradham Meeting Eloor municipality Meeting Kochi Corporation Have a look at Boulevard bin system Group discussion to get a focused solution (created plan of actions next weeks and to get the missing information for these solutions) Weekend Weekend Meeting Kalamassery government Meeting Plan@Earth Visit Plan@Earth hub Meeting Credai Meeting Reliance Meeting Waste2Energy (W2E) Final group discussion Weekend Weekend Visit Bhramapuram plant Meeting Kudumbashree Contact with CED Meeting Kochi Chamber of Commerce Meeting Kerala State Chamber of Commerce Meeting Vodafone Meeting Kerala State Pollution Board Conference for all stakeholders Meeting Mr. Father Presant Fly to Delhi Discuss all experiences of the other RP groups Finish field research

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 9

University of Amsterdam

1.3 Deliverables and benefits With this research we are able to deliver the following: 1.

An extensive report of the current status quo in Ernakulam district with regards to all the stages of the supply chain along with current bottlenecks.

2.

A list of people, organizations, governmental institutions that currently have a stake in the supply chain in Ernakulam

3.

A macro plan which focuses on a sustainable solution for the long run for the whole Ernakulam district with regards to waste. This plan can also be executed in other parts of India.

4.

A micro plan that can improve the supply chain of waste in Kalamassery municipality and can be implemented quickly.

1.4 The supply chain of waste The most common definition of supply chain management is “ (it) encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities.” (source: The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)) When using the term supply chain with regards to waste management we look at all the activities involved in the process of eliminating waste. This means that we look at awareness about reducing or segregating waste, production of waste, collecting of waste, transporting of waste and processing of waste. The supply chain of waste is shown schematically below.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 10

University of Amsterdam

1. Production of waste Dutch households put segregated and non-segregated waste into separated waste bins (Common segregations are: chemicals, glass, paper and biodegradable)

2. Collection Waste collection service by logistic companies (Publicly or privately owned)

3. Transportation Waste transported to final processor or recycling companies (Mostly privately owned companies)

4. Processing Different options are used, but the common thought is that raw materials must be recycled as much as possible.

5. End product Sales of the final product, such as: energy, raw materials, recycled material etc.

(Only privately owned companies in The Netherlands) Figure 1: Supply chain waste management in The Netherlands

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 11

University of Amsterdam

Part I.

Findings

2 Preparatory Research 2.1 Methods In order to set a benchmark for the field research in Kochi, it is considered necessary to identify best practices that are locally applicable. The first step in this direction was taken in the Netherlands before departure to India. We aimed at getting an understanding of the business models at work in both rural and urban areas. Therefore, we paid a visit to a waste processing company in Zeeland and the ‘Afval Energie in Amsterdam. As a second step, we paid visits to both the cities of Mumbai and Pune to see Indian business models at work. Mumbai proved to be a very interesting case, though not utterly relevant for our field research in Kochi. Pune, by contrast, seems to provide an example of how to successfully organize an Indian urban supply chain of waste. The research methods employed in the several parts of the preparatory research are various. First, we conducted extensive literature research to get a proper understanding of the business and historical context we were operating in. Second, in order to cover the full supply chain of waste we held non-structured and semi-structured interviews with all relevant stakeholders. Finally, we integrated official company information which we received at every visit into our report.

2.2 Waste management in The Netherlands In the Netherlands most waste processing plants are privatized and have a legal entity as a B.V. (Besloten Vennootschap thatis comparable to a ‘Limited’ legal structure in an English system).

The shares of these companies, however, are usually owned by local governments or Dutch provinces. Most waste processing companies in the Netherlands are also subsidized by local governments and in some provinces the government is responsible for the collection of household waste. The governments in the Netherlands are funding these expenses with the means of a special tax which has to be paid for by every household (producer of waste). Tax fluctuates per household, with its height depending on (1) the rules per municipality, (2) the ‘WOZ-value’ per house and (3) on the cost of transportation from the household and the waste processing company. There are also waste companies investigating in becoming public by looking for IPO options.(Initial Public Offering). ‘Van Ganzenwinkel’ has recently announced it is going to offer its shares to the Dutch stock market.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 12

University of Amsterdam

2.3 Types of waste and processing possibilities in rural areas In most rural areas in the Netherlands waste is segregated at source into biodegradable waste, plastic, paper, glass and chemical waste. In most cities however, waste is often not being segregated and all the waste together will be processed. In rural areas of The Netherlands biodegradable waste will be turned in to compost in the open fields. In one month time, biodegradable waste can turn into compost once it will be moist enough. Biodegradable waste will also be stored in larger factory buildings were a balanced amount of C02 and moist will result in compost as well. This process is a lot faster than in the open air. Compost will be sold to farmers who use this for more fertile soils. Another by-product of this process are methane compounds. These compounds can be processed into biogas and can be used as a substitute for fossil fuels. This process however is relatively expensive and it requires a large amount of start up costs as well. This is because a system of drainage pipes needs to be build in the ground in order to capture the gasses. However, the Dutch government issues subsidies for setting up these drainage systems.

In the Netherlands there is a guideline system for rules on waste management. These guidelines have been published by the government in the LAP 2 agreement. This stands for ‘Landelijk Afvalbeheerplan’ (National Waste management planning) and can be found on the website: www.lap2.nl. A lot of these rules are set by the European Union who, in general, imposes most rules on waste management for its member states. Within the agreement the ‘Ladder van Lansink’ forms an important topic. This model shows the best solution for waste in the top and the lower you get the sustainable it gets. So this ‘Ladder van Lansink’ mainly tells that preventing waste is better than recycling, but recycling will be better than gasification (incineration) and gasification will of course be better than dumping. The ‘Ladder van Lansink’ is shown in figure 2.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 13

University of Amsterdam

Preventing

Product recycling

100% raw material recycling

Raw material recycling Incineration with multiple energy winning Incineration with single energy winning Incineration without energy winning Land filling with energy winning Land filling without Energy winning Waste dumping (land filling without ground preparation)

Figure 2: The ‘ladder van Lansink’

Paper and plastic In the Netherlands 75% of paper will be recycled and re-used for other paper purposes. Paper will also be sold to other countries like China that are processing or recycling it. All the guidelines for recycling can be found on the website: www.prn.nl.

Plastic is also recycled most of the time but this can only be done once the plastic isn’t polluted.

In most cities segregation at source doesn’t happen and therefore plastic cannot be used for recycling purposes. This is why plastic is often gasified and turned into energy.

Chemical waste In the Netherlands some types of chemical waste can be re-used or recycled like metals but most of the chemical waste will also be gasified that will result in renewable energy.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 14

University of Amsterdam

Demand and supply Prices of end products of waste are valued based on demand and supply in the Netherlands.

Awareness campaigns The Dutch government has set up different campaigns in order to make citizens aware of segregating waste at source. This already starts with children at the primary schools who will be educated on the issues about waste. Furthermore the government has made nationwide television campaigns about throwing your waste in the bins. Also local governments provide the citizens with information on the treatment of waste according to the rules of those municipalities and some local governments have their own media campaigns about waste as well.

2.4 Waste and Energy Company Amsterdam The Waste and Energy Company Amsterdam, in Dutch named; ‘Afval Energiebedrijf Amsterdam’ (AEB), is part of the Amsterdam municipality and has been established in 1993. In 2003 a more advanced technology was implemented at the plant and from that moment on the waste and energy company is one of the leading waste processing companies of Europe. At the Amsterdam Energy company 99% of solid waste will be converted into energy and raw materials.

Amsterdam's City Hall, trams, underground trains and street lights all use green electricity supplied by AEB. They generate sufficient energy to meet the electricity needs of 285,000 households which is 75% of all households in Amsterdam. (1 million MWh of electricity a year or 1% of the Dutch energy demand) AEB also uses the heat generated during waste incineration that provides 12.000 households with heating and hot water. AEB processes waste for Amsterdam and 19 surrounding municipalities. The volume of waste is decreasing in the Netherlands and because of overcapacity at the AEB factory also waste from the UK and Germany are processed at the factory.

In Amsterdam the government has provided large waste containers under the ground at every corner of the streets that are easy accessible for waste disposal for the citizens. These containers are emptied once or twice a week and are transported to the AEB factory. Everyday 600 waste trucks (owned by the government of Amsterdam) dump their waste at the AEB. When waste enters the AEB plant, some waste will be separated. Waste that is separated before incineration will be ready for reuse after one or more process steps. Incinerated waste is also a source of raw materials. For example, metals can be filtered out during the incineration process and will completely be recycled. The temperature in the waste heat boiler is 1,000 to 1,200°C. Some materials do not burn during incineration; they are referred to as bottom ash. But the AEB doesn’t see this as waste. They sell the valuable metals such as iron and copper to recycling companies and the remaining rocks can be used in the construction of roads. Out of the RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 15

University of Amsterdam

combustion gas there are minerals extracted and during the cleaning process the airborne ash particles (fly ash) are captured. These ashes are used in the asphalt industry.

That the plant is very modern is illustrated by the text on their website: “AEB’s Waste Fired Power Plant (WFPP) is a world leader in producing energy and products from waste. No other facility can match AEB’s environmental credentials. The innovative plant has set a new global standard for electrical efficiency and maximizing products from waste.”

Processing facts 

AEB is the largest single-location waste processor in the world



AEB processes the waste of Amsterdam and 20 municipalities.



Over 600 garbage trucks and a number of freight trains arrive per day



AEB processes 500,000 trash bags per day (av. 4-5 bags per household per week)



AEB processes over 1.4 million tons of waste per year



99% of waste is recycled



AEB produces 1 million MWh of electricity per year



This is renewable electricity for 320,000 households.



AEB produces 300,000 Gigajoules of district heating per year (av. household uses 36GJ per year)

Plant facts - 1000 kg waste delivers: 

900 kWh electricity



91 kWh heat



5 kg aluminum, stainless steel, zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold



16 kg iron



120 kg clean sand and silt



100 kg pottery, glass and granulate



7 kg salt



5 kg gypsum



5 kg non reusable material from flue gas

Patents and future 

The initial investment of the AEB is around 1 billion dollars.



The maximum capacity of the AEB keeps expanding since more advanced technologies are being introduced.



Different engineering offices are used to design this plant.



Around 20 contractors were used to build the plant.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 16

University of Amsterdam



AEB possesses most of the patents that are acquired by the high yield technology system.

The system of AEB as a whole has not been sold to other partners yet, but negotiations are taken place.



AEB is contributing to a better environment for us all. The success of the Amsterdam technology has resulted in interest from foreign authorities. An increasing number of European countries are faced with stricter environmental standards for waste processing. AEB can help by offering its own technology and by processing the waste on a temporary basis. Despite the extra transport required to transfer the waste by train, lorry or ship to AEB in Amsterdam, CO2 emissions are lower than if the foreign authorities were to dump their waste in local landfill sites.

Delivery of waste Waste collection Collection of raw materials for recycling and building materials (stones etc.)

Incineration process Energy winning from steam Collection of fly ash Smoke purification Chimney for cooling steam ( this contains only H2O!)

Figure 3: Energy and Waste Company Amsterdam, the Netherlands

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 17

University of Amsterdam

3 Indian best practices 3.1 The case of Dharavi Having arrived in India, we first visited the cities of Mumbai and Pune. Although one can hardly speak of an organized waste management system in Mumbai, most of the waste is actually processed in an informal way. Inhabitants of the slum ‘Dharavi’ play an important role in this system, and their position gets acknowledged and empowered by the so called ‘Dharavi Project’.

Although this project is very interesting in itself, it became clear that, as it serves mainly a social goal instead of a solution to the waste problem, it lacks relevance for our research. A broad overview of our meeting with Vinod Shetty, human rights lawyer and director of the Dharavi project, can be found in the appendix. The main interesting points of the Dharavi Project are: 

It advocates the waste collector in government decisions that can harm them.



It provides a personal ID and a health insurance for them who are normally not recognized by the system and so cannot make use of such privileges.



It is based on volunteers only, the organization, the teachers and the entertainment programs.



Dharavi is a slump thathas created their own little economy. Everybody earns some money and this added value starts at the level of the waste collectors,

3.2 The case of Pune For the next part of our preparatory research, we travelled to the city of Pune. Pune should the cleanest city of India and it turned out to serve as a good example of how to organize an urban waste management system in a sustainable and profitable manner in India. With our arrival in Pune we were welcomed by a big awareness campaign. Uninor was provided with a lot of wall space thatthey used 50 percent for showing their own name and 50 percent for showing awareness slogans as: ‘Clean Pune – Green Pune’ and ‘Save water – Save Pune’. As the color of Uninor is light blue with white typography, this attracts a lot of attention and the blue has immediately a psychological clean impression.

The second welcome surprise of Pune was that there is a so called Public Private Partnership (PPP) at work. This is a continuous cooperation between local government and private entities. The most important advantages of a functioning PPP are (1) a high level of employment for the lowest social class and (2) a profitable business model that attracts private enterprises.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 18

University of Amsterdam

KKPKP: A workers union for rag pickers It is an NGO called KKPKP that has contributed in succession highly to higher employment of the lowest class and the coming into being of the current PPP. The origins of KKPKP are to be found in the implementation of the National Adult Education Program through the SNDT Women’s University in 1990. Providing a group of 30 rag pickers ID cards for the collection of source segregated crap, largely improved their living conditions. However, such small group endeavors were not very likely to counter the threat of entrepreneurs seeking profit in waste management activities. This became the basis for organizing the rag pickers on a mass scale.

Waste-pickers and their perceptions of issues became central in the organizing process.

They moved to the city during a great drought in 1972. They chose to become active in waste collection, not perceiving it as a normal job, but because their caste prevented them easy entry into other jobs. In collection of garbage, they would earn more than in domestic work, were relatively free from sexual harassment and the servile feudal relationships in wage labor that they had been subject to in the villages. They were not interested in income generating programs that could enable occupational change but also entailed a long, slow process of learning new skills and surviving in the market. They were interested in changing the terms and conditions of work in their present occupation.

The critical issues of the waste-pickers were the lack of protection they faced, and the exposure to various dangers connected to living on the streets. These issues initiated the process of organizing and then sought to establish an alternate identity for waste-pickers as “workers” premised on the belief that scrap collection was socially relevant, economically productive and environmentally beneficial “work”. Working conditions should be changed. At a convention held in 1993, those present resolved that: KKPKP would be set up as a registered trade union to represent the collective identity and interests of scrap collectors. Members would pay an annual fee to support the running of the organization Men and women working as scrap collectors would be eligible to become members irrespective of caste, region and religious affiliation. The organization would not only address the immediate needs of members but also be part of the larger struggle against injustice and exploitation, for a socially just, equitable and humane society. The organization would adopt non violent methods of resistance and “sathyagraha” to challenge systemic injustice.

Profile of KKPKP members The recycling sector is structured in the form of a pyramid, with the scrap collectors at the base and the re-processors perched at the apex. At the bottom of the heap are the waste pickers engaging in “free” collection of scrap from municipal garbage bins and dumps. Marginally above them are the itinerant buyers who purchase small quantities of scrap from households. All categories of scrap collectors rudimentarily sort and sell the collected scrap commodities to

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 19

University of Amsterdam

retail scrap establishments by weight or unit for onward trade and processing. Between the scrap collectors and the re-processors are various levels of traders including retailers, suppliers and wholesalers. The world’s best among them are the Registered Dealers. The re-processors are in a class by themselves. The activity levels of this pyramid differ in terms of the factors mediating entry, socio-economic backgrounds, work conditions, market environment and levels of income.

Waste-pickers retrieve paper, plastic, metal and glass scrap from garbage bins or receptacles that are provided by the municipalities for the disposal of garbage on the street, and from landfill sites where the collected garbage is transported and dumped. They establish ‘territorial rights’ over bins and dumping sites and frequently squabble over their infringement.

Average earnings: Rs60 per day.

Itinerant buyers purchase small quantities of scrap from households, offices, shops and other small commercial establishments. They access small amounts of capital from the scrap traders who deduct the amount from their earnings at the end of the day. The push-cars which the men use are provided by the traders for a fee. The items collected by the itinerant buyers are of relatively better value than those collected by waste-pickers. Average earnings: Rs75 per day.

