Solid
Waste
Mgmt.

Introduction to Ajmer

Ajmer is the 5th largest city in Rajasthan and is situated in the geographical centre of the state. It is the district headquarters of Ajmer district and also acts as the transit point between important tourist destinations like Jaipur- Jodhpur and Jaipur- Udaipur. It has a good connectivity with the surrounding settlements and major cities in India, through highways and rail linkages crossing the area. Ajmer is linked with other parts of the district and state as well as by NH 8, NH 79, NH 89 and other roads connecting Ajmer to other towns and cities.

A case study for
Ward No’ 60
Ajmer, Rajasthan

For carrying out the onground activities under the project, a pilot area was selected in Ajmer in consultation with the Ajmer Municipal Corporation with an aim to carry out a detailed study and interventions at a small scale and if found appropriate, the same may be replicated by the Municipal Corporation in other parts of the city. Ward No. 60 was selected as a pilot area in Ajmer. The total population of ward number 60 is 9714 i.e. 2% of the total population of Ajmer. The ward comprises of 3100 households and the total area of the ward is 266.49 ha.

Location of study area
Rajasthan City Map

Glimpses from SWM sector - Ajmer

Phase1

What is
happening in
the city?

Through engagement
with the Government

This phase starts by data collection from the Municipal Corporation and other para-statal bodies to understand the City Baseline for rapid assessment. It focusses on understanding perception of the government officials from various departments involved in the sector; and captures the views of political representatives about the existing condition and proposed requirements of the city with respect to the chosen problem area.

Interactions with members of the core committee, Municipal & parastatal officials, political representatives- Honourable Mayor, Councillor of the study area are also the major component of this phase.

City
Profile

This section includes an overview of the information of city including its geographical area, population, socio economic features, basic landuse profile and institutional arrangement of the agencies involved in infrastructural development for the city. This information will help in understanding the city baseline.

Sector
Snapshot

It discusses the existing condition of the identified sector in the city in terms of infrastructure availability, on going schemes, usage of smart applications, etc. This information will help in making a rapid assessment of the sector for the city.

Existing
LOS

It discusses the level of service in the city to understand infrastructure gaps.

Sectoral
Analysis

This section identifies the existing conditions and vision of the city under various probable aspects. These results would be integrated with the results of stakeholder analysis before arriving at recommendations.

Category Priority
(1-7)
Existing scenario of the city Where the city wants to be in next 5 years Initiatives that will move the city in line with its vision
Household Coverage 1 The intentions of the Municipal Authority are to cover the entire city area in Door to Door waste collection but due to geographical and other hindrances like limited space for the waste collection vehicle, hilly terrain etc. the coverage under door to door waste collection is limited Maximum coverage through Door to Door waste collection and involvement of all stakeholders in the waste collection system Awareness through IEC activities, inclusion of modern vehicles, waste compactors to increase the capacity of waste depot.
Efficiency of Waste Collection 2 Though the collection of waste is done smoothly in most parts of the city, but due to geographical and other hindrances at some parts of the city the waste collection efficiency is below 100%. Improvement of the waste collection in the problamatic areas through different means like handkarts and all. Awareness , use of modern vehicles, increading the coevrage through door to door waste colleciton.
Complaint Redressal 3 The city has an effective online greviance system, telephonic system and app based system of complaint redressal for solid waste management. The complaints are addressed within stipulated time period. The city also has mobile applications for sending complains to the Municipal Corporation Reduction of Complaints and further improving the complaint redressal time. Reduction of Complaints and further improving the complaint redressal time.
Segregation 4 There is no organised and scientifically planned segregation of MSW at household level or at community level. Sorting of waste is only done by the unorganised sector and hardly practised by the waste producers. Rag pickers delve into the collection of plastics, glass, paper and other recyclables from the community bins and the open dump sites and sell them to the scrap dealers in the city. To implement the waste segregation at source level. Promoting the segregation through the IEC activities, and pilot projects at ward level.
Scientific Disposal 5 Most of the city waste is collected and disposed without segregation (mixed waste) in the open dumping ground. Scientific disposal of waste by development of sanitary landfill site. Development of sanitary landfill site.
Waste Recovery 6 There is limited waste recovery and processing and the waste is dumped in the open sites without treatment. Development of recycling and waste processing facility. Collection of segregated source, material recovery facility and development of processing facility.
Cost Recovery 7 Since there is no waste recovery in the city, hence cost recovery is also negligible Implementation of different categories of User Fee chargeson Door to Door waste collection and revenue from the sale of compost, RDF and recovered material for recycling. Implementation of different categories of User Fee chargeson Door to Door waste collection and revenue from the sale of compost, RDF and recovered material for recycling.
Phase2

