On solid waste management, especially waste segregation, our metros must take a cue from smaller towns like Karjat and Suryapet where able leadership is driving micro-planning and implementation—and this is something that c
A promising R&D effort at safe metal recovery and separation within India is unable to take-off for want of long-pending consent/approval from a State Pollution Control Board for furnacing trials. A rapidly growing e-waste cr
With multiple sets of Rules and weak capacity for enforcement, it is not surprising that the situation on the ground remains bleak, particularly since the awareness of the hazard among those who generate the waste and those w
The ministry of environment & forests and the Central Pollution Control Board should swing into action immediately to issue guidelines on capping of dumpsites, taking account of health, environment and financial perspectives.
As pressures of urbanisation lead to greater concretisation in our cities, we need to work harder to rejuvenate our urban water bodies, use parks and green spaces for rainwater harvesting.
Dhaka has a lot to teach our megacities since it has one of the worst vulnerabilities to water of any urban setting in the world, and is handling it in an inclusive manner which is also financially sustainable.
KPCL will be buying treated sewage water—at the moment, used to recharge Jakkur Lake—for a power plant that is to come up in Yelahanka. Making repatriation of the water after its has been cooled down a part of the EIA for
I strongly feel that the basic fault lies with the middle and upper income classes, who ought to recognise their critical role in the solid waste management chain and live up to it
A sustainable way forward is to minimise consumption of disposable/single use plastic items, create awareness about the use of appropriate grade of plastic for different purposes, and emphasise the importance of recycling and
If the mountains of waste from our cities were to be recycled into road construction material, it would tackle the problem of managing waste while freeing up scarce land
City compost from biodegradable municipal solid waste will simultaneously clean up our cities and improve agricultural productivity and soil quality of our farms
We must worry when politicians across party lines play politics with the finances of our cities, especially since the current sources of revenue of municipalities in India are grossly inadequate for discharging their Constitu
The SDMC has announced that it will be mandatory from April 1 for all hotels and restaurants in its jurisdiction to open their toilets to the public and has given them the option of charging up to R5 per use of the toilet.
Emission control filters of very high standard are needed in Waste-to-energy plants to check the release of harmful gases into the atmosphere. Continuous monitoring and sharing the information openly with the public is also n
I have been unbundling the challenge of handling the garbage that we produce as a society. The response has to begin with the segregation of the solid waste at source (be it households or commercial establishments), and go on
Few people realise how close we are to being choked by our own garbage! The generation of garbage in our cities has been growing and the projections in the years ahead are frightening.
It is no surprise that although the Indian economy has grown rapidly since 2003-04, there has not been a corresponding evolution of vibrant metropolitan regions
The unwillingness of the system to devolve responsibility and funding to the city level is a major failure. Alongside Amrut and the Smart Cities Mission, we need to urgently spell out the dimensions of institutional reform