What the KKPKP considers its process and methodology, is listed below: 

Establishing scrap collectors as “workers” and scrap collection as “work”



Seeking State recognition of scrap collectors as “workers” and scrap collection as work



Claiming State resources on the basis of State recognition



Medical insurance: in 2002-03 the Pune Municipal Corporation became the first municipality in the country to institutionalize the Scheme for Medical Insurance for all Registered Waste-pickers in its jurisdiction.



Education: In 2001, the Maharashtra government conceded to demand that the municipal endorsed I card constituted proof of “unclean occupation” and extended the benefits of the “Scheme for Pre-Matric Scholarships to Children of those Engaged in Unclean Occupations” to the children of waste-pickers.



Space: In 1997 the KKPKP successfully argued for the right of waste-pickers to use bylanes without obstructing traffic, as sorting sites for scrap.



Integration of waste-pickers into the doorstep collection and management of urban solid waste

The success of KKPKP It was just a matter of time until the Pune Municipal Corporation considered the activities of KKPKP beneficial for the city of Pune. Currently the KKPKP is recognized as a legal institution that possesses the right to employ the rag pickers and to collect household waste. By putting in RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 20

University of Amsterdam

all the time, effort and knowledge the KKPKP has done, it has shown that a non-profit organization can indeed obtain the necessary support from an Indian governmental body to employ its activities on a broad scale.

With the PPP successfully at work, private companies got interested in investing in processing solutions in Pune. At the time we visited the city a new gasification plant, which is ought to handle all waste collected in the city, was being constructed. This plant exists of different parts that are provided for by several companies. Concord Blue Systems, a Mumbai based enterprise, is the coordinating party of the plant. It has patented a gasification technique that will be active in this new plant. Since Pune has a well functioning collection and transportation system at work, Concord Blue Systems can rely on fixed supply of waste on a daily basis, and, therefore, on a fixed amount of gas that will be produced. As a result, Concord Blue System and the PMC have agreed upon a contract for 30 years that ensures a fixed amount of waste per day. The Maharashtra State Board of Energy will buy a fixed amount of gas produced by the plant, as was also agreed upon in a 30 year contract with Concord Blue Systems.

Because its supply chain of waste is organized in such a manner, Pune has a well working system for the coming thirty years. What, then, are characteristics of this ‘success story’ that can be generalized towards other parts of India? First, with the KKPKP being active since the early nineties, institutionalizing a functioning system is a very slow process. One should be patient when aiming at a solution that covers all. Second, the right incentives for solving a societal problem lie initially in the non-profit sector. Success by an NGO seems to be necessary for a governmental body to be willing to provide support. Then, if the government starts facilitating, the initiative becomes interesting for private companies. If they enter the model to early, part of the population is highly likely to be exploited.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 21

University of Amsterdam

4 Ernakulam District This chapter describes the current status quo of waste in the Ernakulam district in general. A detailed description of all the parties involved in the supply chain of waste and their contact information can be found in the appendix where all the minutes of the interviews with stakeholders are described. For every step in the supply chain of waste an overview of the current situation will be given.

4.1 Method The methods employed during the field research are for a large part similar to the ones employed in the preparatory research. Added to these is a survey by telephone with all Municipalities in Ernakulam district. Second, we organized a seminar on Waste Management in which we made the different stakeholders interact with each other.

4.2 The political system and demographics This paragraph serves as a clarification of the statistics and legal status of Ernakulam district.

Ernakulam lies in Kerala, one of the 27 states of India. Kerala is divided into 14 districts, one of which is Ernakulam. A district could be compared to a province in The Netherlands. A district consists out of three different types of local governments. Decreasing in size and importance these are: (1) one municipal corporation, being the governmental body of the district’s main city, (2) several municipalities, being the governmental bodies of cities of middle size, (3) grama panchayds, being the governmental bodies of the smaller villages. These governmental bodies are divided into several ‘wards’, which have the meaning of the more common term neighborhood. With approximately 1.5 million inhabitants, Ernakulam’s major city is Kochi. The municipal corporation of Kochi is divided into 70 wards. Further, in Ernakulam there are 10 municipalities, with each 25 to 45 wards, and 88 grama panchayds, with each 10 to 25 wards.

These grama panchayds have formed 15 so called block panchayds in cooperation with each other. And subsequently there is one district panchayd that advocates for all panchayds at the Ernakulam district collector. Besides this, Ernakulam contains 14 legal bodies that have the power of legislation. A comparison is made between the geometrical structure in India and the Netherlands in Table 1 below.

District government has just decided (June 2011) that the waste management should be decentralized. This means that even municipalities of just a few thousand citizens must create a solution for their waste themselves. Because their population is so little, they cannot invest in a sustainable solution that results in a lot of municipalities who can only dump their waste.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 22

University of Amsterdam

AREA STATISTICS Country

India

EU (2011)

Surface

3,287,263 km2

4,324,782 km2

Population

1.2 billion

502 million

Density

365 p/km2

116 p/km2

State

Kerala

The Netherlands

Surface

38,863 km2

41,848 km2

Population

33.4 million

17 million

Density

859 p/km2

402 p/km2

District

Ernakulam

Noord-Holland

Surface

2950 km2

2670 km2

Population

3.1 million

2.7 million

Density

1050 p/km2

1011 p/km2

City

Kochi

Amsterdam

Surface

95 km2

219 km2

Population

600,000 – 610,000

780,000

Density

6368 p/km2

3561 p/km2

Table 1: Area statistics of India compared to The Netherlands

4.3 Citizen’s behavior and awareness After spoken to a lot of citizens and other non-governmental organizations it turns out the citizens of Ernakulam know very little about the environmental impact of waste and waste processing systems. About 10 years ago there was almost no non-biodegradable waste available in India. Since the start of mass-consumerism in India the citizens have very recently become familiar with non-biodegradable waste and a solution for processing this waste seems to be missing. The citizens use bio-degradable waste for their gardens and cows. Because biodegradable has a natural process of turning into compost after a while the citizens can use their bio-degradable waste for more fertile soils in their backyards. For non-biodegradable waste the situation is a lot more difficult. Since the government does not provide a district wide solution for processing waste the methods of waste eliminating differ per household. Some households

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 23

University of Amsterdam

store non-biodegradable waste in a shed house in their backyard, some dump their waste secretly in forests or shrubs when they are walking their dog in an early morning, others treat non-biodegradable waste in a traditional manner by simply burning it on a regular basis.

Especially for people living in flats it is really difficult to get rid of their waste since they do not have a backyard.

The local government does not make use of awareness campaigns to educate their citizens and recently public bins have been forbidden by the government. Because the government does not have a proper collection system the public bins got overloaded with waste and therefore it made the waste problem more visible to the public and as a solution public bins were prohibited.

Awareness about issues with regards to waste, however, is created by small organizations and by some concerned individuals. Some universities in the Ernakulam district provide awareness campaigns towards their students about the current situation and educate their students to keep the campus litter free and teach the students to separate their waste.

Examples of these universities are the Kochi University of Science and Technology and Rajagiri College of Social Sciences. Besides creating awareness to the students, Rajagiri college also has some micro-waste solution systems provided at the campus. There are also other organizations that are trying to create awareness about waste. The renewable energy center Mithradham provides education programs to students and hiking trips for citizens to all municipalities in Ernakulam to make the problems more visible. The non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) Plan@earth and Credai are besides creating awareness also providing a collection system.

4.4 Collection and transportation The government of Kerala has in 1998 set up an organization called the Kudumbashree. This organization was set up to empower lower class women and help them to get a job. In Ernakulam the Kudumbashree is responsible for the collection of bio-degradable waste. Because of the lack of social status, many men are reluctant in taking up a job as a rag picker and, as a consequence, it are mainly women who are responsible for carrying out these tasks. If people want to have their waste picked up they can inform the government, who will make sure women from the Kudumbashree will come to collect their waste. The citizens have to pay a fixed amount of money, varying between 10 and 50 rupees per month, directly to the women for collecting their waste. The Kudumbashree is by definition the only party responsible for the collection of biodegradable waste, but because the citizens don’t know how to get rid of their nonbiodegradable waste they often pay the Kudumbashree more money to make them collect all other kinds of waste. The women are poor and hence responding to these types of monetary incentives. They will transport the waste collected by a push car to a waste hub and then waste will be dumped into large waste dumps. Every municipality in Ernakulam has its own waste RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 24

University of Amsterdam

dump assigned by the government. There are special waste dumps for biodegradable waste but since waste does not get segregated properly at source, a lot of mixed waste that includes plastic will be transported to the biodegradable waste dump and so the natural process of turning into compost doesn’t work properly anymore.

Most organizations and citizens are skeptic about the functioning of the Kudumbashree since they work very informally. This means that the pick-up moment of waste is fluctuating.

Especially during monsoon season this causes trouble because the waste gets to wet to be picked up. Some wet waste has to be dried before it can be processed in a proper manner.

In Aluva municipality the NGO Plan@Earth has set up a collection system for collecting plastic and paper specifically. Every household in Aluva has become familiar with this waste collection system and for every kilo of properly segregated plastic or paper they will be compensated financially. The collection also happens at a fixed day during the month for every household and after that the waste will be transported by a push car to a specific waste hub. In this waste hub the waste will even be segregated further into, for example, different kinds of paper. After segregation in the waste hubs, the waste will be collected by a truck that transports the waste to Coimbatore where the ITC recycling company is located. ITC is transforming solid waste into recyclable products.

The Clean city movement by Credai is responsible for collecting waste from flats in Kochi.

Their approach is much more commercially orientated than that of Plan@Earth. Credai’s motto is that the polluter has to pay and therefore it sells segregation bins and vermin compost bins for a relatively high price. The citizens also have to pay a lot of money for the collection of their waste. In addition, Credai is responsible for the collection of waste from companies and hospitals in the Kochi area. Waste collected by Credai will be transported to waste hubs where it will be used for recycling purposes.

4.5 Processing and final product A district-wide waste processing system is missing in Ernakulam. The government of Ernakulam is mainly only dumping non-biodegradable waste and does not provide another solution. Since the waste dumps in every municipality are increasing rapidly the citizens are becoming very negatively oriented towards the government, with a rapid growing number of strikes and demonstrations as a result. Especially people that live closer to the waste dumps are very angry that the government is not providing a solution. The smell and air-pollution produced by the waste is causing trouble and can have negative impacts on their health.

In Kochi there is a very big waste dump called the Bhramapuram plant that is being operated by an NGO called CED. At this plant a technology for processing of biodegradable waste has been provided but this seems not to be working properly. Some technical mistakes have been made during construction of the plant and, as a consequence, the installation cannot RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 25

University of Amsterdam

process the biodegradable waste effectively. In addition, a lot of non-biodegradable waste is being dumped at the Bhramapuram property. As there is no processing solution present for this waste, dumping and storage is the result. Employees from CED have announced that they will quit working at the Bhramapuram plant if the government is not improving the situation in the short-term.

In earlier years there was also a comparable waste plant in another municipality. Due to bad maintenance, this waste plant exploded in 2009 and a few people died during this explosion.

Since this plant was an initiative of and operated by the government, the citizens in Kochi area do not trust any government initiative anymore and feel that they should hire private parties to improve the situation.

Besides the large scale solution for the handling of biodegradable waste, there are also micro-solutions present for processing non-biodegradable waste. Rajagiri college has been able to design a biogas system that turns 4 kilos of non-biodegradable waste into 1 hour of cooking fuel. This system has been subsidized by an organization called CUMI, enabling people in Kalamassery municipality to afford such a solution. Another solution is provided by Plan@Earth and Credai, who sell vermin compost units to citizens in order to process biodegradable waste.

Very recently an initiative has been taken on by the Kochi chamber of commerce and an American company called ‘Waste2 Energy’ (W2E). Together they are building the first gasification plant for waste in the Kochi area. The plant is currently under construction and expected to be operating from January 2012 onwards. It will be able to process 40 tons of waste a day in Kochi (out of 140 tons of total daily waste) to generate 1,4 MWh of energy. The W2E plant is a 100% privately owned company and the Kochi Corporation is not involved in any stage of the process. W2E has also set up a collection system of waste and has decided to mainly focus on collecting waste from bigger companies that have agreed upon a contract for waste collection.

Since the waste collection system of Kochi is too informal W2E was forced to look at other options for a fixed amount of waste and therefore could not depend on the collection system of the government. The plant is situated near the harbor of Kochi. The electricity generated at the plant will be available for the port. W2E is willing to extend their model (1) once the first plant will be successful and (2) once the government develops a sustainable collection system of waste that guarantees a fixed input of waste.

4.6 Conclusion In the Ernakulam district the government is not providing a sustainable solution for processing of waste and waste is simply being dumped. Since waste is a big problem for the city there are a lot of individual and micro-solutions for processing waste, but this is mainly limited to biodegradable waste. Non-biodegradable waste is being dumped. Only Plan@Earth and Credai offer some solutions for collection of non-biodegradable waste, but the drawbacks are that (1) RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 26

University of Amsterdam

they are limited to paper and plastic only and (2) they solely provide a solution for Aluva municipality (Plan@Earth) and wealthier people (Credai). When looking at the supply chain of waste the biggest bottleneck seems to be the collection of waste, due to a lack of coordination and efficiency in the way the Kudumbashree operates. In order to become interesting for a private investor, who can develop a sustainable processing solution, the collection and transportation system needs to be improved in order to assure a fixed supply of waste. It seems necessary to either shift waste collection to another organization or to simply reorganize the Kudumbashree. However, both can be very difficult because the organization is a governmental initiative and a lot of citizens have sympathy for the image of women empowerment the Kudumbashree has. In addition, the limited availability of land for a waste processing system might be a problem.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 27

University of Amsterdam

Part II:

Recommendations

5 Macro plan: A processing solution Based upon our findings from the field research, we feel the necessity to implement a business model that can solve the existing problems on a larger scale. Whereas this lies beyond the scope of our research, we consider it our responsibility to make some recommendations for a model that could provide success. This will be done in the first part of this chapter.

A start into the right direction can be made by bringing relevant stakeholders together and therewith making them talk with each other. We have met several parties that seem to have the right approach to improve the current situation. However, the parties are primarily operating isolated from each other, therewith lacking the capacity to solve the problems on a large scale. Creating a platform with stakeholders who organizes meetings, workshops and discussions with a certain frequency would be a first step in the right direction. On august 4th we co-organized a workshop called ‘Waste Management in Ernakulam’ with the Kerala Chamber of Commerce. Because the idea of organizing this only came to our minds two days before, we were not very well prepared. Still, the workshop was a success, and is very likely to be even more successful when it is professionally organized. The first thing we noticed is the ease with which Indian companies find time to discuss an urgent subject such as waste management. Although invitations were only sent a day before the workshop actually took place, it was a pretty well visited meeting with approximately 70 people attending. Among the attendants were individual activists, small NGO’s, representatives of companies, both small and large, and government officials. Second, the attention of local as well as national press is easily attracted. Among the attendants, several journalists were present to write about the event for several newspapers. As was shown in Pune, a local government has to feel a certain need or pressure from society before it takes on the right initiatives in the public field. Having experienced this, we feel that consecutive organization of such events places the subject of sustainable waste management high on the political agenda and might well create the pressure needed for the government to come into action. In the end, local politicians respond primarily to incentives which positively affect their chance of being re-elected. Obeying the needs of a powerful group with a shared interest can act as an incentive to come into action.

What, then, is the solution that such a stakeholder platform should be aiming at? As a guideline, one should take constraints into consideration that are present in Ernakulam district and aim at a solution that is optimal in terms of implement ability, economic value and sustainability. The stakeholder platform should discuss short-term and long-term prospects. In the long-term, it is important to reorganize every single part of the supply chain in order to RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 28

University of Amsterdam

make it work. The awareness of households should be emphasized, realizing that the success of a waste supply chain depends firstly on their behavior. In the short-term, it is very important to handle as fast as possible to solve the existing problems associated with the Bhramapuram plant.