What are the
aspirations of
the city?

Through engagement
with citizens

This phase initiates discussion about the perception of citizens. The respondents consulted here should include wide range of stakeholders to ensure inclusivity. The results from this section would help the Municipal bodies to identify the importance of various services to the people and also strategize their work.

Interactions were held with the residents of ward 60 along with scrap dealers, sweepers, door to door waste collection teams

Identified
Stakeholders

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6-7
Ragpicker

Though unorganised, but the rag pickers are an important part of the waste management chain.

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5-6
Scrap Dealers

Deal with the waste recycling sector

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5
D2D Waste collection team

Help the municipal corporation for waste collection

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39
Sweapers

Deal with waste collection from streets, drains etc.

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15
Shop Keapers

Contribute to the waste generated in the ward

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120
Hindu Household

In order to have inclusivity various communities have been surveyed as they have different food habits

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65
Muslim Household

In order to have inclusivity various communities have been surveyed as they have different food habits

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20-25
Other households

In order to have inclusivity various communities have been surveyed as they have different food habits

Objectives

  • To understand the existing waste management system in the ward and to study its impact on the end users.
  • To understand the problems/ issues faced by various stakeholders involved in the waste collection of the ward ex- problems associated with regard to handling waste, lack of equipment etc.
  • To identify the areas which face major problems due to improper waste collection, segregation etc
  • To understand the waste generation of various communities depending upon their food habits and the practices adopted by them in waste disposal
  • To identify the quality and quantity of waste generated from the ward.
  • To identify health issues if any faced by the workers dealing with solid waste

Stakeholder
Analysis

Analysis of the Primary survey highlighting general perceptions of the citizens and the issues associated with the sector are discussed in this section.

General Insights on
Solid Waste
Management.

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Rag Pickers

Though unorganised, but the rag pickers are an important part of the waste management chain.

As per the survey results, about 33% rag pickers are involved in the same work along with their families.

About half the percentage of workers fall sick every 3-4 months. None of them use any of kind of protective gears such as masks, gloves etc for their safety.

About 33% of the rag pickers feel the behavior of people towards them is rude and doubtful.

A significant number of the rag pickers don’t feel competition from others in their work and earn an amount of Rs. 400/ day.

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Sweepers

It is observed that the daily income of sweepers is only Rs. 220. About 44% of them are also involved in other works.

Most of the sweepers (85%) are satisfied with the behavior of people towards them.

Burning of plastics in the area is strictly banned- with the efforts done by the Municipal Councilor.

Most of the sweepers (81%) do not use protective gears such as gloves, masks etc and 63% of them fall sick in six months.

Most of the sweepers (78%) face problems because of lack of equipment provided to them by the Municipal Corporation- ex- brooms etc

56% of the sweepers also have their families in the same profession.

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Households

As per the survey results, about 39% of the households are residing in the ward since more than 10 years and about 37% since last 5 years and 90% of the surveyed families own the houses in the ward.

Maximum percentage of households have private jobs (47%) as their source of income followed by contractual and labour works (27%)

More than half the percentage of surveyed households are non vegetarians.

About 57% of the surveyed households still use polythene bags, though 99% agree that cloth bags can easily replace polythene bags.

Almost all people are of the view that they are able to approach the ward councilor easily who updates them about the status of on going and news works.

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Commercial Areas

As per the survey results, about 46% of the shops in the wards are existing from more than 1 year but less than 5 years.

