Don’t trash waste, they create jobs

There is a way to create about 10 jobs per tonne of waste on an average. How do you do it? Wilma Rodrigues, founder and CEO of Saahas Zero Waste, a city-based social enterprise reveals the strategy...

Enforce the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016; take a decentralised approach to help cities convert 90% of waste generated to resources by integrating nature, people and technology. Jobs, says Rodrigues, will come up for both qualified, tech-savvy professionals who would develop technology and processes, and for people with low academic backgrounds required for daily operations.

How can this work in Bengaluru, which generates about 5,700 tonnes of Municipal Solid waste everyday across 198 BBMP wards?

The solid waste management rules mandate that all wet waste be processed through composting or bio gas. “In Bangalore 60% or 4,500 tonnes of wet waste is generated every day. A decentralised system would require that each ward builds capacities for management of 10-15 tonnes of wet waste per day,” Rodrigues explains.

She makes the job-connect: “Indian entrepreneurs have developed a wide variety of solutions which are now available as products thus creating jobs not just at research and manufacturing level but also in sales, marketing and maintenance of these technology based solutions.”

Managing dry waste could also trigger job creation. Currently, Bengaluru generates around 1,200 tonnes of dry waste as a mixture of paper, plastics, metal, and glass. Various recycling technologies and co-processing options now exist to manage huge volumes of this waste.

The message is clear: Jobs will emerge from intensive operations around logistics, secondary sorting, compacting, aggregation and dispatch to specific destinations, all processes required to deliver the recyclable waste to the right destination. “Over and above, jobs would also be created at the recycling facilities that would need senior managers as well as operators who will run the facilities,” she explains.

Waste as a physical material would require a hands on approach to manage day-to-day operations which are very intensive. “Typically, 10-12 people are required per tonne to manage the logistics and processing of the waste. Jobs opportunities also include analytics and data capture as IOT and blockchain technologies so as to ensure optimal efficiency in running the system.”

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