The focus should lay on a processing solution that is sustainable, preferably profitable and not requiring a massive change in households’ behavior. We advocate the construction and implementation of a gasification plant. This is chosen for several reasons. First, the gasification plants that are currently running in India prove to provide a working solution for all the nonbiodegradable waste of households and can even be a solution to more problematic waste such as waste of hospitals. Second, already there are gasification plants running, that prove to work under such hard (weather) conditions. Concord Blue Systems has indicated that its technique is operational in the humid circumstances of Kerala, and the company is, in principle, willing to explore possibilities for implementation of a plant. Third, the costs associated with construction of a gasification plant are relatively low. The gasification plant of W2E in Kochi that is currently constructed required an initial investment of only $4 million for a plant that can remove 40 tons of waste a day. Fourth, a gasification plant can operate under a wide scale of capacities, bringing with it the possibility of expanding when the supply chain is improved compared to the current situation. Five, the main privately owned energy generating and distributing company, Reliance, has indicated that it is willing to participate in a gasification project. Although the grid is operated by the KSEB, that is still completely publicly owned, Reliance expect that a guaranteed amount of sales is very likely as there is a constant shortage of energy, Last but not least, a gasification plant can be build at the location of the Bhramapuram plant. They already have a pile of waste lying over there. When this waste will be removed, the biodegradable waste plant can be repaired. The surface is large enough, even the surface that is still not in use, as it is far bigger than the surface needed for the Concord Blue gasification plant in Pune which is a much bigger city. The only/main problem is that it is very swampy, thus to build a good foundation will be more expensive. Important is to create a good drainage system to avoid (further) groundwater pollution and create a good paved road as the current entrée road causes slow traffic and lot of spilling.

Although one should aim at recycling as much waste as possible, this to be sustainable with minerals, a gasification plant will provide a solution to waste in the long-term. As the waste problem is urgent, the micro solution will focus in the next chapter on a solution that can be implemented on short-term.

The ‘Points of Action’ and the ‘Problems that could obstruct success’ are included in future steps and this is part of the ‘Discussion and Conclusion’.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 29

University of Amsterdam

6 Micro plan: A solution in progress As the Macro solution would solve the waste problem on a wide and total scale, it has the problem in it that it takes a long time, 36 months at least, before it will be running fine. And this is even without agreements or finding finance. So there is a need for a fast solution. A solution that can and will progress the status quo (of Kalamassery) immediately. Our approach in designing a fast solution has the next criteria: 

It should NOT be dependent on funding, so it should be affordable



It should start on a local scale as this is more controllable and applicable



It should be easy to be extended to other localities



It should not invent the wheel again, so it should make use of an existing model or at least existing distribution channels

A very common marketing ‘tool’ used in waste management are the 5-R’s: Don’t Refuse Waste and Respect nature, so: 

Reduce



Re-use



Recycle

We use this marketing ‘tool’ as our mission in our micro solution that consists out of the next parts: 

Awareness



Recycling



Near future possibilities



Future suggestions

6.1 Awareness We created a network of people that are already largely active in creating awareness. In addition, Rajagiri College can expand its program outside of its campus into the municipality as well. The goal is to make the citizens of Kalamassery aware of the dangers that come with the wrong handling of waste. The most important step in awareness is that the people first have to see the waste. Secondly, they should learn the dangers of waste. Waste can harm affects drinking water, create diseases, harm their nature, pollute rivers, it will scare tourists away, etc.

Thirdly, the people should be provided with possibilities and examples of how they can contribute. For example: re-use plastic bags, take them again and again along to the market.

Teaching can be done the easiest to children and especially when they will be awarded for their performance. Children are not yet stuck in bad behavior. Besides that, their behavior can more easily be changed and they can also have a good effect on their direct surroundings like parents, grand-parents etc.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 30

University of Amsterdam

Rajagiri College has made it mandatory for every third-year student to get ‘practical experience’ on Fridays and on Saturdays. We were already suggesting that creating awareness could fit in these practical experiences. It is worth a while to discuss the possibility of awareness creating being part of the curriculum. One should talk to the dean in order to make it happen.

6.2 Merge forces To increase the impact of awareness campaigns, we emphasize that the active forces of this moment should be merged. By merging forces to one (main) campaign this would get a larger support and a larger recognition in Ernakulam. The quantity in bringing the waste subject over and over in the news, at the attention of citizens and on the agenda of politicians will not be reduced, but by using one sound the quality will increase. Within this ‘merging forces campaign’ every individual or organization does not loss its authorization for his/her own (specialized) focus. The main parties (at the moment) are: 1.

Plan@Earth

The NGO with the best practices and the best result in ‘No words, but actions!’ Subsequently, their success is based on a commercial and proven business model.

2.

Father Peter

(His full name is: Dr. George Peter Pittappillil) This is the founder of the Renewable Energy Center Mithradham.

This center is fully sustainable by the use of solar energy and has awareness and teaching programs about energy, sustainability, waste and the environment.

3.

Father Prasant

(His full name is: Dr. Johnson X Palackappillil - www.shcollege.ac.in) This is the director of the Sacret Heart College in Kochi. He made this campus sustainable and introduced some teaching programs and courses about sustainability (and sustainable waste management).

Besides this he is a very well-known and appreciated person in his region. (Because we have met Father Prasant only after the conference for a small talk, he is not included in the minutes.)

4.

Rajagiri College

This is the college where we have the closest connections with as we have collaborated with them and three of their students during this project.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 31

University of Amsterdam

5.

Mr. Sohen

Although the Kochi Corporation is a very conservative and slow moving party, that will not be the first in getting in action, in the end they are needed for every fully suitable solution. For this reason it can be good to create a close connection with them. Mr Sohen is the right person for this committee as he is very environment minded, is active in the Kochi Corporation since 1969, was even chairman of the Corporation and is chairman of the town planning committee at the moment. (Mr. Sohen was not present at our conference.)

These main parties are explained more thoroughly in the minutes. They already know each other, have the same goal and they can form one block as we could see at our conference in the Kerala State Chamber of Commerce. So these main parties should meet each other once a month to get their focus lined again and more important to discuss the progress of their plan of actions and/or create new plan of actions to realize goals.

6.3 Effectiveness These campaign will be the most effective when (1) they would emphasize the possibilities for households and thus will underscore the importance of segregating paper and plastics for recycling. (2) They would spread as one big cloud instead of a number of small clouds. Because the collecting efficiency depends on hubs and the people that are working at a hub, it will not be possible to start collecting in the whole district of Ernakulam. But when you focus on a cloud that will expand the success of these actions will be more visible and/or at least more noticed. So with this recognition, probably others would show their interest and would put effort in creating an extra hub in their area (see Future possibility 1).

6.4 Recycling The most important effect of the awareness campaign would be that waste will be handled with care. So it will not be just thrown away on the streets or dumped in piles next to the road. The best way to prevent this, is to show the value that waste carries in it. Plan@Earth’s method is to pay households for segregating (cleaned) plastic and paper waste. Plan@Earth’s earnings from selling this collected waste to the recycling plant in Coimbatoire cover the payments to participating households. Another helpful way of showing how the right business model works is simply by simulation of it. This is done by Plan@Earth, who creates serious games for children in collecting waste and award their right effort with prizes.

Plan@Earth has a hub in Aluva and got direct lines with a recycling factory in Tamil Nadu. This factory doesn’t have a real limitation in the amount of waste it can treat, and it is using only 510% of its capacity at the moment. So, collection and recycling of more (cleaned) plastics and RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 32

University of Amsterdam

papers can be started instantly. This will reduce the amount of waste that is being used for careless land filling or even worse, that would be dumped next to the road.

6.5 Kalamassery Plan@Earth grows steadily, but could use some support to extend. Kalamassery is a neighboring municipality of Aluva and is therefore a perfect first step of expansion. Rajagiri has the possibilities to create a (sub-)hub and this should be realized within half a year. So before February 2012! A sub-hub would function as a collection point for paper and plastic, but would not yet employ women to operate it. The collected waste would only be stored for a short time and then transported to the ‘real’ hub. When the amount of collected waste has enough quantities, the sub-hub can start functioning as a ‘real’ hub. Other universities could also undertake this social-environmental mission. Then it would be possible in the near future to have bigger trucks that visit different hubs before driving all the way to Tamil Nadu. There will be economies of scale, meaning that operating the Plan@Earth business model becomes more profitable.

It is important to notice that Rajagiri College will have an active role in the first expansion of Plan@Earth’s activities.

6.6 Social responsibility Whereas the micro solution provides a solution for the waste issues, it does not involve a social element yet. Both the micro and macro solution can create huge social problems as they would result in a complete reorganization of the supply chain of waste. As this would harm the people who are working in this sector at the moment, we need to find a solution for them as well. The waste industry is one of the last chances for this group of people to be part of the society and this is why we want to integrate these people in our plans.

The waste sector is a very informal sector, so one where the government does not have transparency who is working for what salary. Luckily there are some organizations that ‘organize’ the possibilities for the people that are working in this sector. The most important one is the Kudumbashree. We suggest that Plan@Earth should use Kudumbashree women as its primary human resources.

Plan@Earth does not have the best experience working with the Kudumbashree so far.

When they started employing these women, the presence of established relationships between the women and household made them respond to the wrong incentives. The households were supposed to deliver their waste clean and segregated, but by paying a few rupees extra (bribing the women) they found the collecting women willing to collect dirty and unsegregated waste, as they often would collect all waste instead of clean and segregated papers and plastics. This was RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 33

University of Amsterdam

problematic for Plan@Earth because it the cleaning and segregating process is time consuming and costly. In order to make them function in the right manner, it is necessary to educate the Kudumbashree women. We consider it not a big of problem to do so effectively. Especially when such education would be combined with creating the right incentive to collect only clean and segregated waste. This incentive can be a financial as well as a non-financial one as will be explained in ‘Possibility 4’. As working in the waste collection is a dirty and low status job in Pune, in Eloor and at other places, we did hear that it is hard to find enough people for the job.

There is also a shortage in people that promote and/or present awareness programs. Our opinion is that both activities can be supported and/or operated by the Kudumbashree. We are aware that this could create some culture barriers, but especially with awareness programs for children this shouldn’t be an issue. So to collaborate with the Kudumbashree in combination with education and other incentives, we create a social and human resource solution.

6.7 Near future actions: Category 1.

The limitation of having one hub, where waste will be collected and prepared for transport to a recycling factory, is that the collecting women are going there by foot. So the collecting radius is not very big and the number of hubs should be increased. Hubs should first be extended to other municipalities and when the project is doing very fine and the hubs get overloaded, it can be wiser to have more hubs in one municipality.

Category 2.

As the model has proven itself in Aluva, investors should be found who want to finance hubs.

When a hub is well organized and looking clean, it can be a very good publicity for a company.

Plan@Earth already told us that the government is not willing to spend money for such a project, but it can easily fit into a CSR program of a company. In conversation with Cumi (see the minutes) they emphasized that they are only interested in CSR programs for their municipality.

As they harm the direct environment by chimney gasses and/or create hindrance by noise and by view, in their opinion the CSR project should serve the ones who are affected by these disadvantages. At the moment, Cumi finances the largest part of the initial investment for a household gasification system of the Rajagiri College. So for a hub in Kalamaserry, they should be the first party to approach.

Category 3.

The rain still damages a lot of the waste, mainly paper. When this is bought from households and gets wet, it is not useful and this results in losses. Therefore this must be prevented. The collectors should be provided with tools that will protect the waste from getting wet. Logically, RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 34

University of Amsterdam

these tools are provided in addition to tools that protect the waste collectors themselves from rain and dirt.

Category 4.

When the model of Plan@Earth will be extended, they can also advocate for the interests of the waste collecting women. So they could help, like the Dharavi project, in a more social role as well by providing some kind of Identity Card and health insurances. And when the project is big enough to gain profits, this social aspect could also be extended to education, healthy food, hygiene facilities (for women) and maybe even decent living spaces. Rajagiri College can play a crucial role in providing education.

6.8 Other suggestions: Suggestion 1.

Bins are the most easy way to collect waste and to give people a possibility to get rid of their waste. As written in the overview of Ernakulam district, due to a failing collecting system the bins are not allowed anymore in Ernakulam. Although this, the boulevard (as this is a touristy area) is provided with bins and bins will also be used on the initiative of Kochi Chamber of Commerce. So the possibility of placing bins is not completely foregone.

Our idea is to create a pilot project with bins. We wanted to start this ourselves, but because of the rumor that this was not allowed we cancelled this idea. Now it seems that there are new possibilities again. To make the pilot successful the bins should be very visible and recognizable, this particular pilot area, being the municipality of Kalamassery, should be notably announced as a special ‘bin area’ by the use of signs. The best way to get people ‘obey’ to the bins is to give afine to them when they are found throwing waste on the streets. This means that government should be part of the project, support by them should be sought for by insider Rajagiri. If a fine system is not feasible, the least that can be done is alerting and informing people about the right behavior in a bin area.

Suggestion 2.

Besides this, campaigns should make the pilot well-known and must create possibilities to expand the pilot (and waste collecting hubs) to neighboring areas. It would be the easiest and yield the best results when the campaign is supported by private companies and by people that are locally famous. One could think of more creative ways as well. For example let school children collect all the waste of the street at points where a lot of people can see them. It will get the attention of the people and probably they feel a shamed that these children are cleaning their waste. Subsequently billboards can show the harm of waste, where such a campaign can be supported by companies again under the header of CSR. RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 35

University of Amsterdam

Suggestion 3.

Create marketing around waste. Make it cool to be ‘waste aware’. Create a logo that indicates that you or a company is waste aware. Create shirts with awareness texts or make shirts of recycled material and show this on the shirts. Create plastic bags of recycled materials or biodegradable materials. All products can be profitable and gain money for the organization and/or women groups. Organizations as Rajagiri College and Plan@Earth should be supported to realize such plans.

The ‘Points of Action’ and the ‘Problems that could obstruct success’ are included in future steps and this is part of the ‘Discussion and Conclusion’.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 36

University of Amsterdam

Part III:

Discussion and Conclusions

7 Future steps 7.1

Macro plan

Points of Action: 

A first step towards a macro solution is taken by organizing frequent meetings with relevant stakeholders. These meetings serve as discussion platforms to find out what is feasible with the players and resources available. They should be organized under the header of a specific waste related subject. Companies, professors and other relevant individuals should be invited to give lectures and/or present their organization. In this sense, the stakeholders’ interest will be attracted out of networking purposes.



Contracts should be created that can be signed. So a gasification plant can be engineered to this contract. Only when (1) the amount of waste a day and (2) under which conditions this can be delivered to a plant, can be ensured in a contract, only than an investor can finance such a big project. A contract can also be made for the end product (gas or electricity) but in our research we discovered that this was not necessary as there was always a shortage in Ernakulam / Kerala.



Investors for a gasification plant should be identified. For this, meetings should be arranged with potential investors to find out what their specific interests and added values might be. An (short) overview of potential investors, be it direct or indirect, is provided in the appendix.



The government should be convinced. Below, in ‘Problems that could obstruct success’, it is explained why the government should be convinced.

Problems that could obstruct success: 

The government should be convinced in three ways. The first obstruction is the PPPmodel. Although the system has proven itself in many different supply chains (in The Netherlands), it is just introduced in India. Important and completely new for India, is that the base of the model is the government can own parts of the supply chain but will not operate those processes. So the government should shift their strategy and should focus on the end result.



Second, to remove all waste (of households), the government should finance (parts of) the supply chain. A private company cannot make all waste collection profitable without any subsidizing by the government. We can highly recommend introducing some kind of waste tax system that ensures the citizens a cleaned city.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 37

University of Amsterdam



Third, government should not be afraid of losing votes. We heard the argument that that solutions to waste are hard to promise. As they often don’t work, voters are disappointed and that will cost them the election. But when private companies are cleaning on an initiative of the government, in our opinion (and the citizens we have spoken) the appreciation for a clean city is much higher than the impact of a little extra tax. Such a solution can only deliver more voting power.

7.2

Micro plan

Points of Action: 

Create a communication line with The Netherlands (Rajagiri College)



Update the relevant parties about collecting plans of papers and clean plastics in Kalamassery



Update Rajagiri about segregated collection (at the moment the paper and plastic for Plan@Earth is not yet integrated)



Put forward a plan for collecting actions for children



Create a meeting for all awareness persons* to get the campaigns on one line



Set up a meeting with the relevant actors to negotiate agreements with the Kudumbashree



Get an update about the current awareness planning / agenda



Find out if Plan@Earth has a back-up plan when ITC is not willing to participate (see ‘Problems that could obstruct success’).

