ManagingWaste THE PLAN

ASSESSMENT

The aim of the initial assessment was to look into the following areas-

Major sources of waste

Volume of waste generated

Various categories of waste generated in the school

Present waste disposal system in place (if any)

The assessment procedure involved visiting all the major sources of waste around

the campus, including but not limited to the Central Dining Hall & Kitchen, the

Boarding Houses, Masters’ residences, the School Hospital, Academic & Science

blocks and the Sports fields.

For each of these sources, an estimate of the volume & weight of waste generated

(per day) was taken and a data bank comprising this data was created. This data has

been presented in the table below:

SOURCE VOLUME WEIGHT

Central Dining Hall & Kitchen 167 litres 196 kg.

Boarding Houses 261 litres 182 kg.

Masters’ residences (per house) 14 litres 8 kg.

Academic & Science blocks 13 litres 9 kg.

Sports fields 234 litres 148 kg.

School Hospital 4 litres 2 kg.

After the first part of the assessment, it was realised that the waste being generated

could be divided into three broad categories: recyclable waste, non-recyclable waste

and bio-degradable waste. A detailed list of the various items found in the waste was

prepared and these items were separately arranged on the basis of the categories

that they fell into. This list of items has been presented in the table below:

REYCLABLE NON-RECYCLABLE BIO-DEGRADABLE

Cans Tetra-Paks Leftover food

Plastic/Glass Bottles Paper plates Vegetable/Fruit peels

Clean & dry paper Packaging of durable food products

Residual food items

Cardboard Used stationery Leaves/Garden waste

Plastic bags Assorted batteries

Empty plastic containers Paint/Varnish

Aluminium foil Disposable electronics

Thermocol & its products Aerosol cans

Bulbs

Used computer durables

Cloth items

Hospital/Laboratory waste

Current system:

The entire waste generated by the school is collected under contract by an

organisation—Doon Valley Waste Management (DVWM). Every morning

waste is collected from all the dustbins around campus and is dumped into a

large collection bin. There is no segregation system in place as of now and all

the different types of waste are mixed together, making them unfit for

recycling. After being dumped into the collection bin, the waste is taken out

of campus and dumped into landfills.

The Central Dining Hall & Kitchen produce a majority of the bio-degradable

food waste. Presently, all of this food waste is collected by DVWM itself and

is hence, mixed with all the other waste items in the large collection bin.

Some amount of inorganic waste, such as wrappings and containers for

various food items, which are generated by the Central Dining Hall & Kitchen,

is also mixed with the food waste.

The School Hospital generates a specialised variety of non-recyclable waste.

Attempts are made to handle this waste with caution, however, it mostly

ends up with the rest of the unsegregated waste. This poses a health hazard

to society.

The Boarding Houses are primarily a source of recyclable and non-recyclable

waste. There is barely, if any, food waste that ends up being collected from

the Houses.

The Masters’ residences generate a mixture of the three different types of

waste. There is no fixed ratio according to which the different types of waste

are generated.

The Academic & Science blocks produce a majority of the recyclable waste.

There is a minimal amount of non-recyclable waste generated. No food waste

is produced. The Science blocks, and the Chemistry labs in particular,

generate a specialised type of chemical waste. This dangerous chemical

waste is treated in the school’s effluent treatment plant along with all the

other liquid waste.

The Sports fields give rise to all the garden waste generated on campus. This

waste, comprising leaves, grass, mud, and other plant detriments, is

processed in the school’s vermicomposting facility. As of now, the

vermicomposting pits, in the facility, are being used their fullest capacity and

can only handle all of this garden waste.

Apart from these major sources of waste, there are several dustbins

scattered all around school. The items disposed in these dustbins comprise

waste from all three categories. The waste from these dustbins is also

collected by DVWM and is mixed with the rest of the waste.

PILOT PROJECT

After the initial assessment, the idea to implement a pilot project was looked into and a

specific plan for the pilot project was developed. The Doon School plays host to nearly 3000

people every year during its Founder’s Day celebrations. It was decided that a waste

segregation and awareness plan would be implemented during the three days when the

Founder’s celebrations are held.

During the three days of Founder’s, there are various food/drink and souvenir stalls all

around campus. This meant that there would be even more waste that would need to be

disposed. So, it was decided that at each location that was allocated for a dustbin, there

would be two dustbins placed instead. One for recyclable, and one for non-recyclable waste.

