Waste Ventures is working with several partners to process waste in South Eastern Maharashtra. The collaboration started in Osmanabad in January 2011 with the goal of establishing a waste picker corporation capable of environmentally handling the garbage for 20 cities and towns in the region.
Situation: Osmanabad
From the spring to automn of 2011 we executed a project in Osmanabad, located in the south eastern corner of the state of Maharashtra. The city itself has approximately 180 000 inhabitants and is located around 6 hours from Mumbai. In total there are around 20 tons of garbage generated each day in the city and currently all of it is dumped in an open landfill. Furthermore, we assess that there is a significant amount of garbage currently not being collected through primary collection – meaning it’s left to fester, causing health risks and providing breeding ground for mosquitos.
In the city itself there are around 250 waste pickers who live under very basic conditions, are persecuted and denied access to the means of their livelihood – waste & recyclables.
Expected outcomes
Through Waste Ventures intervention, we aimed to establish a Waste Picker Corporation which would operate throughout the Osmanabad district and, in the long-run, neighboring areas. The Waste Picker Corporation would establish primary collection, improved recycling and processing of organic waste through composting. This would lead to the following impacts:
- Improved waste picker livelihood: Waste Pickers would be employed by the Waste Picker Corporation, earning a secured salary as well as additional benefits. Also, through providing more equitable access to recycling markets their revenue from waste picking can be further increased.
- Reduction in green house gas (GHG) emissions: Through composting of organic waste materials we can ensure a reduction of at least 250 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
- Improved community health: By ensuring improved primary collection, less waste is left uncollected meaning reduced health risks from waste blocking drains or providing breeding ground for mosquitos.
News
- 2011-10-01 Work stopped
Due to delinquency of the municipality in paying out funds for the service the work was stopped. However, several valuable lessons was drawn from the project which has now been incorporated into our operations. During the project we were able to bring the costs below the 7.75 lakh per month that had been stipulated, collecting 26 tons of waste per day. - 2011-05-10 Work order signed
The work-order was signed between the municipality and Jan Seva who will be partnering with Waste Ventures to set-up and organize a waste picker co-operative covering an inital 140 waste pickers, performing collection for most of the city as well as processing waste to produce compost, biomass briquettes and performing recycling. - 2011-03-21 Tender floated
The tender for creating a waste management company was floated and local NGOs and self-help-groups (SHGs) were invited to participate. Waste Ventures supported the municipality in preparing the tender as well as evaluating partners and bids.