* The actors for creating awareness are: Father Peter, Father Prasant (and the Sacred Heart College), Plan@Earth, Rajagiri College and Kochi University of Science and Technology Problems that could obstruct success: 

It is not important who gets the credits, it is important to contribute to a sustainable solution. Quite often we got the impression that Rajagiri wants to operate the plans their selves in order to show off and get credits. We are not saying that Rajagiri couldn’t operate the plant their selves, we only alert that they should cooperate with existing actors.



The business model relies on the possibility of recycling at ITC in Coimbatoire. We have tried to contact them, but so far this did not work out. They could cause a problem when they lower their prices. We suggest that a conversation should take place to get more clearness about agreements or possibly even to agree upon price contracts. In addition, it is valuable to find out whether there are alternative recycling options available in the area.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 38

University of Amsterdam

8 Research evaluation When looking back on our field research and this report we are in general satisfied with our results. We think we have been able to give a very clear overview of the current status quo of Ernakulam district and were able to come up with some possible solutions. However, it was hard to form these solutions since a lot of steps need to be taken before things will work out and a lot of decisions are depending on the willingness to work of many different stakeholders. We consider it a feasible challenge. As mentioned before, the government can be a really disturbing and time consuming factor and we therefore recommend investing a lot of time and effort in private entities that have the willingness to work quickly and in cooperation. When giving our presentations to the governmental institutions it was sometimes difficult to picture our goals and possible solutions to them. If we would have to do the whole thing over again, we would have made sure that our presentations would have been easier to understand for uninformed people. Sometimes we might have overestimated the ability of the people from Kochi to understand our ideas, since their perspective is a lot more limited than ours. This limitation arises because of educational and cultural differences and their lack of travel experience. When taking this into account the people from Kochi are very much depending on clear information and pictures of the plans in order to get a clear idea of the meaning of our proposals.

Due to lack in time we have not fully completed our analysis of the status quo and would recommend visiting a few more institutions to get a more complete view of the situation. These recommendations can be found in the appendix as well. We would also like to recommend formulating a marketing plan on awareness by trying to include larger Indian companies who would like to link their brand to solving an environmental issue as we saw with Uninor in Pune. In Kochi we have talked to Vodafone about this marketing campaign but we would suggest contacting other companies as Uninor, Air tell, Idea, Muthoot Finance, Reliance and others for this purpose as well.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 39

University of Amsterdam

9 Concluding remarks This report describes the outcomes of an extensive research about the supply chain of waste and has explored the possibilities for a business model. Together with three students of the Rajagiri College of Social Science we have created a macro and a micro solution for the waste of households in Kochi district. Kochi was chosen because we could stay in a house of the family David and because a district-wide solution for non-biodegradable waste in this area seemed to be missing plus all earlier macro solutions had failed. For this research we have only focused on household waste, because (1) this is a substantial part of the waste, (2) this is the waste that is thrown on the streets, (3) households are not able to pay as much as companies do to get their waste removed, and (4) other waste (like construction and hospital waste) need a different treatment for waste processing.

The next paragraphs will elaborate on our main findings: (1) initiatives by the private sector can prove a suitable solution to the waste problem, (2) a PPP-model has proven to be the best model for any fully suitable solution, (3) the supply chain will function best when this is not operated by the government, and (4) creating awareness and recycling are the most important two steps in improving the supply chain of waste and we have proposed a micro plan for creating awareness and recycling purposed thacan start directly.

Our first concluding point that emphasized the important role for the private sector, has been proven by the KKPKP and although the plant of the W2E is not yet processing in Kochi, we highly believe that this will be a success too. This is because the Kochi Chamber of Commerce and W2E have a lot of contracts with companies that pay them to remove their waste. All investments need some type of security for the funding. A successful business model in waste management needs these contracts as a security. They give an insight of how much waste will be guaranteed and so how much energy can be produced out of waste a day. Although the W2E plant in Kochi has a Business-to-Business (B2B) business model as it will only remove the waste of companies, a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) business model can be successful as well.

For realizing a B2C model , it is important to create a PPP-model first. Only a public private partnership can make it possible to get a fully suitable solution. This is because waste processing plants cannot have contracts with every household.., And since the energy/gas revenues of a gasification plant is only a part of the transport and processing cost of waste, extra money is needed to make a gasification plant possible. In a PPP model, the government makes it possible that all the waste will be collected. So the government has to finance in collecting and transport. Only then investors will get interested.

Besides this, our third point points out that the ownership of (parts of) the supply chain can be the government, as we see this in Pune and in The Netherlands. But the process of waste needs to be operated by a private organization, as this is successful in the Netherlands and as

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 40

University of Amsterdam

the government in Kochi has failed dramatically in processing waste (e.g. the Bhramapuram and the exploded gasification plant).

Our macro plan contains the overall solution to the process of waste and includes these first three points as stated above. Only a gasification plant can remove the waste and its pollution problem in Kochi district in a sustainable matter, but important is that (1) the collection and transportation must be secured, (2) contracts must be made upfront, and (3) the capacity of the plant must be flexible, but at least enough for the amount of waste at the current level (140 tons a day).

In our proposed micro plan we have given a solution that could be implemented in the short run since it takes time to implement our proposed macro plan. Our micro plan is however more sustainable according to the ‘ladder van Lansink’ (see p. 12). The basis of our micro plan is first to get the active bodies and create one overall awareness campaign. This should include the NGO Plan@Earth, Father Peters, Father Prasant (the Sacred Heart College) and the Rajagiri College. The awareness campaign must emphasize the pollution, thus the dangers of waste, and must change the behavior of the citizens. The awareness campaign will focus to reduce and recycle the individual non-biodegradable waste.

Second, as a quick solution for the households, they should become aware of separating clean plastic and clean paper from their other waste. This can be collected by (Kudumbashree) women employed by Plan@Earth. As an incentive Plan@Earth will pay the households for clean segregated waste. The women from the Kudumbashree need to be educated in which waste is collectable and what is not (because it isn’t segregated or not clean). Plan@Earth is already selling their paper and plastics to ITC (a recycling factory just over the border of Tamil Nadu) and ITC is looking for more waste to be recycled. Subsequently, to get this plan as effective as possible, Plan@Earth should be supported in creating more collecting hubs.

This report was not created to stay a report by itself. As we conducted research we have made a footprint in Kochi area. This is why the ‘Future steps’ need to be organized. As large the waste problem in Kochi is, there are solutions possible. And especially when one start with the micro plant (awareness and recycling) and work step by step ( PPP-model, contracts, plant) to the macro plan, the streets of Kochi, the neighborhoods and even its rivers can get clean again.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 41

University of Amsterdam

Part IV:

Appendix

10

Minutes ........................................................................................................................ 43

11

Father Peter’s plan ................................................................................................... 66

12 12.1 12.2

Publicity....................................................................................................................... 68 Article in Malayalam ......................................................................................................................... 68 Article in diverse media .................................................................................................................. 69

13 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6

Personal information, goals and reflection ....................................................... 70 Stijn Bartelink ....................................................................................................................................... 70 Paul van Kekem ................................................................................................................................... 72 Marije Duijn ........................................................................................................................................... 74 Krishna S. Priya .................................................................................................................................... 77 Hridya K. Dileep ................................................................................................................................... 78 Justin Joseph .......................................................................................................................................... 79

14

Realized budget ......................................................................................................... 80

15

Photo impression ...................................................................................................... 81

16

Flyer network meeting and auction in Amsterdam ........................................ 92

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 42

University of Amsterdam

10 Minutes Collaboration partner ...................................................................................................... 44 Rajagiri outreach - College of social sciences .............................................................................................44

Dutch waste companies................................................................................................... 44 Delta .................................................................................................................................................................................44 Afval Energy Bedrijf Amsterdam (AEB) ........................................................................................................45

NGO’s .................................................................................................................................... 47 Dharavi project ...........................................................................................................................................................47 KKPKP .............................................................................................................................................................................47 Plan@Earth ..................................................................................................................................................................48 Credai ..............................................................................................................................................................................48 Renewable Energy Center Mithradham ........................................................................................................50 Kudumbashree ...........................................................................................................................................................50 CED ...................................................................................................................................................................................51

Governments ...................................................................................................................... 52 Pune Municipal Corporation ...............................................................................................................................52 Kochi Corporation ....................................................................................................................................................53 Eloor Municipality ....................................................................................................................................................53 Eloor dumping ground ...........................................................................................................................................53 Eloor Composting plant .........................................................................................................................................54 Kalamassery Municipallity ...................................................................................................................................54 Bhramapuram plant Kochi ...................................................................................................................................54 Kerala State Pollution Board ...............................................................................................................................55

Chamber of Commerce .................................................................................................... 56 Kochi Chamber of Commerce and Industry ................................................................................................56 Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry ..............................................................................................57

Companies .......................................................................................................................... 58 Kiron / Rochem ..........................................................................................................................................................58 Concord Blue Systems ............................................................................................................................................58 Gasification plant near Pune ...............................................................................................................................59 CUMI ................................................................................................................................................................................60 Reliance BSES Kerala Power Ltd. ......................................................................................................................60 Waste 2 Energy (W2E) / Teamsustain ..........................................................................................................61 ITC recycling company ...........................................................................................................................................62 Vodafone ........................................................................................................................................................................62

Other useful parties ......................................................................................................... 63 Other contacted big companies in Kochi Area .......................................................... 64

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 43

University of Amsterdam

Collaboration partner Rajagiri outreach - College of social sciences Contact person: M.P. Antoni Function: Project director Phone: +91 484 4111330 / +91 484 4111332 E-mail: outreach@rajagiri.edu / rossrajagiri@gmail.com Web: www.rajagirioutreach.org

Dutch waste companies Delta Meeting: June 29, 2011 Contact person: Adrie Kaijser Function: Manager Quality and environment Phone: +31011567696 E-mail: akaijser@delta.nl Web: www.delta.nl Delta (Terneuzen, The Netherlands) calls itself the multi-utility company as it is specialized in energy, infra and environmental services. We were interested in the environmental services and the business models they are using for the Southern part of The Netherlands.

First model was based on ‘stortheffingen’. So when you dump you pay. This model is based that people obey because otherwise you will get a fine. So the incentive is ‘not getting a fine’ and you need a good audit system.

PPP-model Its business model is a PPP; a ‘private public partnership. Delta is a private company where it shareholders are 37,5% municipalities, 37,5 district ‘Zeeland’ and 25% interested private companies. This modern model is based on ‘verontreinigingsheffing’ of households. Because everybody has to pay this tax, it useless to dump waste or do not use the facilities that are provided by the government.

Main benefit private: more efficient business model both in processing as in profitability.

Main benefit public: take care of a sustainable solution instead of cheap dumping.

Delta’s vision in waste management is ‘Valorization’. This means that there is no such thing as waste. All waste consist minerals and minerals are scarce and have value. When you just treat it as ‘traditional waste’, you waste and thus destroy all these minerals. The basis of the business model in Middelburg is that as much minerals as possible must be recovered. Mr Kaijser told us: “Because minerals to minerals is more expensive, it is important to have an awareness of the sense of Urgency!”

The ladder of ‘Lansink’ is since 1979 the standard in The Netherlands that waste should be as high as possible on this ladder been treated. It contains the next steps: dumping, burning, recycling (and valorization), prevention.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 44

University of Amsterdam

In Middelburg ‘GFT’ waste will be recycled by composting, which is a nature process based on micro-organisms and regulation the oxygen and humidity. Larger green waste, for example by forestry, will be ‘Aneroob’ recycled. So by combustion without oxygen there is biogas created.

The machine is bought with subsidies and the profits are partly payed to the government. Even at dumping areas, methane gas extraction is possible with the right drainage.

Rules/facts: Waste to waste treatment points must be less than 40 km. When this distance is longer, the regular garbage trucks are not designed for this and a transfer hub must be used.

“With a dense population it is better to have one big plant instead of 50 small ones.”

Paper is still providing losses and is still only possible by subsidies.

Recommendations: The possibilities and the Dutch regulations of waste are described in the LAP2: ‘Landelijke Afvalstoffen Beheersplan 2 (Chapter 19 contains 52 sector plans).

BVOA: ‘Branchvereniging voor composteringen’ FNOI: ‘Federatie Nederlandse Oudpapier Industrie’ There are two possibilities with waste: 1.) Pre-segregation (so separation at household level) and 2.) post-segregation (so separation at the collection hub/plant).

Irish model: Given that dumping is not allowed, the one who produces the waste is also responsible to get rid of it. Different systems have different ‘waste take’ prices.

Scandinavian model: Everyone can decide to which waste collector they contract.

Afval Energy Bedrijf Amsterdam (AEB) Meeting: July 6, 2011 Contact person: Mariska Schouten Function: Marketing advisor Phone: +31 20 407 6098 E-mail: m.schouten@afvalenergiebedrijf.nl Web: www.afvalenergiebedrijf.nl AEB is the solution for the waste of Amsterdam and its near surrounding municipalities. It is one of world’s most modern plants where waste will be used to generate electricity and heat (stadsverwarming) to more than 1000 households. Subsequently it separates gypsum, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, rocks and other big waste will be used in road building and the only emission is just clean water (H20) and ash (0,5kg per 1000kg waste) that is used for land filling.

‘Groencertificaten’ (1 certificate per 1MWh) guarantee that it is ‘groene stroom’ (sustainable energy). At the moment Amsterdam is still purchasing all the power for its own use; lights in public buildings, streets etc.

PPP-model: The AEB is 100 percent owned by the government of the city of Amsterdam (so not by its municipalities). There are two contracts: (1) all the waste will be given to the AEB and the collectors pay for the waste and (2) all produced energy can be sold to the grid. Both prices are market based. It is a profit pursuing model because the board will be fired when they will not perform.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 45

University of Amsterdam

Amount of ‘Afvalheffing’ is decided by the ‘Stadsdeel’ and the ‘afvalheffing’ is based to be breakeven. The ‘stadsdelen’ are responsible for collection and transport to the plant. Besides this they have to pay at the plant for each ton of waste. Bulk waste can be collected or brought to a collection point free of charge for households.

In Amsterdam only chemicals, glass and paper will be pre-segregated. Although the opinion of AEB is that you should recycle as much minerals as possible, in practice Amsterdam waste management have learned that segregation in households isn’t done secure do to the limited space and because the absence of a garden.

Post questions (in Dutch): 1. Wat is het totale oppervlakte van de fabriek en wat van het hele terrein?

Zie KVK of Kadaster.

Searched information: 6 hectares for the plant and around 10 hectares including the logistic driving lanes and the parking spots.

2. Wat is de minimale hoeveelheid afval wat deze 'plant' nodig heeft om productief/break-even te draaien?

De maximale productie van AEB ligt rond de 1,4 miljoen ton. Als je kijkt naar de jaarcijfers (zie website, jaarverslag) kan je daar zien hoe zich dat verhoudt naar financiele cijfers.

Revenues(2009) =176.5 million Euro Operating costs (2009) = 144.3 million Euro Financial earnings(2009) = 4.2 million Euro Financial costs (2009) = 35.6 million Euro Profit (2009) = 800,000 Euro 3. Wat is de maximale capaciteit van deze 'plant'?

De maximale capaciteit van de plant is op dit moment 1,4 miljoen ton. Deze is echter nog steeds groeiende en zal de komende jaren ook vergroten. Dit komt door het steeds verder optimaliseren van processen binnen het verbrandingsproces.

4. Klopt het dat het patent in handen is van AEB en een engineeringsbedrijf, of alleen van AEB? Voor een gedeelte van de technologie in de hoogrendementscentrale heeft AEB een aantal patenten. Deze zijn in eigen bezit. Eigenaar van de centrale is de Gemeente Amsterdam.

5. Wordt het systeem momenteel al gekocht en gedupliceerd op andere locaties (buiten Nederland) en/of is er al interesse getoond in een dit totale vuilverbrandingssysteem?

