WORK OVERVIEW

The waste management programme at CSE addresses institutional structures involved in waste management, treatment and disposal; helps build regulatory and technical capacities of cities in waste management; and highlights the role of the informal sector in India and global south through in-depth research and advocacy. CSE’s influential publication in 2016 on solid waste management, ‘Not in My Backyard’, highlighted the growing problem of waste in urban areas and carried in-depth case studies from cities following good solid waste management practices, as well as enabling policies and regulations.

As part of its initiative to support implementation, the team signed an MoU with the city of Muzzafarpur in Bihar to develop an enabling framework for solid waste management which can be replicated in other cities and towns of India. The team is also engaged with two countries- Zanzibar and Swaziland in Africa for implementing source segregation model for decentralized waste management, and with policymakers in other African nations for adoption of policy on integrated waste management. The team launched ‘Forum of Cities that Segregate’ in December 2017 with 20 cities in India to create a knowledge exchange platform and to achieve effective and affordable waste management in Indian cities.

The team also provides technical support to the concerned stakeholders of waste management. Following the notification of the new Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, CSE has helped build capacities of ULB officials on decentralized waste management drawn from across the country, including states of Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and from South and the Northeast India. The team is on a constant lookout for best practices in this field and encourages other cities/communities to adopt them by tweaking it according to their terrain and different requirements.