By Shri. Avdhesh Goel
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one of the most welcome move undertaken by any government in recent past. In his small tenure of 4 months he has proved to be a visionary far greater than anyone from his batch.
The mission is the biggest cleanliness drive that India has ever witnessed. The mission is to address the issues of sanitation and the disposal of waste in villages and cities. It is an humongous task as urban India generates close to 69 million tonnes of trash a year. Of which more than 6,000 tonnes of plastic waste lie uncollected daily.
As a country, we just don’t know what to do with the waste we generate, and most of us do not even bother what happens once it is out of our houses. In next 5 years we hope to witness a change in how India perceives its waste problem. And the only way is to look around and think intelligently and put to use various technologies available around the world.
1. High Tensile Strength Plastic Sleepers
Another novel way of putting waste to use has been crafted by a UK company Micron. They have managed to recycle waste plastic including auto bumpers, old computer cases and other such un-rot-able garbage into railway sleepers.
After years of research and development they have come up with a solution where they can mould sleepers out of waste polystyrene and polyethylene. Polystyrene is commonly used in disposable coffee cups, and polyethylene is more likely to be seen hanging from trees in the form of carrier bags. The longevity of this plastic means that railway sleepers made using it can potentially last for centuries. This compares to a few decades for sleepers made from wood or concrete.
Wood and concrete also have other disadvantages. Concrete sleepers are very heavy and crack easily, and wooden sleepers require a lot of maintenance and chemical treatments to prevent them from rotting. In both cases, the sleepers have a lifetime of a few decades maximum. Stress tests have demonstrated that the plastic sleepers are at least as strong as concrete sleepers.
2. Landfill Gases
For last 12 years, BMW’s assembly plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina has been using methane captured from a nearby landfill site to fuel electrical generators. Since 2002 BMW has invested heavily in a bid to generate power from methane arising out of local landfill site. The turbines based on green technology are able to generate 30% of the plant’s electricity needs from the amount of methane that would have otherwise raised a stink and contributed to greenhouse gases. The co-generation system also uses hot water in addition to the electricity to provide 60% of all the energy required for the entire plant.
Since its inception, the methane power generation has saved BMW $5 million a year in energy costs. 11 MW of electricity might sound petite, but when we consider the benefits to mother nature the whole set-up is nothing short of a boon for the mankind.
3. Sewage to Taps
Most precious of all, the water is another area of concern for the mankind. The United Nations has already warned of 50% shortage world over in another 15 years or so. Shortages on such a scale would threaten food production, as well as a health crisis through increased exposure to unsanitary water, which already kills millions each year through waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea.
California’s Orange County Water District (OCWD), has pioneered waste-water treatment facility that recycles used water — or sewage — and returns it to the drinking supply. The plant is expanding production from 70 to 100 million gallons per day, enough for 850,000 people.
Orange County began recycling water for non-potable use in the 1970s, but only began contributing to the drinking supply in 2008. Operators now feel that the system is well established and ready to be scaled up. The process works by re-routing a proportion of the 1.3 billion gallons of waste water generated in Southern California each day into a three-step treatment. The first is micro filtration of the treated waste water to remove solids, oils and bacteria, before the resulting liquid goes through reverse osmosis, pushing it through a fine plastic membrane that filters out viruses and pharmaceuticals. The water is then treated with UV light to remove any remaining organic compounds, before joining the main groundwater supply, which must pass strict quality controls to meet legal standards, and distribution to households.
In Australia too, the city of Perth will be receiving up to 20% of its drinking water from reclaimed sources in coming decades, with a reported 76% public support. Australia is also investing heavily in similar programmes elsewhere in the country.
There is no end to what an innovative mind can think. Various such technologies are available and probably even touch us on daily basis. All one needs to do is just to sit back and think. Solutions will have to be tailored to suit our needs and the benefits are immense.
About authour : Shri Avdhesh Goel is an Innovative entrepreneur, seasoned leader and chief strategist in the field of real estate with key focus on finance and resource management. Having an eye for innovation, cutting edge technology and out of the box ideas, he has a knack for coming up with money spinning ideas.
Shri Avdhesh Goel has taken up various critical leadership roles since 1990. His watershed moment was in 2007 when he ventured into green construction and promoted Earth Infrastructures Limited. He is one of the founder members and Joint Managing Director of Earth Infrastructures Ltd.