There were to be no bins for food waste and all the possible food and other waste items

that are generated during Founder’s were represented on two sets of labels to distinguish

between recyclable and non-recyclable. Any residual food waste was to go into the bins for

non-recyclable items. The labels that were prepared have been shown below-

Once this was done, a detailed schematic representing the allocation of dustbins around the

campus was prepared. DVWM was able to provide the school with 5 extra large-sized

collection bins for the duration of Founder’s. Extra dustbins were placed beside each of the

tin dustbins that were scattered around campus. Special sets of dustbins were purchased to

be placed near stalls and resting areas. These were areas where a larger amount of waste

was expected to be generated. The detailed diagram showing the allotment of the various

dustbins is provided below-

(NOTE: The blue-dots present on the map are not reflected on the legend. These indicate

the location of washrooms.)

Following this, a poster was created for the purpose of making everyone aware about the

system that had been put in place. It urged everyone to act more responsibly and follow the

guidelines that had been laid out. The poster that was made has been shown below-

The system for collection of waste that was to be followed has been explained below-

The waste items from the recyclable and non-recyclable bins were to be collected

separately.

The non-recyclable items were to be taken to any of the 6 large collection bins and

disposed there.

The recyclable items were taken to be directly taken out of campus for recycling.

Collection of the recyclable items was to be handled by sub-contractors as assigned

by DVWM.

The waste segregation system during Founder’s was a huge success. Throughout all three

days, people took note of the posters and the labels that had been put around campus. The

ManagingWaste team observed that everyone acted responsibly and adhered to the

guidelines that had been set for disposal. For taking up the responsibility for something so

challenging, ManagingWaste and its efforts were appreciated by all.

PERMANENT PLAN

After the successful culmination of the segregation system during Founder’s day, ManagingWaste has plans to install a permanent waste disposal system in place. A waste management system is currently being set up in the two smaller holding houses of the seven boarding houses in the school. Under this new system, on-site segregation of waste into the three major types (as described in the Assessment) will take place.

This waste management system will be reviewed after two weeks of functioning in these two boarding houses and will serve as a model to be adopted in all the boarding houses of the school.

The contract of the collection agency—DVWM, is being renegotiated to include some specific guidelines on how the three different types of waste will be collected and handled. We feel that this is not too big a concern as this separation would only increase the amount of items that can be recycled. This will, in effect, allow for more employment and will also provide increased benefits to all the support staff as there will be more revenue generated from the recyclables.

Terms are being discussed with piggeries in and around Dehradun so that the leftover food and food waste produced in the Dining Hall & Kitchen are dealt with responsibly and productively. Instead of being mixed with the rest of the waste, we feel that it makes much more sense if all this valuable food waste goes towards feeding animals.

The Vermicomposting facility is being expanded to accommodate the burgeoning quantities of garden waste and leaves in school as the present facilities cannot deal with all the waste that presently comes in. Plans to construct an additional facility (in a different location on campus) are also being considered. This would allow for some amount of vegetable/fruit waste from Masters’ residences to also be composted.

Tetra-Paks are produced in large quantities in school, considering the average of 1.5 Tetra-Paks consumed by every single student daily. We are trying to find creative solutions to deal with this problem by making wallets, shoes and bags out of these waste items as they are very detrimental to the society if left unchecked. A creative group dedicated towards using the Tetra-Paks in an inventive way has been set up. This group will work with ManagingWaste to reach out to homeless children in various slums around Dehradun to provide them with an opportunity to work with Tetra-Paks. Besides serving as a recreation for these children, the Tetra-Paks will allow these children to explore their creative interests and will allow them to cultivate many essential skills necessary to develop intellectually. We believe that some creative ideas could, possibly, even be marketed in handicraft markets and markets for cottage industries. This will help these children generate some amount of income and will encourage them to continue to pursue such activities in the future. We are also working on a more practical solution to deal with large volumes of Tetra-Pak waste that the school generates. We have found and contacted a factory owner based outside Dehradun who is willing and able to recycle our waste of about 7000 Tetra-Paks every week.

The ManagingWaste initiative hopes to be able to have the new system in place by February 2014, when students return back to school for the beginning of a new year. This waste management system could serve as a model for any residential institute around the world.