Zero Waste Journey 5 : People Sustainability

Continued from zero waste series : Continuing from the Zero Waste Journey series .. AID Supported project at Tungabhadra Block, NGV, Bangalore . Topic Sustainability :People



People Sustainability 
 If we tend to think that something is NOT possible in  implementing waste management , it is ONLY the human factor - environmentally and economically it is possible to implement zero waste management . To give you few instances of people sustainability I need to narrate few incidents  in our community.  To me, this is the most important aspect and forms the basis of a strong foundation of "change" ... At personal level, one  must be prepared for an internal change at  spiritual level.. 


Labour - The change in attitude:
From day one, the old local team trained by Srinivasan wanted to join back and we never gave them an opportunity. We decided to let them go.. so that those who are really in need of a job would come back . By Jan end , we saw the Vellore team leaving considering their impracticality of staying away from family and local old team joining back. Labour problems we faced in the beginning were issues because of right expectation setting, we now operate with an optimal team all trained by Vellore Srinivasan.


Internal politics within management committee :
As far as few people within the association were concerned, it was AID project and no one within residents' welfare association need to be part of this. They felt it was not their duty to be overseeing anything related to ZWM ! When the project was started, we approached the local cleaning contractor to extend their team for managing waste. Internal politics within management committee members ensured this never happened - there were few women MC  members who gave adequate ignition to the local contractor to refrain from doing any ZWM work .  I must mention that the women members who were vehemently opposing ZWM to be clubbed with cleaning were NOT anti waste management, somehow they  did not understand the principles and advantages of "optimized team" ! 


We ignored all this , and went ahead with direct labour recruitment - we could have abandoned the project for lack of support, but never felt like doing that.. We thought , this could be few challenges that are thrown before the project to survive . Srinivasan says, we need to be put through tough situations to come out stronger.. Yes it is true, the coming days were indeed tough..


Single agency to manage cleaning and ZWM :
October and   Nov 2011 were the toughest months for us - one side we were struggling with labour issues and for the first time, we tried to involve management committee in the process of making them understand how important it is to combine cleaning and waste management through a single contracting company. There was a voting done and the majority voted for single agency to manage waste management and cleaning with two members opposing . Once the meeting was over, they conspired and there were emails as response to the secretary's minutes of the meeting saying "the voting was all farce "! The same people who voted for single agency, conveniently said "no " ! and once again the decision was dangling like a sword. This indecision costed ZWM close to Rs 25,500 extra  as charges for collecting waste which went out from ZWM sales money ! Eventually with the support of the new management committee, this too was stopped.


To give a gist of the allegations raised by the "educated" society on a waste management project .  

Voice of anti-ZWM management committee members :
A :“Why do you want apartment association to run social cause.If I am interested in social cause I will do in my personal capacity and contribute to ZWM. Not as an association member. We have been given task of running the welfare of Tungabhadra. I am sorry, I am not interested to run ZWM as part of Tungabhadra, like many others.” 

B: “ Prompt collection of waste from residents' home atleast once a day is of utmost importance. what we do with the collected waste is of little interest to the residents in general. The fact of the matter is even if ZWM is not functioning for some time, residents don't care whereas  if waste is not collected for two days and / or the building is not cleaned regularly, complaints will stream in.   So please think about it well before any decision is taken. Also how much more money can be contributed by the maintenance funds towards ZWM needs to be discussed.”  

B wanted the project to be closed within 3 months of execution ...  

C :  Doesn’t like emails sent by co ordinator praising others,   Thinks ZWM co ordinator is doing this for her fame , Wants to evict ZWM staff staying in terrace, Wants bins in all common areas and never came back with solution of managing mixed waste in those common bins
Opines ZWM issues should never be discussed in MC meetings and it is not MC’s problem

D : “There is no point in combining both the activities together (cleanliness and ZWM). 

E : “During the preliminary meeting of the ZWM, Mr. Srinivas ( AID  was promised that  "select the workforce (people)  and train them  for ZWM activities for Tungabhadra".  Now, the SIX months association of AID is completed,  but our trained workforce is at  'ZERO' level  for ZWM project.

F : Doesn't like the estate manager supporting ZWM  :-)

G: Doesn't like trolleys being used for waste collection ! 



 H: ZWM co cordinator has siphoned money from TRWA for ZWM - there is no verification of accounts  before making such statements ! 


A went one more step ahead - Went on a campaign and used ZWM as a scapegoat before a general body meeting that was to decide on an issue that was against her personal interest ! In the general body that was convened during end of November, ZWM was ripped apart - thanks to A's campaign ! Majority of the people who attended had no clue what was going on. Very few people understood that anti ZWM statements were a plot to safegaurd their personal interests. 


 I wish they knew the effort of Vellore Srinivasan who implemented this project, I wish they realised that AID Volunteers in Seattle direct and play stage shows to raise funds in small droplets which finally became our 5 Lakhs.. Not sure even if they had known, they would have cared...  I wish they had all cared for their children's future on this planet... As parents, grandparents, understanding the waste cycle is important to ensure that  we do not trash the earth. We are borrowing every bit of land, every drop of water, every molecule of clean air from the future of the next generation ... There is no room for politics and manipulation when we are dealing with what we do not own ! 


ZWM team's response :
The lesson from the wild is to remain camouflaged . We took December 2011 to attend to few genuine complaints and we never came out in the open nor did we respond to any email correspondence. We removed all the anti ZWM elements from the mailing group - we decided  not to disturb them with the  three letter acronym Z W M !  There was a fear of closure of the project since the old management committee was dissolved. It was because of  people like Hari Madhu (the treasurer ) who had strong ethical and social thinking that ZWM survived till Dec 2011  .   