Most of the shops in the ward open at 8:00 AM and shut down around 10:00 PM as maximum percentage of shops deal with eating business.

A significant percentage of shopkeepers believe that a strengthened solid waste management system is required for controlling the adverse impact of solid waste on the water bodies in Ajmer.

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D2D Waste collection team

Most of the members of the team (83%) do not face any health issue due to their continuous involvement in SWM sector. They also feel that the attitude of people towards them is good.

About 40% of the members fall sick once a year and remaining 60% fall sick once in 6 months.

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Scrap Dealers

The daily income of scrap dealer is less than Rs. 500/ day and no body in their team use safety equipment like masks, gloves etc to handle solid waste.

General Insights on
Waste
Collection.

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Rag Pickers

It is observed that about 67% rag pickers have been involved in the collection of scrap from more than 5 years.

A significant percentage i.e. 83% of the rag pickers visit the waste depots daily for collecting waste, only 17% of them get the waste directly from the people.

Waste depot at Mittal hospital is the major depot from where they get maximum waste and are able to collect 20 kg waste per day.

There are instances where the rag pickers are also able to find bio medical waste mixed with the municipal waste.

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Scrap Dealers

It is observed from the survey that about 50% of the scrap dealers have been in the same business since more than 10 years.

More than half the percentage (67%) of scrap dealers have 2-5 team members in the business but none of them are involved in rag picking for waste collection.

They receive maximum percentage of waste i.e. between 50 to 100 kg from door to door waste collection team twice a week.

About 50% of the scrap dealers receive waste from within 5 km distance.

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Sweepers

It is observed that about 44% of the sweepers are involved in sweeping between 1-5 years.

The work area is fixed for about 67% of the sweepers and more than half of the percentage (52%) of the sweepers work for about 4-5 hours per day, while 30% work for 5-6 hours and about 18% sweepers also work for more than 6 hours.

About 81% of the sweepers dump their waste near containers, 11% make a heap in the open, while some also dump in the drain.

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D2D Waste collection team

It is observed that about 50% of the door to door waste collection team members work for about 5-6 hours in the ward and 33% work for more than 6 hours.

As per the survey, in case the labour is on leave then 67% of the drivers proceed for waste collection without the labour.

In case the audio system is not working about 67% of the drivers use whistles and 33% ring the door bells to collect waste from households.

Most of the labourers (67%) are working since less than a year in the team.

All the vehicles are stopped between 3-4 houses to collect the waste and all the vehicles take two rounds upto the depot to dump the waste daily.

About 33% DTD waste collection team members face issues due to non functioning of vehicles

DTD team also receives scrap directly from the people while collecting the waste.

It is observed that the sweepers cover an area of about 200-300 meters daily and the door to door waste collection team covers more than 200 houses daily.

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Households

It is observed from the survey that about 79% of the households give their waste to door to door collection team, 17% dump in the municipal bins, few throw in the open drains and about 1% households burn the waste.

About 74% of the households feel that the waste thrown in open is collected by the sweeper in a day.

78% of the households are of the view that the DTD waste collection vehicle comes daily, and about 70% of them do not face any problem related to waste management. While 12% households face problem because of inappropriate timings of the vehicle and 6% households feel that the vehicle does not stops at proper place for waste collection.

About 50% of the households face problem because of the waste dumped on the streets, drains etc because it blocks the drains, causes foul smell, health issues etc.

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Commercial Areas

It is observed that incase the DTD waste collection team does not comes for waste collection, then 67% of the households keep the waste in their premises till the next day and 33% households throw it in the open.

General Insights on
Waste
Segregation.

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Rag Pickers

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D2D waste collection team

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Households

  • It is observed that there is no facility for segregation at the depot from where the rag pickers collect the waste.
  • About 89% of the households use dustbins for storing waste and 55% are aware of waste segregation.
  • About 46% of the households do not even segregate paper and plastic waste, while 36% sell it to the scrap dealers.
  • About 66% of the households use green waste to feed the animals, while 23% mix it with the other waste.
  • 24% of the household mix the left over of non veg waste with the other waste, 24% dump it in open and 25% throw it separately near the container.
  • About 67% of the team members of door to door waste collection team start segregating in the vehicle itself.

