Noida Ventures into Zero Garbage Plan

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The unique effort brings together the municipal authority, corporates and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in their commitment to ensure zero-waste and garbage dumping in more than a dozen sectors of the Delhi suburb Noida. 

Over a dozen sectors in Noida are expected to take up a ‘zero-waste’

approach from now onwards and the initiative is becoming an inspiration for many residential areas in the Delhi NCR region. 

“The Noida Authority, with support from some corporate houses and residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) , has been able to cover 16 sectors so far and has provided them with bio compost machines for the purpose,” reported English daily Times of India recently. 

The media report further says that the machines are priced between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 1 crore each and they are being put to use to process wet and horticulture waste. 

Of the 16 machines, two are installed in Sector 34 and 37 are of higher capacity. The infrastructure put in place will not just be aimed at ensuring a zero-garbage solution. They are also capable of generating biogas for domestic and commercial use.

“Noida Authority officials said that the two plants can produce renewable energy from food, garden and municipal waste. The cost of these two plants, installed in sector 34 and 37 in Noida, is much higher and so we have installed them in sectors that produce more waste,” said Avinash Tripathi, officer on special duty to Times of India.

He added that the two plants can each process 2,000-kg of waste daily.

“The other 14 sectors have been provided with composting machines or organic waste converters. Their prices range between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 60

lakh depending on the processing capacity. These machines are equipped to deal with food waste and can generate compost within 24 hours to 48 hours,” the report further said.

The key sectors that are covered by the plan are sector 8, 30, 34, 37, 52, 56 and 71. The Noida authority also plans to cover more than 25 locations in the times to come under the same plan. 

The rolling out of the waste management infrastructure has been done by the Noida authority as per the rankings of the RWAs and colonies registered with it. The authority maintains a comprehensive criterion to categorize the localities under it on the basis of the cleanliness and waste management habits of the area. 

The authority had invited entries from RWAs and apartment complexes seeking to install waste management infrastructure in their locality. Noida Authority also plans to soon start surveys to find out the waste generation scenario at various colonies. At present there are around 130 RWAs registered with the Noida authority.

Yogendra Sharma, president of federation of RWAs in Noida has told Times of India that installation of composting machines and biogas plants has

paved the way for RWAs to better their rankings. The machines are being run and maintained by RWAs and are providing a zero-waste approach.

The newspaper report says that almost 90% of funds for the machines have been generated by Noida authority and by some companies under corporate

social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The remaining 10% is being pooled in by the residents. The compost generated from the plants is being used to maintain the green belts and parks within the neighborhood. Electricity charges are being borne by the authority as of now.

Meanwhile, a Down to Earth magazine report on the state of Organic Waste Processing machines says that there are policy level additions which need to be accomplished urgently to ensure that the waste processing is done in a smooth manner. 

The report says that one of the major loopholes is that the technology does not find mention in the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 or in the Advisory on On-Site and Decentralized Composting of Municipal Organic Waste, issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 2018.  The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in February 2016 notified the Policy on Promotion of City Compost which makes it mandatory for all big offices, schools, hotels, housing complexes and municipal corporations to convert their wet waste into compost.

But in the absence of guidelines, claims by manufacturers have become the standard and there are no national level policies to ensure quality of the waste processing machines.