Er komen hier regelmatig partijen kijken, maar het gehele systeem is nog in zijn totaal nog niet verkocht. Er lopen wel diverse gesprekken.

6. Wanneer er interesse is in een vergelijkbare 'plant' door een andere partij/gemeente, kan je mij iets uitleggen hoe het vervolgproces vervolgens in z'n werking gaat en welke partijen/organisaties er allemaal bij komen kijken?

Dit is een langdurig proces, waarbij binnen de politiek op diverse niveaus met elkaar gesproken wordt. Nadat op hoog niveau besloten is, wordt er op operationeel niveau opdracht gegeven om dit verder uit te werken. Hierbij komen ook de specialistische bedrijven (die bijvoorbeeld een kraan o.i.d. leveren) om de hoek kijken. Al deze technologien moeten met elkaar gecombineerd worden in plannen van aanpak, technische analyses etc..

De bouw van aan AVI van begin tot eind kan zomaar 10 jaar duren, wellicht ook wel meer in landen waar afvalverbranding nog niet algemeen geaccepteerd is.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 46

University of Amsterdam

NGO’s Dharavi project Meeting: July 12, 2011 Visit to the Dharavi slump: July 13, 2011 Contact person: Vinod Shetty Function: Director E-mail: dharaviproject@gmail.com Phone: 022 2642 8618 This Dharavi slump project is based on volunteers (so nobody earns money besides the waste collectors) and advocates the waste collectors. They are the voice of the waste collectors in the government. Dharavi is ‘swallowed’ by the city, what results that at the moment it is located in an area where contractors are pleased to takeover. All kind of economic powers try to force the people of Dharavi to leave, but do not give an alternative for those people. The Dharavi Project emphasize that if people have to leave certain areas, the government or contractor should provide in new houses from where they could still work. When we were at Dharavi, a pipeline was just build through more than 600 houses that caused over 2000 houseless people. These houses and all belongings in these houses were just destroyed by bulldozers.

The main goal of the Dharavi Project is to help the people getting (back) into society. They try to reach this goal by having a school for the children of waste collectors, giving identity cards and health insurances to waste collectors. Besides this they also organize entertainment in forms as theater performance and music/jam sessions.

Dharavi is a slump, but it is an economy on its own as well. When you cannot have your own selling, you start as waste collector. This is a very informal network. Waste collectors try to specialize and so in the years the get an informal hub without a show where the collect segregated waste of a few collectors that are working for him/her. He can sell this to a ‘real’ hub and gain some profits. When he/she has enough waste collectors working for him, he/she can start his/her own hub.

KKPKP

Conference call and mail contact: week 1 Contact person: Lakshmi Narayan Phone: +91 9422318891 E-mail: wastematterspune1@gmail.com Web: http://swachcoop.com/about-swachpune.html The NGO KKPKP stands for Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat and is the trade union of waste pickers in Pune. The organization is empowering female waste collectors by creating a community where the rag pickers can get a collective identity, some kind of self-worth and sense of confidence and they will be provided with uniforms and equipment that will make their work a lot saver. The KKPKP is subsided by the Pune Corporation and are responsible for the collection system of waste in Pune. This organization is broadly described in the best practices in India.

Maya Patwardhan has send by E-mail (to develop2create@gmail.com) several documents of relevant studies about waste management and the social role of the waste sector which are used for KKPKP and SWaCH.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 47

University of Amsterdam

Plan@Earth Meeting: July 25, 2011 Visit: July 26, 2011 Dinner: August 2, 2011 Contact person: Sooraj Abraham Function: Director Phone: +91 9846144806/ +91 9746474185 Contact person: Feroz Munshi Function: ITC manager Phone: +91 09500999115 Address: VI/1042, hill Road, Aluva, Kerala E-mail: planatearth@gmail.com Web: www.planatearth.org Plan@Earth is an NGO that execute plans aimed at protecting the earth. Waste management is one of the very important activities by Plan@Earth. Together with ITC limited (www.itcportal.com) they have set up the WOW project (Wealth out of Waste) to stimulate recycling of paper and plastic. According to a study done by Plan@Earth (this 82 page long report will be given digital) there is a shortage on paper and plastic since paper and plastic manufacturers are growing rapidly in India. This is why recycling of paper and plastic could party resolve these issues.

Plan@Earth has set up an awareness program in Aluva (a municipality in Ernakulam district) to stimulate people to separate waste at source. After having people informed they have set up a collection system whereby they collect the separated plastic and paper from households every month. When these households have segregated paper and plastic well they will be financially compensated with 2 Rupees per one kilo of clean waste. The waste is collected by big (TNT) bags and then delivered to a waste hub of Plan@Earth. Employees working at this hub are segregating and cleaning the waste even further into colored paper, white paper, newspapers, etc. Once have collected enough paper and plastic bigger truck will deliver the segregated waste to an ITC limited factory in Thiruvananthapuram where it will be processed and recycled into raw material or products. ITC pays Plan@Earth for their deliveries of pure waste. Plan@Earth is a non-profit organization and aims at break-even. They are shipping 100 tons of waste a month to the ITC office, but because of rapid growth in the industry ITC could handle 100 tons of waste a day easily!

Right now Plan@Earth is only operating in Aluva and only takes care of the paper and plastic.

Degradable waste is still done by the Kudumbashree so there is no competition between the 2 parties. Waste other than degradable, paper or plastic is not being processed at the moment and only used for land filling. Plan@Earth is trying to expand their business to other municipalities and was interested in a possible micro solution in Kalamassery Municipality.

Credai Credai Clean city movement Meeting: July 27, 2011 Contact: Kabeer B. Haroon Function: Project Director Phone: +91 (0) 484 2204148/49 / +91 9744012318 E-mail: credaicleancity@gmail.com Web: www.credaikochi.com

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 48

University of Amsterdam

Credai stands for Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India and is a NGO which started in 2007 as a CSR project. Credai is the apex body of organized real estate developers representing over 5000 developers through 20 member associations across the country. It is an autonomous organization responsible for promoting changes and reforms, creating and maintaining guidelines pertaining to integrity and transparency among developers, and representing issues and proactive policies before the government and other concerned authorities.

Credai’s slogan is: ‘For the people, for the humanity, for the environment’. Credai’s idea is that waste processing should be centralized for non-households and 20 acres (8 ha) of land should be provided for a plant. Households should manage their household themselves.

Credai its goal and business model is: ‘the polluter pays’. They even showed a calculation where their system proved that every private Rupee (so payed by households) collects more waste then every public rupee invested in the waste industry. Actually this was not right as you should collect everywhere instead of only the ones who can afford a private collection system. A lot of household have problems with getting rid of their waste and so they have to dissolve their waste. They sell in house segregation bins, vermicompost pots for households and big vermicompost bins for outside. The vermicompost bin for a flat is 47.000 Rupees per bin and can serve 50 apartments. When a flat contains more apartments there need to be more bins installed. Subsequently, every household have to buy a pair of bins to segregate their waste for 162 Rupees. Supervisory cost 1000 Rupees per month and 1609 Rupees per month is charged for the women to collect the waste and operate the big vermicompost bin. This means that the women carry al biodegradable waste to the rooftops of flats, where they are mostly installed, maintain them and spray a liquid that should speed up the vermicompost process. The plastics are once a month collected by trucks.

Although this is a high price, already 190 flats purchase this service and products of Credai.

Credai is employed by the residence association (kind of the Dutch ‘vereniging van eigenaren’).

It’s a pity that the earnings of the women is only 130 Rupees per day.

Credai has placed all kind of colored arches in Kochi with the text ‘clean city movement’ Credai’s movement consists:  Segregation programs (described above)  Build clean public toilets  Starting programs for medical waste (also for households)  Starting programs for E-waste (E stands for electronic devices)  …

Credai does understand the importunateness or at least the opportunities marketing offers. So does it sell bags for 35 Rupees with the text: ‘this bag contains NO plastic’.

Note: Rajagiri College, in particular Mr. Antoni, is not in favor of Credai as they do have close connections with the government and are involved in the exploded gasification plant.

Plan@Earth say that they are very expensive, have not their style of working as the often seem to forget the overall mission to solve the waste problem, but Plan@Earth is a bit of jealous on their marketing budget and the funding they get.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 49

University of Amsterdam

Renewable Energy Center Mithradham Meeting: July 20, 2011 Contact person: Dr. George Peter Pittappillil Function: Director Mithradham Phone: +91(0)484 2839185 E-mail: director@mithradham.org Web: www.mithradham.org The Renewable Energy Center is an institute located in Aluva. It is the first fully solar education institution in India and is an initiative of Father Peter. He is ashamed of the dirtiness on the streets and feels something needs to be done to protect the environment. He thinks the problem is a lack of awareness with regards to waste management and that’s why he designed educational programs to inform people about waste management. He also designed a 15yearplan in order to reach for a cleaner environment. His plans are formulated in the appendix .

He started the center in 2010 and has almost yearly a exchange project with Germany to share thoughts and knowledge between students and specialists.

The Sanskrit word "Mithradham" means the abode of the Sun and the house of a friend. With the motto "Friendship to nature is the source of happiness".

Kudumbashree Meeting: August 1, 2011 Contact person: Tani Thomas Function: Ernakulam district collector Phone: +91 9447607735 E-mail: spemekm@gmail.com Web: www.kudumbashree.org We had a meeting with the Kudumbashree in Kalamassery municipality. In 1998 the government of Kerala set up the Kudumbashree to overcome poverty and stimulate the empowerment of women of the lowest social classes. Today it is the largest women empowerment center of India. The Kudumbashree has a local office in every district and municipality. The offices are in close contact with the municipalities and the health charge officer of the municipalities. The Kudumbashree works with informal contracts for their employees. Employees are not recruited but women that live below poverty level come by the Kudumbashree offices themselves when they cannot find any work. The Kudumbashree offer women jobs in cleaning and catering canteens and have also set up a collection system for waste management.

The women from the Kudumbashree are responsible for picking up degradable waste from door to door. Their salary will be paid by the households where they are collecting from. When households would like to have their waste picked up, they can fill out an application form at their municipality office. The households have to pay 30 Rupees a month towards the women for waste collecting. Furthermore the Kudumbashree is supporting the women by giving them a micro credit for obtaining their pushcar, gloves, etc. For this they obtain a loan of 2.5 lac. Fifty percent of this loan needs to be paid back in time, the rest is a subsidy. The women can also get basic needs from the Kudumbashree. Once a week they can come to the municipality to pick up a bag of food for a very small amount of money and sometimes it is even free.

Although the Kudumbashree is a very good initiative for women empowerment of the lowest social class it is questionable if the Kudumbashree is the best solution for the collection of waste.

Since the Kudumbashree works with informal contracts the collection of waste doesn’t get picked up at fixed dates or times and this causes mainly problems in the rainy season. During this season the people from the households usually put their waste near the street at the end of

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 50

University of Amsterdam

the night, but once the women from the Kudumbashree has picked up the garbage the waste has usually got very wet and bags have been broken, what causes even more dirt of the streets. Also, since the Kudumbashree is strictly only collecting biodegradable waste, the people have no idea how to get rid of their non-biodegradable waste. Since the women from Kudumashree have a very low income the people from households often pay them extra in order to also collect their non-biodegradable waste. Because of this the waste is not segregated anymore when it is being dumped and so the natural process of compost is being disturbed. Also the waste dumps are very spread out over the district which asks for more centralized waste hubs where waste could immediately get picked up by trucks for further processing.

CED Contact: August 1, 2011 Location: Thiruvananthapuram Phone: +91 (0) 471 2369720, +91 (0)471 2369721 E-mail: director@cedindia.org Web: www.cedindia.org CED (CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT) is a very active NGO. It has proven themselves in many projects and can be a nice partner to collaborate. They are operating the Bhramapuram plant, but are not responsible for the problems. CED is even thinking of quitting to operate when the Kochi Corporation doesn’t provide a solution. For further information see the minutes at the Bhramapuram plant.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 51

University of Amsterdam

Governments Pune Municipal Corporation Meeting: July 15, 2011 Contact person: Sajay A. Gawade Function: Ward Officer Phone: +91 9689931401 E-mail: sgawade@punecorporation.org Pune is the city with the most advanced waste management system in India. As far as we discover it is the only city which uses a PPP-model for its system. Besides this it has a separated tax for the waste solution. At the moment we visited Pune (July 2011) a gasification plant was build (See the minutes of the gasification plant near Pune (Concord Blue)). The PMC waste management system has the next criteria:        

PMC have 5000 employees in total and 20 of them are FTE in waste management PMC is responsible for collection, transportation and disposal Around 10 Rupees tax per household per month Around 1800 rag pickers employed Segregation of dry and wet waste >50% of household waste collected 100% of university waste No waste collection at hotels and/or other organizations, this is done separately.

Rag pickers are provided with: health insurances, gloves, push cars, sacks, sweepers and long clothing. They cannot sell this because nobody will buy from rag pickers.

Each rag picker has to cover 100 to 200 households and can sell all valuable waste their selves.

A rag picker gets 10 Rupees per household People in slumps cannot pay for waste so they are provided with 3,8 m3 bins where a truck can collect the filled bins. PMC has provided around 1000 of these containers in its suburbs.

PMC have researched the waste in the city and discovered that the average amount of waste per citizen is 400 grams.

Future: In the future they will improve collection system (cover all households) and increase the number of rag pickers. Besides this, PMC had a pilot at 11.000 household that they get a 5% tax reduction when they would segregate their waste. This system could be applied to all households. And bins and a collection system for them should be introduced. At the moment PMC does not has the capacity of rag pickers to empty bins.

Increase biogas plants Problems: There is not enough availability of rag pickers because it is a dirty job. The difficulty is that the kind of thinking should be changed. Instead of thinking as an untouchable job, they have to see it as a social responsible and very sustainable job!

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 52

University of Amsterdam

Kochi Corporation Meeting: July 22, 2011 This was a meeting with the major and the alderman who was (also) in charge of the waste management of Kochi Corporation, so the city of Kochi. He emphasized that they want a solution, but that no company was yet interested in building a plant. Although the corporation of Kochi have a collecting system with a number of trucks, they cannot give guarantees in the amount of waste they can diver on a daily base. Subsequently important to clarify is that the women collect waste. They segregate valuable waste and non-valuable waste. The non-valuable waste will be collected by the government at certain collecting points near these hubs. This is where the formal and informal sector meet each other. This system should be more clear and also data should be collected about the amounts per type of waste.

Contact Person: Mr. Sohen Mr. Sohen gave a good and especially very energetic impression. He is very environment minded, is active in the Cochin Corporation since 1969, was even chairman of the Corporation and is chairman of the town planning committee at the moment. He told us that they are willing to invest, when the system has proven itself. (Mr. Sohen was not present at our conference.)

Eloor Municipality Meeting: July 21, 2011 Contact Person: Germina Venu Phone: +91 938 709 5404 This was a big meeting with around 25 persons. Municipality Eloor is also desperate searching for a solution for their waste, mainly their plastic waste. They want a plant, but doesn’t provide anything. During our presentation we explained a PPP-model, but this was overruled by the use of a concrete ring where every household could burn their waste or could make compost out of it.

Eloor dumping ground Visit: July 19, 2011 Contact Person: Germina Venu Phone: +91 938 709 5404 When we arrived at the dumping ground, the local people, that are mainly poor farmers, immediately came to us. The Indian students could translate to us that they did not deserve to have the disbenefits of all the city waste just because they were black. Apparently the people who live over there were a tint darker in the eyes of Indian people because they work outside, and had a lower rang in society.

These dumping areas were created because of the decentralized ‘solution’ and force, because the centralized governments could not solve the problem.

The dumping area was not prepared besides just a small wall around the area. The unprepared ground was or would cause problems for their drinking water. And besides this, it looked like a temporary solution as the area was just small and would be quite soon be saturated by the use of land filling. This was just one of the dumping areas that caused problems, but apparently all dumps would have the same problems.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 53

University of Amsterdam

The day we visited the dumping area the government had employed 1 person to collect useful plastics, 2 persons to cover the surface with dirt and one other person was spraying pesticides.

This gave the area a lemon smell, that wasn’t really nice but it was the days before much worse with all the pests and bad smell.

