Amity School of Engineering & Technology, Amity University Gurgaon organized a National Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management on 15th November 2017 to address the problem of focusing area for the management of the municipal solid waste on scientific lines using appropriate technologies and practices. The main objective of this Conference is to create awareness in the areas of solid waste management with the involvement of the scientists, experts, academicians, policy makers, consultants, technologists and service providers working in this domain.
Themes of the National Conference:
· Physico-chemical characteristics and dynamics of leachate from landfills and its disposal and treatment.
· Groundwater and surface water contamination from landfill leachate.
· Waste management policies.
· The Waste collection, segregation, processing, recycling, treatment, remediation and implementation strategies.
· Landfill reclamation concepts, implementation and leachate treatment and management strategies.
· MSWM: Current approaches, gaps and solutions
· Sustainable solid waste management practices-local perspectives.
· Geotechnical characteristics of MSW landfills.
· Biotechnologies for SWM.
· Public-Private Participation (PPP) Models, Case studies, Community participation.
· Solid waste to wealth.
· Social and environmental impacts of landfills.
· Contaminated landfills- environmental regulations and governance.
The inaugural session was graced by the remarkable presence of Hon’ble Prof. (Dr.). P. B. Sharma (Vice Chancellor) while addressing participants’ emphasis that India must focus on local needs, and we require special needs for research and innovation. Environmental Science and Waste management should be on top of the agenda as far as the choice of the students' discipline is the concern at UG & PG level. In addition, zero waste concepts should be taught & implemented in the research and academic organizations. He also stressed on the scientific management of waste with proper segregation and converting waste to wealth and said that the rag pickers are the integral component of the waste management for which they should be properly educated and trained. The academic institutions must come forward for finding cost-effective solutions of waste management.
Prof. (Dr.) Padmakali Banerjee (Pro Vice-Chancellor) stressed the need of educating people for proper use of recyclable waste and advised that the academic institutions must come forward for the preparation of policy documents for efficient and effective solid waste management. She further said that this Conference will not only provide an enriching environment for the young minds to share their expertise in different areas of Science but will also be professionally constructive to them. It will also help to provide a platform towards strengthening our relationships in knowledge sharing while at the same time provide the necessary momentum in joint research collaborations within the research society with a focus on solid waste management.
Maj Gen V K Narang (Retd), Director, Amity School of Engineering & Technology, while welcoming the participants highlighted the issues such as climate change, air, water and soil pollution due to mismanagement of solid waste in the country affecting the health of common man. The problem of solid waste management has arisen mainly due to the urbanization and industrialization where the generation of solid waste has increased much fold and the landfill are overflowing causing serious environmental implications. So it deemed necessary to understand the waste mechanics and implementing the effective solid waste management systems.
The keynote address was delivered by Dr Babu J Alappat (Professor- Environmental Engineering) Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi. He said that any solid waste management (SWM) scheme includes collection and storage of the waste at the sources, transportation to the treatment/processing facilities, processing of the waste for possible recovery and the final disposal. In India, waste processing and proper final disposal have not been receiving much attention until recently. As per the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, waste has to be collected in three different containers segregating the wet waste, dry waste and the household hazardous wastes. The wet waste or green waste may be processed by biological treatment techniques like composting or vermicomposting or bio-methanation. The dry waste may be processed to separate the burnable fraction which may be used for RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) production. The waste which is good for nothing, after all, possible recovery, goes to an engineered landfill based on the dry-tomb concept.
Prof. Alappat stressed upon two essential factors to be taken into account while preparing a plan for sustainable solid waste management for Delhi, the capital of the country. First is segregated waste collection right at the source of generation. Second is waste destruction without causing environmental damage.
Prof. (Dr). R.K. Malik, Head of Department of Civil Engineering, while proposing a vote of thanks highlighted his field experiences of the visits of landfill sites and their impacts on the environment that is air, water and soil. He expressed thanks to all the participants coming from the academic institution, NGO and research organizations as well as the students for making this conference a great success.