Training on ‘A cradle-to-cradle approach with focus on C&D waste management and dust control’ at AAETI

The habitat team conducted a residential training session on the topic of‘Waste management: A cradle-to-cradle approach with a focus on C&D waste management and dust control’.The training held from November 14 to 17, 2022 at Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute (AAETI). During the training, 30 officials from the government construction organization were attended.

On the first day of the training, Ms. Mitashi Singh introduced the participants about the problems and threats posed by construction and demolition waste in addition to the regional, national, and global objectives related to C&D waste management.The next session was an overview of the construction and demolition management rules and methodologies for estimation of C&D waste. This session was followed by case studies of C&D waste management from various municipalities in the Delhi-NCR region and Rajasthan region, with whom CSE has been working on the subject. The dayconcluded with a hands-on session by Ms. Sayani Sen who introduced participants to the estimation of C&D waste using Geographic information system.

Day two began with a session on environment governance which was focus onimpact and mitigation of construction and development activity impact on environment by Mr. Rajnesh Sareen. The session was followed by the environmental impact assessment of building and construction projects with a focus on the ‘air environment’. The post-lunch session was presented by Dr.Nimish Gupta with an exercise on GIS, where he demonstrated a methodology to estimate legacy waste. The next session involved the participants carrying out calculations to determine the reutilization potential of C&D waste from a demolition site by Mr. Sugeet Grover. The last two sessions of the day were dedicated to explaining the green features of the AAETI campus, followed by a walking tour that also included a C&D waste exercise that was presented on the third day of the training programme by the participants. 

Day three began with a session that included a participatory exercise with the audience on determining a typical construction timeline. The next session was devoted to the technologies and processes adopted in a C&D recycling plant. After that, Mr. Rajnesh Sareen took a session on dust management, mapping sources and running cumulative impacts using air quality modelling. In the next session, all groups presented their exercise results on C&D waste reutilization. Post-lunch participants were introduced to a session on process management and safeguards for material handling at the site and city level for dustabatement. The next session was devoted to an introduction to data repositories and methodologies for estimation of volume solid waste of different stream. The last session was a group exercise to understand the responsibilities of municipalities, pollution control boards, developers and site engineers in proper C&D waste management and on-site dust abatement measures.

On the fourth day, participants were taken to the C&D waste management plant in Bakkarwala, New Delhi, for a field visit to experience the intricate procedure for C&D waste recycle techniques in practice.The manager also provided information on various C&D waste processing products and materials with various specifications, including produced sands, concrete blocks, and paver blocks.The plant's chief technical engineer demonstrated the quality-control methodologies and process. The day ended with a lab visit to the same C&D waste plant.