WasteVentures.org

We recently passed the two year mark of our existence which made me ponder both our impact and the state of solid waste management. Three observations come to mind:

• What we are trying to do resonates with society, with government officials, and with waste picker organizations. We are clearly on to something here. It takes 2 seconds for anyone living in India to understand the order of magnitude of the problem and that the status quo is not working. The same (much to my initial surprise) is true of municipalities who also understand the current system is not working and are looking for a solution. We were especially thrilled when former India Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh endorsed our solution as a proactive way to both change the system and employ waste pickers. Waste picker groups similarly realize their livelihood is threatened and a new commercial approach is needed. Agitation or small-scale employment with existing contractors is a temporary measure at best. As a testament to the power of the idea, we were able to create the first waste picker-inclusive integrated solid waste management contract in India. As an even greater testament to the idea, the work was done brilliantly with over 3000 tons of waste being collected including the backlog. We also see other waste picker groups joining us and shifting to a commercially-oriented model that environmentally processes waste to sell the by-products.

• That having been said, we’ve also realized one can’t win playing by the current broken rules of solid waste management. To go through a tender process is timely, costly, and rarely decided on merits of the bidders. The key skill required to be successful in the process is not a strong track record of proper solid waste management but a knack for bidding on government contractors. We have gone up against everyone from equipment providers to armed guard contractors! Even if one successfully navigates the tender process and are doing an excellent job, seldom is one able to keep the position for very long – often due to political interference in payment. This is why we’ve made two critical changes in our model. First, we’ve figured out a way to create an even more profitable model than the status quo that does not require municipal payment – thus avoiding the tender process all together. Second, we created a methodology to determine the minimum viable product of integrated solid waste management in any new opportunity – learning quickly and avoiding heavy capital expenditure until we know the model that will work.
• Local relationships are critical Especially in small towns – having a trusted individual/ organization with the town officials and people breaks down barriers to public collaboration while also keeping a good pulse on any funny business. While we learned this the hard way in Osmanabad, we’ve created a joint venture with Basix in Madhya Pradesh and are exploring opportunities with an upstanding local businessman in Kerala.

No doubt a challenging process – but we look forward to changing the way garbage is handled first in India and then all over the emerging world!