Eloor Composting plant Visit: July 19, 2011

Eloor Municipality had a good functioning composting plant which was managed by women.

Because the Eloor dump of above was not working properly, the collected waste had to be dumped somewhere else. The government chose to dump at the local composting plant which was only operated by four very dedicated women. This made it for them harder and maybe even impossible to function well.

At the composting plant the facilities were OK, but because the women were not explained correct how secure the process should be, the compost was not always the quality it should be.

And so their earnings were less. They were not satisfied with their earnings at all as the government (of Kochi Corporation) had announced that the minimum income should be at least 150 Rupees per day and the women were only making 100 Rupees a day. They would be satisfied when they could earn 300 Rupees a day, but they didn’t stop working their because they found it their duty and didn’t want to abandon the other women.

Kalamassery Municipallity Meeting: July 25, 2011 50% of the citizens of Kalamaserry have the availability to burn their waste themselves.

Kalamassery has a dumping ground of 75 acres near a main road that causes a terrible smell.

The Kalamassery Municipality does not have any solution for their waste problem. Neither did they have any idea of how much waste they got a day and what kind of collection and transportation possibilities there are. We explained the PPP-model, but the response wasn’t very understanding and they think that ‘companies’ should take the responsibility to build a plant. As we explained that this is build everywhere on a contractual base and so only when there is any form of certainty presented. It didn’t matter in how many words we explained this model, they were just saying: ‘we have waste, that is no problem, but we have no company, that should be build first…’

When we proposed our idea of a bin system, they mentioned that bins were banned in Ernakulam. Bins didn’t havea right collection system and that is why large piles of bins were visible around the bins. The aldermen concluded that the bins did not function and were the cause of the problem.

Bhramapuram plant Kochi Visit: August 1, 2011 The Bhramapuram is by far the biggest waste dump in Kochi area. At the moment of visiting (August 2011) it didn’t function properly and it actually had never done. The plant is owned by the corporation of Kochi and it is operated by a NGO called CED (see the contact information of CED). The main office of CED is located in Thiruvananthapuram. This NGO organizes a lot of sustainable projects and even operates a comparable plant in Thiruvananthapuram where it is working fine.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 54

University of Amsterdam

The Bhramapuram plant has some engineering problems that causes these problems. The most important problems were: (1) the structure of the ground wasn’t prepared and so the building is sinking into the ground, (2) because of this the roof cracked and the waste in the building gets wet what harms the composting process, (3) there was no drainage system constructed and so the groundwater – what is the drinking water of thousands of people and what is in direct contact with a big river only 50 meters away – is polluted by sludge. Kochi Corporation has bought the land of an adjacent municipality. And because they have polluted their drinking water, the citizens of this municipality strike often against the plant. Besides these problems, the Bhramapuram plant is designed to process only biodegradable waste, but because there is no solution for non-biodegradable waste all the waste is brought to this area and dumped.

CED is trying to process the waste, but are not capable when the corporation doesn’t solve the construction problems, maintain the machinery and doesn’t stop dumping non-biodegradable waste. The employees of CED at the Bhramapuram plant are quitting their work if the Corporation of Kochi is not improving the situation at the Bhramapuram plant within the next month (August 2011).

According to inside sources the company that constructed the Bhramapuram plant is a company called FACT limited. When contacting them on the phone they denied this however…

Others say that the plant failed because everything fails what the government is operating on their own and construction faults are caused because the government didn’t want to spent a lot of money on the construction.

Information FACT Limited: Phone: +91 (0) 484-2545101 Email: cmd@factltd.com, ea2cmd@factltd.com Website: http://fact.co.in/office.htm

Kerala State Pollution Board Meeting: August 3, 2011 Contact Person: M.S. Mythili Function: Chief Environmental Engineer Phone: +91 (0) 484 2207783 / +91 (0) 9447975723 E-mail: msm_60@rediffmail.com Web: www.keralapcb.org The KSPB is controlling companies with regards to pollution. Currently the Corporation of Kochi has to improve the situation at the Bhramapuram plant within the next month (August 2011) since the plant is not operating in line with the KSPB standards for pollution. If the Corporation of Kochi is not improving the situation the KSPB can take legal actions towards the Corporation. . However as stated in the records of the KSPB they have never taken any legal actions to any company or government organization in recent years.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 55

University of Amsterdam

Chamber of Commerce Kochi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Meeting: August 2, 2011

Contact: Eapen Kalapurakal Function: Secretary Phone: +91 484 2668650 E-mail: Kochichamber@eth.net / eapenkalapurakal@yahoo.com Web: www.Kochiwaste2energy.com/YouCanAlsoInvest.htm www.Kochichamber.org Kochi Chamber of Commerce and Industry has set up an SPV with American company W2E for the building of the first gasification plant in Kochi. This is the first SPV they have set up and should result in more private or PPP-model initiatives once the first gasification plant has proved to be a success. The plant will be build near the port of Kochi. Also energy that comes from the gasification plant is directly used by the port of Kochi that is not under contract of the KSEB energy board of India so they can handle the energy themselves. The shares of the SPV are in hands of 25 private institutions.

The transport and collection is also done by the SPV and for this is will lease closed trucks.

Companies are willing to pay a high price to get rid of their unsegregated waste as a company produces quite a lot of waste and cannot use land filling or dumping as a ‘solution’.

The SPV has a contract to sell their energy to the Kochi Port and the KSEB allowed them to sell their energy. By this construction they miss all direct lines with the government.

The opinion of the CCC:  Plants should be decentralized because of the limited space in Kochi  Collection and transportation in Kochi should be privatized  The Kochi Corporation are not experts in waste that will be an obstruction to success  The Government should finance such plants  There is not just one solution to the waste problem, so you should spread your focus “The CCC wants to advice the government to privatize all the systems in the supply chain, but only after when our plant is running. Right now it is of no use to say this; they need prove!”

Note: we could not announce this model in the Ernakulam Area as the Kochi Chamber of Commerce wanted to prove their approach first.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 56

University of Amsterdam

Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry Meeting: August 2, 2011 Contact person: Deepak L. Aswani Function: Chairman Phone: +91 98951 36360 E-mail: info@keralachamber.in / aswani@vsnl.com Web: www.keralachamber.in They are aware of problems and difficulty around waste management. This is one of the reasons why they have set up a committee in charge of waste management, Sports and Business School.

Their idea is that “from something; comes something”. So waste could create something as well!

“How to change peoples’ mindset?” Their vision is that there should be more segregation at the source and so they agree with the decentralized strategy, but think that the Kochi Corporation should finance projects. Bins can be possible, when the women groups would empty them.

They are aware of the huge waste problems in Delhi city and have noticed that the Singapore Corporation (one of the cleanest cities in the world) is helping Chennai (one of the dirtiest cities in the world) with their waste problem.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 57

University of Amsterdam

Companies Kiron / Rochem Meeting: July 12, 2011 Contact person: Janardhan Kalamkar Function: Head customer service Phone: +91 22 24937330 E-mail: janardhan@khnpl.in Web: www.kiron-hydraulic-need.promarket.in The full name of Kiron is Kiron Hydraulic Needs Pvt Ltd. Its mother company is Rochem, which is a German company that is founded in 1982. Kiron is specialized in hydraulic valves for all kind of industrial applications as in waste processing. This company was provided by the Dutch consulate. During this meeting we get information about the plant near Pune, which was under construction, and about the Concord blue. Mr Kalamkar arranged a meeting with them later that day. Kiron emphasized that the main problem is the collecting and transportation system. When this is not done or contracted by the government, the other parties as plant building and operating companies cannot start. Mumbai has incredible problems to keep their waters clean and so a solid waste system would be very welcome. On private initiative a small plant is constructed to show the possibilities with waste.

Concord Blue Systems Meeting: July 12, 2011 Contact person: Pradip Kumar Sen Function: Consulting engineer Phone: +91 22 25861559/ +91 9890368426 E-mail: pradip@concordblue.net Web: www.concordblue.in Concord Blue is an engineering company that developed a new gasification process which they have patented. They create plants where one of the parts are these gasification machines. The plants are build in towers, that result in a low land footprint. At the moment of visiting (July 2011), Concord blue almost opened a small sample plant near Mumbai and is constructing a plant in Pune Area. Concord Blue introduced a BOOT system. This means that they will be in charge or at least involved in the (most important) steps in waste handling: Building, Operating, Obligating and Transporting.

The Solutions steps of a plant out of the next three main processes: I. Preconditioning Start: Unsegraeated waste Storage Unit Tipping floor Shredder Dryer Segregation glass, metals ‘debris’ etc Second Shredder Second dryers End: pre-conditioned waste

II. Gasification (patented process) Non-incineration (basis gasification) PCW Heated with aluminum beels Gas + Chaj Reformers Cooler Scrubber (to make it clean)

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

III. Power generation Post scrubber Gas engine Power evacuation

Page 58

University of Amsterdam

Plant near Pune: Government pays a price for every bulk of waste they change into energy.

Government and Contractor based initiative.

70 to 80 tons of waste per day and the plant will be profitable.

As the transportation costs in India are high, plants in every city are necessary.

Normal distances considered ( < 500km), transportation is around 700/800 Rp per ton.

Future: There must be contracts created for the amount of waste that must be provided each day.

The system that a plant gets payed to dissolve waste, should be implemented at other plants as well.

Plant controllers must be increased and educated.

The number of equipment providers must increase.

The number of waste collectors and transporters should increase.

It should be more easy to transport and sell energy (for licensed traders).

Gasification plant near Pune Visit: July 15, 2011 Contact information: see Concord Blue (Mumbai) This plant was still under construction during our visit. They told us that the plant would finished in September 2011, but as not even the founding was completely finished in July 2011 they will probably have a delay of a year. The plant will create electricity out of not segregated wet and dry waste. PMC has a contract for 33 years to supply waste to the plant. At this moment they have to pay 300 Rupees per ton of waste (not segregated).

The plant will run completely automatically and needs only one operator. Different companies designed/deliver different parts of the plant. Concord Blue is both contractor and supplier as it delivers the power generators who actual transform waste into gas and gas into electricity. The complete plant will be an international collaboration as different international companies have designed different parts in the total process.

Who: Bollegraaf What: first part of the internal transportation system of the waste Where: Appingedam, The Netherlands Web: www.bollegraaf.com Who: M&J What: Shredder of waste Where: Denmark Web: www.mj.dk / www.metso.com Who: Weima What: Shredder of waste Where: United States Web: www.weima.com

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 59

University of Amsterdam

CUMI Meeting: July 20, 2011 Contact person: Sebastien Joseph Function: Sr. Manager – Human Resources Phone: +91 484 4093632 E-mail: sebastianJ@cumi.murugappa.com Web: www.cumi-murugappa.com/ CUMI is part of the Murugappa group. The company pioneered the manufacture of Coated Abrasives and Bonded Abrasives in India in addition to the manufacture of Super Refractories, Electro Minerals, Industrial Ceramics and Ceramic Fibres.

The corporate office of CUMI is situated in Chennai. The board of CUMI wanted to extend their CSR practices and by doing this they searched for opportunities to reach out to the communities where their employees lived in. The office of CUMI in Kochi has a lot of employees in Kalamassery (and three other municipalities). In order to get to know what these communities desired to have improved in their municipality, a project team of CUMI designed a survey for over 1100 houses. From the results of the survey it was concluded that 65% of the people primarily wanted CUMI to do something in the waste industry since it is a big problem.

CUMI decided to implement a plan to focus on solving the waste problem in the 4 areas. One of these plans involved subsidizing vermin pots and bio gas plants. With the vermin pots people can create compost out of degradable waste. With the bio gas plants people can dispose 4 kilos of waste and obtain fuel for one hour of cooking. Normally a bio gas plant will cost the people in India 10.300 Rupees but with subsidiary from CUMI it will only cost the citizens 2000 Rupees, which means a subsidiary of 8.300 by CUMI. When people want to obtain a bio gas plant they can apply for this through CUMI. A development committee that consists of representative councilors and CUMI volunteers will meet up once a month to go over the applications.

From February 2012 on CUMI wants to take their waste management CSR initiative to a new level by taking initiatives in collecting waste, but so far there are no concrete plans formed about this. CUMI did say however that it is very open for ideas that will help them to have a share in solving the waste problem.

Reliance BSES Kerala Power Ltd. Meeting: July 27, 2011 Contact person: Jose Varkey Vithayathil (Manager HR)/ Robin Sebastian (General Manager) Phone: +91 (0) 484 3052020 / +91 (0) 484 2512673 E-mail: jose.vithayathil@relianceada.com / robin.sebastian@relianceada.com Web: www.ril.com/ Reliance is interesting in investing opportunities like waste plants. They would like to receive a proposal how their company could be involved in a possible macro plan for waste processing. In this proposal it should be clear yhat the initial investment by the government and by Reliance would be. Subsequently it had to show how and when it would be profitable.

Reliance could tell us that selling energy wouldn’t be problem as there was always a short on energy. And the price was market based. So they would get a certain percentage of the energy selling price of the KSEB.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 60

University of Amsterdam

Waste 2 Energy (W2E) / Teamsustain Meeting: July 28, 2011 Contact person: Sahil A. Phone: +91 (0) 484 329 5204 E-mail: sahil@w2es.com Web: www.w2es.com W2E or Waste 2 Energy is an American company that provides technical solutions for the processing of waste into ‘ renewable’ energy. The company has its headquarters in Princeton but in Chicago, Hyderabad and Kochi there are also offices. In 2009 W2E set up a waste gasification plant in South Korea that can process 100 tons of waste a day and generates 4 MWh. This plant is situated near a industrialized area of Korea and is very successfully operating. The plant is almost having no CO2 emission.

W2E has together with operator Teamsustain permission to set up a gasification plant in Kochi for the Kochi corporation. In the Kochi corporation there is nearly 140 tons of waste per day.

W2E is now building a gasification plant that has a capacity of processing 40 tons of waste per day and generates 1,4 MWh. The plant will be set up as a try-out and W2E is hoping to proof towards the government that it will be successful so they can get their support in extending the plant. The cost of the Kochi plant are approximately 4 million US dollars and this will be paid by W2E and by the Kochi Chamber of Commerce.

For this project W2E and Kochi Chamber of Commerce have agreed upon a collaboration project in the form of a special purpose vehicle (SPV). Since it was very time consuming and difficult to find corporation from the Kochi corporation, the corporation is not involved in this project and the gasification plant in Kochi will be a 100% privately owned company. Since W2E had its doubts about the current collection system of the Kudumbashree it decided to focus on a collecting system themselves for the collection of waste from companies, hotels and hospitalities. They agreed upon contracts with these institutions and the collection of waste by privately owned transport companies.

At the moment of visiting (august 2011) the contract with the KSEB, who owns the grid and would buy the syngas, was still in discussion. W2E trusted that delivering power to the grid wouldn’t be a problem as there is always a short of energy and KSEB is nearby the gasification plant (at Seapoint) located as well. The building time is between 12 and 15 months. It should have been running since March 2009 but the government caused a delay. The financial damage because of this is covered by the SPV. The first gasification plant will start to operate in January 2012.

The company has a policy to be very transparent and so their website provides a lot (or even all) information.

Future: They expect to get contracts of the Kochi Corporation to build more plants and that the Kochi Corporation will suit a collection system. Besides this, they expect contracts of companies with waste that is difficult to dissolve, like; pharmaceutical waste and waste of hospitals. W2E its opinion is that the government s should invest in awareness and bins. Households should pay more than 50 Rupees per month to cover these costs.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 61

University of Amsterdam

ITC recycling company Web: www.itcportal.com This is a plastic and paper recycling company in Coimbatore. According to Plan@Earth, has told them that they can deliver as much plastics and papers as they can get because the factory is only using 5 to 10 percent of its capacity. Besides this they mention that a larger offer of waste would not lower the prices as minerals will always stay scarce. The factory is around 200 km driving from Kochi.

