September 2009
RESOLUTION & RECOMMENDATION OF ANSWAI CONF 2009
Anna University Coimbatore jointly with the support of National Solid Waste Association of India (NSWAI), Mumbai organized the 1st International Conference on Solid Waste & Environment during 12th - 14th August, 2009. The conference was well attended by 200 participants and had Six Technical Sessions v.i.z. 1. Urban Municipal Solid Waste
2. Industrial Toxic and Hazardous Waste
3. Bio medical Waste
4. E Waste
5. Waste to Wealth
6. Socio-Economic Impact of waste
The response to the call for the Technical Research papers for this conference was overwhelming. The conference received a total of 102 papers in the above mentioned subjects from all around the country including several foreign countries out of which only 28 journal quality papers were accepted for presentation. A CD with the details about the conference and the accepted papers was released to the conference by Dr. R. Radhakrishnan Vice Chancellor, Anna University Coimbatore and Chair of the Conference.
The Conference made the following recommendations:
The Planet is facing peril because of the lack of proper management and disposal of solid waste. The accumulated solid waste releases the green house gas Methane which causes the Global Warming and climate change. The percolating water and run off from the solid waste contaminates the Soil and Water, The Bio-degradable part of the solid waste obnoxious gases like Hydrogen Sulphide etc. unknown Viruses like Swine Flu etc causing Epidemics. All these are leading to poor sanitary conditions, lack of clean water, lack of clean air, spread of epidemics etc. Delay to remedy the situation is therefore no longer an 0ption if we want to save the Blue Planet and our Civilization.
Specific procedures should be established to collect and segregate the waste to reuse it for worthwhile and related transportation to safe and suitable places for disposal with the prime directive to save the environment. It is highly recommended to design an innovative type of transport system which can collect from the narrow streets and roads with less man power without polluting air to transport to highway to take the waste to its final destination for safe processing and disposal.
Awareness and education program about the Solid Waste Management should be proliferated among citizens and city managers. Adequate Scientific Research is lacking in India on Solid Waste Management. Innovative technologies have to be developed for application in the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of solid waste.
A Central Information Center or Institute should be established so that any citizen, group, industry etc can seek and obtain real help to manage and dispose of Solid Waste without degrading the environment. This Center should become a member of International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) as it is unquestionably the lead organization in the world for Waste Management and Research.
Special attention is necessary to dispose Bio-Medical Waste generated by the medical clinics, hospitals and related sources as well as recently recognized waste from electrical and electronic goods.
A Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) should be undertaken to deal with the toxic and hazardous waste on the USA Model. This may help the industry to get Carbon Credit which will greatly be help to raise the capital to implement CDM along with a reasonable debt recovery program.
Train the Trainer system will certainly propagate how to handle the waste. It helps the 4 R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover) concept. Education and training among students and faculties from primary schools to the universities should be manifested. The Municipalities and Panchayat Boards should be brought to the forefront in to this effort of solving the solid waste problem.
Finally all the experts during this three day conference agreed that Delay is no longer an Option and the political leaders along with Engineers and Scientists should give enlightened leadership to Save this Planet.
We need a Third Industrial Revolution to manufacture and use environmentally friendly products guided by a technologically oriented Planning Commission is a must to lead and leave a cleaner and safer planet for the future generations and guide us to learn to live with the Mother Nature in harmony.
Dr. Amiya Kumar Sahu
(President-NSWAI)
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