Pollution control officials brainstorm on challenges of solid waste management

Speaking at the technical session on Pollution and Waste Management Policy perspectives (specifically on Solid Waste Management and Bio-Medical Waste) at the Regional Conference on Environment 2016, Misra said the board doesn’t have enough personnel to implement the gamut of recommendations specified by the SWM Rules. 

“The SWM Rules are quite futuristic. But the people who are supposed to implement them have their own problems. There are issues of capacity building, creating awareness and the citizens too are not acquainted with the idea. The Rules specify that waste must be segregated, waste pickers involved in the system and bring in all the technology, apart from other specifications. We have the pollution control board with 700 people, 200 vacancies to be filled. Many personnel are a part of the judicial system, attending court for cases. That leaves hardly 200300 people, who must oversee all this, as well as keep a tab on the hospitals. All this is a huge amount of activity and we need to do a lot of capacity building. That is the dilemma of the executives today,” he said. 

K Sajeevan, Chairman of Kerala Pollution Control Board, said these rules should be a part of the school curriculum. “The best part about the new rules is that the responsibilities are clearly mentioned and individuals are held accountable. From the perspective of a generator and disposer, there is a need for better awareness to ensure implementation of these rules. In addition, to ensure these rules are smoothly implemented, it should be introduced at the curriculum at school level to create awareness,” said the executive. 

Dr Phani Kumar, Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board, pointed out the need for inter-departmental capacity building and a massive promotional campaign. “The department making the rules is different from those implementing. So, we need capacity building between various departments. Since citizens too are included, there is a need to create awareness through a media campaign,” he added.

Dr Babu, Chairman of Puducherry Pollution Control Committee said, the problem occurs in the disposal. “While waste collection has ensured employment opportunities, our weakest link is disposal. We are having difficulty in identifying a dump yard. Nobody wants a dump yard in their neighbourhood. In addition, funds and resource allocation too is a challenge,” he concluded.