Vodafone Meeting: August 3, 2011 Contact person: Rajaneesh P R Function: Deputy manager HR Vodafone Eassar Cellular Limited Phone: +91 98467 183 45 / +91 484 2556007 E-mail: rajaneesh.pr@vodafone.com Web: www.vodafone.in Vodafone has its main office of Kerala in Kalamassery (Kochi district) and has a lot of street advertisement that interested us to contact them. Vodafone has already a lot of Corporate Social Responsible initiatives. So does every employer save a certain amount of its salary for ‘Give India’. This is a NGO that hasdifferent projects and each employer can chose what kind of project it wants to support. This initiatives are all driven centrally from Mumbai, but there is space to have local oriented activities as well. So does Vodafone Kalamassery recycle its paper and partly buys recycled paper. It’s called paper for paper where you only need to pay a part of the actual paper price when you return used paper. Besides this they create small cultural programs and provide in food, books, umbrellas etc. for the poor.

Waste is not direct Vodafone’s concern, but they are willing to help to solve this problem. They emphasize that the government should take the initiative and that they should provide win-win situation. So the government should provide in more commercial space and they would use a substantial amount of space for creating awareness. So a campaign as Pune has with Uninor, would be possible in Kochi too. They even don’t think that it should be one company that would get the monopoly to make promotion in combination with waste awareness. As the problem is this big, more companies can join this campaign. He couldn’t answer if there would be room for rivals, as this should be discussed by the board.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 62

University of Amsterdam

Other useful parties Ramesh Nair +91 963 3329736 rameshpknair@gmail.com Ramesh is working at the Corporation of Cochin and is in contact with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) that has done many initiatives in solving environmental issues, also in India. www.gtz.de/en/index2.htm Anu Sivaram +91 994 6487944 anusivaram7@gmail.com www.jnnurm.nic.in/?s=waste She is working as Environment cell officer at the Corporation of Cochin as part of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Dr. Bright Sing +91 944 7631101 bsingh@md3.vsnl.net.in Director & Dean School of Environmental Studies - Cochin University of Science and Technology Cochin This contact is useful for involving in creating awareness. They have their own awareness program about waste as well.

Secret Heart College (Contact person: Dr. Presant) www.shcollege.ac.in KEC (Kerala Environment Congress) Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment http://www.kscste.kerala.gov.in National Environment Awareness Campaign (NEAC) http://www.ddsindia.com/www/neac.htm

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 63

University of Amsterdam

Other contacted big companies in Kochi Area Uninor Telecom provider who has the most important awareness program in Pune nodalofficer.ker@uninor.in appellate-authority.ker@uninor.in

Malabar Gold Big retailer in Gold who makes television commercials that include waste awareness Mr. Amir +91 9745608916 mgernakulam@malabargroup.com Muthoot Finance Big Finance company that has a lot of street promotion on walls and billboards agmadmin@muthootgroup.com Jayalakshmi Big Silk company that has a lot of street promotion on walls and billboards Indian Oil Big Petrochemical company that has a lot of street promotion on walls and billboards. Besides this, they are very active in the Kochi harbor and have a dirty image.

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 64

University of Amsterdam

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 65

University of Amsterdam

11 Father Peter’s plan Suchithwa Bodhana Yajnam (SBY): An action campaign for 15 years for a Clean Ernakulam District Dr. George Peter Pittappillil Director, Renewable Energy Centre, Mithrahdam & Covenor, Suchithwa Bodhana Yajnam

Vision of SBY As we all know, the environment pollution has reached alarming levels affecting us all. The most valuable assets we have in nature such as air, water and earth (food) handed over to us by our ancestors are highly polluted. The consequence is many new diseases, poverty, and unrest during the only life we have here on earth. The pollution problem will never be solved if we all do not put our effort together and work hand in hand as brothers and sisters to save our home, the earth we live in. This is our only common home and each one of us has only one life to live here. We all want a clean, healthy and happy life. Blaming someone else for the cause of all the tragedy and non- action will not solve the problem. What is needed is our own action in whatever little way we can. It is already late but not yet too late . Do or die!

We, a group of people who really see the impending environment and health catastrophe have started a self sacrificing Yajnam named Suchitwa Bodhana Yajnam (SBY) for next 15 years which started with a journey by foot ( Padayathra) through important townships in and around Aluva in Ernakulam district from 1st to 15th January 2011 to meet various groups and organisations in the district to seek their support for a continued self sacrificing action for our environment. We covered nearly 160 kms by foot meeting around 20 thousand people mostly student groups of nearly 25 institutions. The result of the Padayathra was very encouraging and we have decided to continue the Padayathra and various other programmes with an aim to achieve our goal, a clean and healthy Ernakulam district partnering with all organisations and individuals. The entire process will be documented and will be given free of cost to all organisations who are willing to take up such initiatives in other districts in our country.

Renewable Energy Centre, Mithradham (www.mithradham.org ) has taken the initiative for the Yajnam. Rajagiri Outreach belonging to Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kalamassery coordinates the project. The finance is managed by a separate registered charitable trust named Sahrdaya Services and Charities, Kalamassery belonging to Rajagiri institutions.

The funds generated through contributions will be spent for , 1. Strengthening the associating local volunteers and organisations (educational and social institutions) for continued sustainable environment action in their localities.

2. Offering medical help for poor young people affected by environment related diseases.

How to become a partner to SBY Only simple actions are necessary from your side to become a partner to Suchithwa Bodhana Simple actions from your side to become a partner to Suchithwa Bodhana Yajnam (SBY ) - A clean Ernakulam district in 15 years.

1. Clean your house 2. Clean the road frontage in front of your house 3. Cultivate flower plants in your house premises 4. Cultivate at least one vegetable you eat by your own 5. Separate biodegradable and plastic waste in separate cans or buckets.

6. Wash all dirty plastic covers and dry it and keep it in a separate sack after cutting them in to small pieces 7. Compost biodegradable waste RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 66

University of Amsterdam

8. Reduce the use of plastics Reduce the use of chemical in your house 9. Keep your cloths and books away from your sleeping room or keep it in a closed shelf.

10. Reuse the plastic you have, if possible keep 5 separate containers in your house: Bio, paper, plastic, metal, glass and separate your waste.

11. Do not buy from shops which do not keep the surroundings clean.

12. Do not eat from hotels which are not clean, boycott such hotels.

13. Do not accept people who are not clean.

14. Don’t go to houses which are not clean.

15. Tell your friends to cultivate flowers and vegetables 16. Place the flowers produced by you from your garden in front of your most valued pictures in the house 17. Use at least one renewable or energy saving item in your house 18. Support your nearest leading institutions 19. Sponsor prizes for SBY related essay, painting, music, skit, etc. competitions in educational institutions in your neighbourhood.

20. Produce and market eco-products.

21. Produce audio- visual programmes, presentations, articles, quotes, cartoons etc. and circulate to your friends.

We request your suggestions for the real success of this Yajnam which is the realisation of a clean and healthy ““Nalla Ente Nadu, Nalla Nammude Nadu”. We would be happy if your organisation becomes a partner in this movement and work together with us in whatever way you can so that all of us as responsible citizens could strengthen the Kerala Government’s initiative for a Clean Kerala State. A clean Ernakulam District as you know would contribute to the overall development of the district as well as generate income for all the industrial and commercial institutions. The whole process of achieving the cleanliness could become a model for other districts of the country.

Kakkanad

D

Figure 4: Waste problem publicity walk (route of Padayathra)

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 67

University of Amsterdam

12 Publicity 12.1 Article in Malayalam This is a local newspaper in Malayalam (The local language)

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 68

University of Amsterdam

12.2 Article in diverse media

This article is published in diverse media as:    

The New Indian Express Express News Service www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in http://ibnlive.in.com/news/

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 69

University of Amsterdam

13 Personal information, goals and reflection Normal: Statement before leaving Italic: Reflection after the RP experience

13.1 Stijn Bartelink 25 years, master in Economics, specialization: Behavioral Economics & Game Theory, UvA Loves: creativity, literature, travelling Personal introduction I consider myself a seeker, unlimited in the means to find out what my personal destiny is. This sounding a bit pompously, I will try to explain what I mean with this by giving a description of my life so far.

In 2006 I started studying Politics in Amsterdam, being interested in all the ‘great stories’ of mankind throughout history. Interesting as it was, the study was analytically little challenging. I therefore changed to the study of Economics, which is social in nature, but has mere mathematical foundations. A Msc in Game Theory seems to be perfectly combining my interest in human behavior and mathematics. Besides my studies, I have employed a variety of activities to develop myself in a personal way.

I have developed my organizational skills by participating in several committees of my fraternity. This made it possible for me to be a board member of the fraternity throughout the last year, in which I was responsible for (internal and external) written communication. Next to this, I occupied the position of chairman of the Sefa Research Project. Being in India at this very moment gives a feeling of satisfaction: with everyone conducting research in different parts of the country, it was worth all the time and energy we have invested.

From the age of 15, I started to write lyrics and produce electronic music. Throughout the years, I have played in two bands with which I performed a lot of gigs in the Netherlands. Nowadays I still produce electronic music, but instead of writing lyrics, I am focusing primarily on writing poems and short stories.

Like most people participating in this international Research Project, I possess a natural desire to travel and to get to know different cultures. I have explored the European continent extensively for the first time in summer of 2009, when I made a trip through Eastern Europe and Turkey. During spring 2010 I have spent a semester in Lisbon, Portugal, to study some courses in a new environment. This created a desire for more novelty, which lead me to travel throughout the northern part of India during 2010’s monsoon. It was such a stunning experience, that I am already back for more after only one year.

Personal goals 1.

Work to make things work Although travelling is a great way to experience the Indian culture, an even better way to find satisfaction is to use your talents and interests in a constructive way. By carrying out research with regard to the waste management industry, we aim at contributing to the solution of a countrywide social problem. We therefore simply ‘work to make things work’.

We worked, and worked, and worked in Ernakulam. This was not problematic in any sense.

However, we arrived in the middle of an urgent public problem that was visible everywhere.

I realized that it is a complex problem and that working on it, as an outsider that comes in once, is not enough to solve the problem. Time will tell if we actually have worked to make things work.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 70

University of Amsterdam

2.

Contribute in cooperation History has proven that unilateral solutions from the west often are no real solutions in countries with different cultures. We are therefore convinced that there does not exist a general approach to solving a social problem like waste; a solution is to be found in a combination of proven best practices and the Indian status quo. A cooperation with locals, the students from Kochi, is therefore necessary to make our ideas locally applicable.

The cooperation with the Indian students was interesting in every sense of the word. This means, however, that it brings a lot of challenges with it that can get you easily out of the flow of the process. Because of their relatively passive and governable attitude, we sometimes had the impression that we were not working in cooperation, but were instead in charge of the project and telling them what they had to do. This made us realize that we are, either justly or not, inclined to take on projects the way we want to do. While it can be realize to listen more to our fellow researchers.

3.

Learn lessons That sounds simple, doesn’t it? It will probably be the core result of my research activities. Learn how to work with my own colleagues in a different country, learn how to work with people I don’t know, learn how to behave formally in India, learn how to translate all the new experiences into understandable words, learn how to expand this one month project into a continuous sustainable social project. There are simply too many aspects to describe when it comes to learning lessons.

I have learned my lessons. This goal was the most certainly expected goal among all of them, and, indeed, I did learn a lot of lessons.

4.

The chameleon aspect For protective purposes, a chameleon adapts his skin color to the specific environment he lives in. Although there is no need to protect myself, it is of considerable value to adapt myself and my attitude to the environment I will be acting in. I have to adapt to the circumstances and people of Dharavi when visiting Mumbai, while, one day later, I will have to interview an employee of the Punicipal Municipal Corporation. Then, visiting Kochi from the second week onwards, I will have to deal with people from a different ethnic (and cultural) background. The close cooperation with the local students is most likely to ask for a strong personal adaptation. Hopefully these experiences help me in the future in terms of personal flexibility.

Flexibility was present every single day of our research project. This made the project challenging, interesting, and from time to time particularly tough. The Dutch homey surrounding is so much easier to be working in, the environment of India is exhausting and energy consuming at its maximum. But it also gave me a lot of positive energy, referring to all the interesting and passionate people we have met during our adventure.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 71

University of Amsterdam

13.2 Paul van Kekem 28 years, master in Business Studies, specialization: Governance and Valuation (UvA) Loves: cars, playing tennis and (field) hockey, philosophy / politics, to be outside Personal introduction I can typify myself as an optimistic person with a broad range of interests. This is also indicated in my educations. I have finished my applied science degree in Automotive R&D Engineering.

After this study I have made a sidestep to law for a year. And right now I am finishing my master of science degree in Finance.

Between these many library visits, I gave my brains a break in two nice big travels and three foreign experiences as a travel guide for active youth travels (18-28y). The last experience was once in the Alps of Italy, once on Corse (Fr) and once at the western coast of Italy.

My first travel was to South East Asia. Together with my sister I have visited Malaysia, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia and Singapore. After this travel, I wasn’t satisfied anymore to see the world just on the television. I was attached to travel; I wanted to see the world with my own eyes and discover the world with all my other senses as well.

In my second travel I wanted to test myself more, so I decided to go alone. Besides this I wanted to go to a hectic but safe place that couldn’t be compared to another location and what, in my opinion, should be on everybody’s traveling list: India. I can say, as more than 90% of the ones who visited India, I hated India but I loved it more! ‘Incredible India’ is indeed the right slogan for India. I found it in every way, on every moment, on every spot: overwhelming! Having already experienced this and also discovered that it isn’t a real holiday country, I am very curious and exciting how doing business will be like.

I love traveling as somehow, I seem to be more open for unexpected nice happenings and adventures. You just get so much more impresses and experiences when you get out of you daily routine. Because of my travels I can conclude that a job that has very different and changing aspects, so one that test me, I will accelerate the most!

Personal goals 1.

Communicate in an ‘inter-cultural’ way Different cultures have different ways of communicating. In my travels this didn’t cause any problems, but I also didn’t need a lot. For this assignment we have a whole list of questions we would like to research and get answered. In such a setting communication differences can more or the less harm these results. I want to learn to understand communication completely; in such a way that business and other agreements are made as you think they are made.

I discovered that, even when you are aware of communication problems, agreements can be not as clear for the other as I thought in advance. First, I have learned that the closer the social bond, the better you can make agreements. Subsequently, it seems to be that it is also easier to make agreements when the language barriers are small and/or the agreements are stated very strict.

2.

Agree in a ‘non-hierarchic’ way In this assignment we have to research the value chain of waste and make a business model on these results. This business model must describe a new way, a new mind setting for collecting and recycling waste. The Indian people have their own way as we do have our own way right now. In India there are a lot of hierarchic powers that decide who is somehow the ‘boss’ in certain moments. When I visited India I saw that Western people often get such respect automatically. I hope that, in searching for the best way for collecting waste, I can evolve such an hierarchic difference and we could innovate to the best Indian-Western solution for India.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 72

University of Amsterdam

India is still a country where you can notice that ‘white people’ get automatically a certain kind of respect. Although we emphasized constantly to the Indian students that we are students as well, I could discover quite a few moments that they thought we were superior to them. Especially the lack of showing initiatives and ventilating their ideas/views amazed me and couldn’t be dissolved completely during this project. For instance we were all very surprised that one of the Indian Students told us half way the project that she wrote a master thesis about social problems in waste management (a topic that covers 100% our research project). The main thing I’ve learned about this content during this research project, is first that by giving compliment and/or by making jokes together I can vanish hierarchical barriers, and second that I have to ask very specific questions to get the right answer so that I wouldn’t be surprised/miss relevant new information.

3.

Convince in a ‘social-analytic’ way I can imagine that the Indian people think that their system is doing fine (as we are thinking the exact same for our system). So the reason and/or the incentive to change the system do not exist. To explain the goal, the reason, the need etc. you have to explain in a way that everybody can understand; the waste pickers, the collectors and so on. Most of them don’t have educational backgrounds and so I can imagine that their way of thinking is probably more straightforward and based on logics instead of analysis. This must be done in a ‘social-analytic’ way.

Although almost all people we have spoke to did had an education, thus should be educated in a certain way of analytical thinking, my conclusion is that a lot of people don’t want to listen to me because they think that my ideas are too Western and others don’t want to listen but only think or expect that I/we solve their problems. Because of this, it satisfied me when people just listened to our complete story instead of just a part of it and when they asked questions in the end. We got feedback that although our visit/discussion would not always result immediately in actions, but since the government is a big and slow changing ‘person’ these steps are necessary in the complete process to change the waste management system.