General Insights on
Waste Recovery.

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Rag Pickers

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D2D waste collection team

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Households

  • About 67% of the scrap dealers receive 50-200 kg of scrap per day and sell it to the big scrap dealers within the city.
  • 33% members of the DTD waste collection team are of the view that people convey their issues related to cleaning through DTD team
  • Almost all the rag pickers sell the waste collected to their nearby scrap dealers.
  • Only 1% of the people currently pay to the door to door collection team voluntarily, while 45% are agreeing to pay for the service if door to door collection becomes more efficient.
Phase3

What are the
recommendations
for the city?

The section below describes the recommendations w.r.t Solid Waste Management sector based upon the analysis done in Phase I and Phase 2

Initiatives at
Institutional level.

Baseline Document

The city lacks baseline as well as detailed information on solid waste management; hence there is a need for the city to compile its documentation. Ajmer Municipal Corporation should leverage the resources from the PMC Smart City for developing and strengthening its data base. The detailed documentation of solid waste management will help the city to prepare the plans in a better way.

Capacity building & training programs

Training programs may be organised for the different groups of the Municipal Corporation under Solid Waste management. The types of capacity building programmes which may be organised for different groups are as under

Sl. No. Target Groups Type of Capacity Programs
1 Elected Representatives Group 1 (Mayor/Chairman, Dy Mayor/Vice Chairman)
  1. Solid Waste Management
  2. SWM Plan Preparation and Implementation
  3. Financial Management
  4. Monitoring & Evaluation
  5. Human Resource Management
2 Elected Representatives Group General Orientation on Solid Waste Management
3 Senior Officers ( Engineer/s, Division Heads)
  1. Waste Management
  2. SWM Plan Preparation and Implementation
  3. Financial Management
  4. Monitoring & Evaluation
  5. Human Resource Management
4 Field Workers
  1. Orientation on Effective Collection, Segregation and Transportation of Solid Waste
  2. Orientation on Health and Hygiene Aspects of waste handling
5 Transportation Staff
  1. Maintenance of transportation vehicles
  2. Routing of vehicles 3. Orientation on Health and Hygiene Aspects of waste handling
6 NGOs/CBOs/Residents’ Associations Role of NGOs in SWM
7 Waste generators Importance of Segregation and Storage through IEC

Initiatives at
Planning level.

Innovative use of technology for collection,
transportation and disposal of waste

Taking leverage from the Smart City Proposal for Ajmer, the Municipal Corporation should adopt innovative technology for the following Waste segregation and reduction at source

  • Initiatives for waste to energy, composting and other waste reuse projects
  • Use of efficient and IT enabled waste collection and disposal activities in the city ex- sensor enabled dustbins, NFC tags at collection point

Municipal Corporation should launch projects on pilot basis in the city which may be replicated to other parts if found interesting and successful. Following steps/ strategies should be adopted by the Municipal Corporation to tackle the solid waste in the city.

  • Create Awareness
  • Streamline the food waste generated by bulk food waste generators
  • Involve SHGs and waste pickers to develop an efficient waste management system
  • Create a resource base to take measures to motivate the citizens in recycling the waste. Municipal Corporation should register the composting experts, licensed scrap dealer, agencies with expertise in recycling etc. and create a resource base by preparing the list of the same and making it available in the public domain. This initiative will help the local institutes, NGOs, RWAs, societies etc. to explore the ideas of waste recycling and earning revenue.
  • Ensuring 100% Waste Collection and developing an effective Garbage Monitoring system
  • Proper disposal of Religious biodegradable articles
  • Ensure monitoring of waste containers
  • Ensure optimum usage of the existing online applications
  • Medical Health check-up Camps for sweepers and members of door to door waste collection teams
  • Monitoring on Waste Collection to avoid mixing with Bio Medical Waste
  • Expedite the tender process
  • Promotion of innovative ideas for effective management of solid waste
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