Concentrate on your strengths and get into positive action: 
We decided to concentrate on positive aspects - there was an increased vigour  to do sales, especially Panchagavya . Somehow we ensured we attend every "Oota from Thotta" organised by citizen matters - Rajesh and Swapna were deadly contributors. They knew how to sell , and we had support from Mayank , Venkat and Pradeep from AID. We diverted our  energy and zeal to make ZWM survive  towards sale ! It was terrific effort and by end of March 2012, we not only optimised our expenses, we also ensured good inflow of money through sale. Beyond this AID distributed pamphlets on ZWM to every single apartment in Tungabhadra to make the neutral people understand the importance of the project.


ZWM , beyond me and you :
I believe that you cannot control what happens , but you can always control how you react to situations. To this day, all the events that we have witnessed,  ZWM is beyond all of us. We are mere spectators of a change, the outcry of the management committee is only a glimpse of this resistance to change . I always remember this statement by Gandhiji “ First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."

The best thing that happened after 5 months of silence  was,  when the new management committee of core members took over , we got an opportunity to objectively explain the project and people issues . It was a make or break and on 21st April 2012, exactly after one year of its' execution the new core management committee (also comprising of old sub committee members who are anti ZWM ), the project was decided to be continued and managed by Tungabhadra Residents' Welfare Association. 

We just need to keep our positive energy and motivation high , rest all is law of nature . ZWM has, should and will continue to run with or without you and me ... It should be a community consciousness and not dependent on individuals. 


Eco consciousness , green thinking and spiritual realisation should be the future world order, all the noise that people create as resistance will just pass.. it has to pass, for the sustainability of homo sapiens as a race.... 


Achievements , in spite of challenges :
1. Tungabhadra , NGV has offset 90% of waste reaching landfills by composting its wet waste and further segregating its dry waste for recycling ie 48 tonnes has been recycled from 54 tonnes of waste generated by the block 
2. The first successful urban model that does both wet and dry waste management  in India emulating the vellore model of waste management 
3. Winer of the Bangalore 'Recyclathon award' in 2011 in the less than 250 apartment category for excellence in waste management - competed with 400 other entries
4. Bangalore Mayor Mrs Sharadamma and 20 BBMP officials had visited Tungabhadra ZWM Centre to understand the entire lifecycle of waste
5. Acknowledge by Karnataka Pollution Control Board as the model to be adopted in the notice sent to all major residential apartments in Bangalore dates 25th Nov 2011
6. Generated enough money to self finance itself with ONLY Rs 60 per apartment per month coming from the association. First model to prove the economic value of waste, generating close to Rs.1,86,364 in 13 months from what is thrown into landfills ! 
7. Obtained a fee waiver of Rs 42 per flat from KHB with effect from Oct 2011 as an incentive for doing waste management and to ensure the monetory benefits are passed on to zero waste management
8. Tungabhadra is now a living example for atleast 3 apartment complexes in Bangalore (HSR Layout, JP Nagar, Ulsoor and a large scale implementation with BBMP participation in Rajarajeswari Nagar _. These apartments take inputs and send visitors to Tungabhadra , NGV to learn about zero waste management
9. Labour challenges were overcome with 4 from the team trained by Srinivasan joining back


Tips to Follow :

1. Ensure the existing contractor for cleaning is also given responsibility to do zero waste management instead of dumping . This is the ONLY way to demand waste management service along with cleaning from contractors who provide services to huge apartment complexes. This has an advantage of having same pool of labour for waste collection and waste segregation - this ensures segregation at source , since the labour who manages waste becomes the true agents of change for the educated society !
2. Continue with constant awareness programs
3. Ignore people with negative thinking, they are always there in the society - but take clues from them if there are geniune corrections to be made - for all you know they make you hone your people skills 
4. Keep the core management committee informed about the financial status and sale proceedings 
5. Ensure proper accounting of sale income and expenses - this is the only proof that will support your project 
6. Take pictures of major events , these are proof of what happened in the past 
7. Ensure under no circumstance we lose our temper with people - this is for the overall benefit of the project - arguments are unnecessary; what is important is our dedication and devotion to work and show outcome - rest will fall in place
8. Involve as many people as possible, while appearing in media - this could still create unavoidable jealousy issues in neighborhood !

Courtesy : The anti ZWM team who helped us in excelling, showing maturity in our reactions and being a strong challenge everytime we intended to relax, this was the trigger for us to generate various graphs , reports and ensure robust sales !


ZWM team of women who are the grass root level workers managing our waste


The different management committees of Tungabhadra  who supported the project from year 2010 - first on initiated, second one implemented, third one is sustaining and improving... 


Mayank Rungta,  Soumya Thontesh, Swapna Manoj, Rajesh who were closely linked during the sales .Dr Meenakshi Bharat who gave her support to involve large number of citizens from outside Tungabhadra to involve and replicate the project. Dr Meenakshi was also instrumental in ensuring some of the medical aspects of ZWM team are ensured. Dhandapany, Ramanath and Ajith who raised funds to sponsor the childrens' education program for the old team. Akshay Yadav and team from Green Commandos who were involved in sharing the AID brochure to all the 220 apartments in Tungabhadra. Mr.Hari Madhu, Rajesh, Mr. Sivaraman, Mr. Behra who supported the project during the previous management committee.  Mr. Alagiri Swami, Capt Prahraj, Manoj Menon ,   Kirti Athreya, Felix A, Santosh Ramakumar, Sunil Khurana from the current management committee who voted for continuing the project.  Many many well wishers and visitors who have supported us and encouraged us ....  Hope the names I have missed out will forgive me for my bad memory !