4.

Create value in a ‘humanitarian-business’ way I think the current crisis indicated many greedy faults and the most important is to create your most valuable incentive for business: money. As a student at the faculty business and economics I will not indicate it as the least incentive, because for sustainable business their need to be some profits. But profits alone will not create the most out of business. It is already proven that when your human resources are happier, the business is doing better. I want to learn or at least test if this could be extended even further into society. So is it possible, when society (around a business) is happier, will this cause the best results for both the ‘social-business’ and ‘profitbusiness’?

Although I met a lot of stakeholders in the complete waste industry, I cannot conclude that these benefits were already visible in any way.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 73

University of Amsterdam

13.3 Marije Duijn 23 years, Master in Organizational Economics, University of Amsterdam Loves: Playing piano, fashion, travelling Personal introduction My name is Marije Duijn, I’m 23 years old and I’m a Master student in Organization Economics at the University of Amsterdam. I’m a very ambitious person and hard worker. I’d like to get the most out of myself. This attitude is reflected in my extra-curricular activities. Recently I have been working for Reaal Verzekeringen and ING and as a member of Faculty Association Sefa I have organized a conference about Sustainability. Last year I even took a year off from my studies to become a board member of Sefa being responsible for commercial affairs. In this function I’m the contact person for over 80 larger companies in the Netherlands helping recruiters to get in contact with our students. When I’m graduating for my Masters I aspire a job in consulting or sales in an international setting.

In my spare time I love to play the piano. I’m in fond of classical music and Claude Debussy is one of my favorite composers. I’m also a bit of a fashion addict, but my biggest hobby is travelling. I like travelling a lot because I’m interested in the way other people behave in a professional and social context but I also like to see fashion influences all over the world. And the best thing of travelling in my opinion is the culinary experiences because of all the tasteful dishes around the world. After I graduated from pre-University education I have stayed in Boston for half a year to improve my English and in 2010 I was able to do a semester exchange at Hong Kong University. During this period my interest for Asia has grown a lot and this why I’m really looking forward to go to India. I feel very lucky that the ‘Stichting the Pellikaan’ is giving us the opportunity to make this research project happen. In India we will collaborate with Indian students doing research on waste management. I’m very excited to take the challenge and feel like this social responsible project will help to further elaborate my (business) sense of the world.

Personal goals and reflection 1.

Collaborating with Indian students to work on a social responsible project whereby the sum is more than the individual parts ‘Our western ideas regarding waste management will be useful in India but in order to work effectively it is important to obtain the knowledge from Indian students regarding this topic to synergize and combine our powers. I think this can be very interesting. Not only a difference in knowledge but also a difference in culture will help to make this project successful and for me personally this will help acquiring new insights but will require being flexible and open-minded.

It will also involve a lot of teamwork.’

‘Looking back on working with students I have to say it was a little harder than expected due to cultural differences and the learning environment. Because of the learning system in India is based on reproducing information instead of applying knowledge as we learn in the Netherlands the students were very dependent on our ideas. Since the Indian system is also a lot more hierarchical this was also reflected in the education system and resulted in very little initiatives by the students since they were used to follow instructions from higher placed staff members. I think for the students themselves the assignment given was really challenging and I think they were really impressed with our work mentality. For the assignment itself it was useful to have some insight in the waste problem by the Indian students, but their information input was very minimal. The staff members from Rajagiri had some more interesting contacts that were really valuable for our research. It was however really useful to use the students as translators since not everywhere the English language was spoken. For myself working, with the students resulted in being very patient RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 74

University of Amsterdam

and that was sometimes difficult. I did however enjoy their attendance and learned a lot about how they are living in India. I also gained a small cultural shock by working with these students. The two girls we had to work with told us about their marriage system in India and it turned out that they were married off to a partner that was chosen by their parents. For me this was shocking since I knew that these practices were still very common in India, but seeing it happen in real life made it just a bit more realistic. I got a lot of insight in why these practices are still taken place and got more sympathy for it.’

2.

Value our Western standards and wealth ‘This goal might sound rather cliché but I think being in India overall and in specific getting in touch with the circumstances the waste collectors are working in will help myself to value and appreciate our Western luxury and appreciate our governmental regulations. Also discovering the gap between rich and poor in India will help me to value our social welfare system even better.’

‘As already expected I was really glad being back home in the Netherlands after seeing the waste problem in India. I really appreciate our system and the government being involved in improving the situations. The waste system in Holland is actually really well defined and works very well. Before going to India it seemed rather logical to improve the supply chain in Kochi after having seen some best practices in Holland, but having tried to actually take some necessary steps to be a lot harder than expected. The government was a very disturbing factor in improving the situation because it was tied up in red tape and still a lot of corruption was involved. I’m glad we (almost) don’t see these practices in Holland.

I also really value the Netherlands for having man and women to be treated equally. In India it was sometimes difficult to adapt to the situation were women are still belonging to a minority. For example during business meetings mostly the people being interviewed referred to my male partners (Paul and Stijn) and were not so eager in answering my questions. Also when exchanging business cards or shaking hands they were very reluctant in doing this. We also noticed the separation between man and women when going by bus where there were separate seats for man or women. During the night it was actually not done for women to take the bus or walk on the streets even when accompanied by man and this made me feel really awkward sometimes. I was really glad when being back in Holland that I could do whatever I wanted and I appreciated my freedom a lot better.’

3.

Helping people without having a self-interest ‘In the Western society individualism is growing rapidly. People are only working for themselves and it is sometimes rare to find people that will help other people without having self-interest. In India collectivism is much more common and I think it will be very interested to see the differences. For me it is important to be able to help people that will not be in my personal benefit. I hope I will for example be able to help waste collectors to improve their health situation and provide them with better working circumstances.’

‘Although we haven’t really been able to help people by means of providing them with material, we did however felt appreciated by the community a lot when we announced to try to improve the situation. We received a lot of positive feedback and this has really stimulated us in working even harder. I feel really glad for taken the opportunity to work for a good cause.‘ 4.

Providing a business model that will be sustainable in the long-run I hope working for this research project will allow myself to put my theoretical business knowledge into practice. After returning in the Netherlands I hope my business knowledge have been sufficient enough to improve the current supply chain for waste management and will allow our team to build up a model that will be sustainable for a longer period of time that will benefit especially the lower class in India.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 75

University of Amsterdam

Looking back on this goal I think I can proudly say to have accomplished some suitable business plans. I also felt that I could see some famous business examples into practice. For example during my time studying at the University of Amsterdam I have done many cases on companies who built up a subsidiary abroad, but often failed miserably due to cultural differences they didn’t take account for. I think because of these examples I was more aware of the potential pitfalls that could come up along the way. At some stages of our research it did actually happen that our Western ideas were too progressive for the local Indian environment and at these times I always reminded my self towards these typical mistakes.

For example we were often asked by companies or institutions to visit their production plant after already talking to them. Normally I would see this as sufficient enough but from cultural trainings about India I knew that their values towards building on relationships are very important in getting things done. So although we had to be very patient we did see the benefits of putting a lot of effort in building relationships.

5.

Experiencing a fast growth paced Economy With Europe and the United States losing their world most powerful continent status it is now turning in the hands of Asia to become world’s leader. With China and India as leading countries I think it can be very interested to see why this change in powers is happening. Having experienced the economic growth in China already I would like to see the differences between China and India and see how Asia as a whole is able to become such important economical power and what causes this might have for Europe in the future.

For me it was actually surprising that so many western companies are seeing India as the new economic power because when being in India itself you would not say they are growing so rapidly. When comparing this to China for example there are also a lot of differences in for example work ethics. In India everybody is really laid back, while in China everybody is working very hard. I know now that in India a lot of things are possible and especially private companies who are willing to invest are very welcome in the country. In China the government is taking a lot bigger role in taking up Foreign Direct Investment possibilities. I think it would be interesting to see how India would look like after 10 years from now.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 76

University of Amsterdam

13.4 Krishna S. Priya 24 years, Single, Indian/Kerala Loves: Playing Chess, Listening to music, Reading books, Poetry writing, Cooking Master of Social Work (MSW) - (Rajagiri College, Ernakulam, 2009-2011) Bachelor of English Language and Literature - (Sanatana Dharma College, Alappuzha, Kerala) Family Background My family consists of parents and one younger brother. Parents are retired from Kerala Government service and brother doing diploma in civil engineering Benefits through MSW After my graduation in English literature I planned to do my master degree also in the same subject. But my mother was working in the social welfare department and she inspired me to take social work in my master degree. During the two years of master degree I could work among different kinds of people and visit institutions like Children’s Home, Old Age Home, Hospitals, Dedication Centers, Counseling Centers, Special Schools, Colleges, Orphanages, Rehabilitation Centers, Protection Homes, Short Stay Homes, Family Courts, Social Work Agencies etc. As a part of our course I could conduct medical camps, awareness programs like classes, street plays, theme shows, tableau, etc based on various issues and we could promote kitchen garden also.

Experience With The Amsterdam Waste Management Project Through this project I could:  Know about a new, effective and successful technology of waste management  Understand the current scenario in Kerala, especially in various districts and municipalities  Interact with the government officials and know their opinions  Visit various municipalities and the waste dumping yards  Interact with the people in Self Help Groups  Understand more how dangerous the current situation is and how much ineffective the current waste management system Experience With The Amsterdam University Students It was a very good experience with my three friends from Amsterdam University. I could learn a lot of new things because of them. Because when we visit different places, through the interaction with officials and working people we could learn the current waste management system, effectiveness, drawbacks etc.

They are very patient, understanding and energetic. I am really glad for being a part of this group and I really appreciate their noble goal. The past two weeks was a good experience and I really enjoyed our activities.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 77

University of Amsterdam

13.5 Hridya K. Dileep 22 years, Single, Indian/Kerala Loves: Listening to music, playing Shuttle (Badminton), Singing, Dancing Masters in Social Work (MSW) - (Rajagiri College, Kalamaserry, Kochi) Graduation in Sociology - (Sacred Heart’s College, Thevara, Kochi) Family Background: My family consists of parents and a younger brother. My father is a businessman; mother a home maker and my only brother who is now at kinder garden.

Experience with the students of Amsterdam University: I am really glad to get the opportunity to be a part in this project of waste management with the students from Amsterdam University.

I did my dissertation during post graduation on ‘awareness of students on waste management’ thus I find this experience more interesting as I am getting an opportunity to know more about the waste management issues in Kerala. I was able to put my contributions in this area with my past experience from field and also problems faced due to waste as a citizen of India.

The interaction with the students of Amsterdam let me understand new technologies for managing waste which I think is the main trouble which Keralites are undergoing. The administrating authority at Kerala are facing a critical situation, do not have any idea on how to get rid of (manage) the plastic waste.

The students of Amsterdam are really doing a good job. I really appreciate their initiative at this younger age for taking up this topic as their interest area and working hard to put their best, even for focusing on Kerala (Kochi). I feel great to get the opportunity to meet the mayor of Kochi which is not an easy task which was a wonderful experience and also interact with the chairpersons of various municipalities in Kerala and know the issues faced by them in the waste management area and also know what they are doing with waste now. It was really interesting to note that all the chairpersons were expressing their whole hearted support towards this project.

I really have got a good time with them, able to understand what the cultural and attitude differences are of the people in India and abroad. I could learn many things about Amsterdam as well as waste management system of theirs. It was only when they keep on having many queries of things around in Kerala when I came to realize that my knowledge of my own state is very poor and really felt it is necessary to know all those stuff. There were many instances where I felt embarrassed of my ignorance and that urged in me the desire to have a depth of knowledge of all those stuff and improve my habit of updating myself. I could feel the value you people give for each and every seconds in life and being punctual, where only very few are there in Kerala who are very serious about keeping time. Time management is the toughest thing which I felt which we have to keep at first as part of keeping professionalism which most of them are failing to follow here.

I conclude here by putting my estimation that if we could succeed in bringing this project on action its really going to be a real mark of development in a country like India. Even if Kerala is said to be the ‘Gods own country’ which was really beautiful with greenery and backwaters at one time; its condition is really found to be pathetic by covered with harmful waste now which need to be changed to bring back Kerala its lost heritage. So we can put hands together in the journey of making Kerala a waste free city.

Thank you friends for your heartfelt support and contribution for us!

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 78

University of Amsterdam

13.6 Justin Joseph 24 years, Indian/Kerala, Christian, Farmer.

Loves: Painting and story writing.

Pursuing Bachelors Degree in Social Work – Rajagiri College, Mahatma Gandhi University Plus two – St. Xavier’s vocational Higher Secondary School, Kuruppanthara, Kerala State Higher Secondary board 2008 SSLC -Emmanuel’s Higher secondary School 2005 Internship field experience and achievements I am very glad to work with Amsterdam university students in the three weeks internship program about the waste management. First I am very happy with our team work and collaboration, specially thanks for Amsterdam university students, this internship program helped to know, the importance of waste management in current situation especially in Kochi.

This internship should give me a good spirit in clean Kochi and this program helped to identify the NGO’s are working for waste management .I could understand their functioning. I believe this internship program should help my professional development and I will try to make some changes in society through by my profession.

Gained skills - Communication - Reporting - Presentation - Event Management Individual strengths - Ability to work under pressure and meet organization goals - Excellent Time Management & Interpersonal skills - Ability to be a good team player and display adequate leadership qualities - Ability to critically evaluate and take effective decisions - Good in analytical skills Areas of interest: AIDS/HIV , waste management ,Social Work for Urban Adolescents, School Social Work, Research, Human Resource Development, Crisis Intervention, Event Management, Student Counseling, Food Security issues, Environment Protection, Gender Issues Personal highlights: - Skill in computer application - Work well independently and as a team member - Ambitious, Hardworking and committed to Excellence - Ability to work efficiently in a multi cultural team environment - Highly motivated dependable, ready to accept new challenges and responsibilities Research A study on the influence of Kudumbashree on the socio economic condition and quality of family life of women in Cheranelloore Panchayat.

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 79

University of Amsterdam

14 Realized budget This will be given soon.

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 80

University of Amsterdam

15 Photo impression

Photo 1: The whole team f.l.t.r. Shaju (our car pooler), Mr. Antoni, Hridya, Stijn, Justin, Marije, Paul and Krishna.

Photo 2: The Indian Students

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 81

University of Amsterdam

Photo 3: Segregation in Delhi

Photo 4: Waste collectors in Kochi

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 82

University of Amsterdam

Photo 5: Segregation in Dharavi

Photo 6: Disassembling in Dharavi

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 83

University of Amsterdam

Photo 7: The Hub of Plan@Earth

Phofo 8: Eloor composting plant

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 84

University of Amsterdam

Photo 9: Eloor waste collectors hub

Photo 10: Pune waste collectors hub

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 85

University of Amsterdam

Photo 11: Kalamassery plastic recycling factory

Photo 12: Eloor Dumping ground

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 86

University of Amsterdam

Photo 13: Brahmapuram entree

Photo 14: Brahmapuram – composting machine

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 87

University of Amsterdam

Photo 15: Bin system at the boulevard of Kochi

Photo 16: Gasification unit for households of Rajagiri

Photo 17:

Photo 18: The vermicompost bins (mainly for flats) of Credai

The vermicompost pots for households of Credai

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 88

University of Amsterdam

Photo 19: Solar driven center of Renewable Energy Center Mithradham

Photo 20: Father Peter next to his solar cooking system and his vegetable gardens in the back

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 89

University of Amsterdam

Photo 19: Awareness campaign Mumbai

Photo 20: Awareness campaign Pune

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 90

University of Amsterdam

Photo 21: The Stakeholder conference at the Kerala Chamber of Commerce

Photo 22: Ms. David in front of the house where we could stay

RP 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A remedy for Kochiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste Menace

Page 91

University of Amsterdam

16 Flyer network meeting and auction in Amsterdam

Waardevol Waste (‘Valuable waste’ in English) was organized in collaboration with BackPicture at November 27, 2011.

(All invited guest were from The Netherlands and so the text on the flyer is Dutch)

RP 2011 – A remedy for Kochi’s waste Menace

Page 92