Welcome back to our 2-part series on demystifying governance of C&D waste in India. In our previous article on Demystifying C&D Waste Governance, we focused on the Administrators, i.e. the government and regulatory bodies who made the Rules and oversee their compliance. In Part 2, we focus on the governance of the “on-ground” Executors of the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules 2016 (hereon called “Rules”). This article focuses on the following stakeholders:
Welcome back to our 2-part series on demystifying governance of C&D waste in India. In our previous article on Demystifying C&D Waste Governance, we focused on the Administrators, i.e. the government and regulatory bodies who made the Rules and oversee their compliance. In Part 2, we focus on the governance of the “on-ground” Executors of the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules 2016 (hereon called “Rules”). This article focuses on the following stakeholders:
In India, a C&D waste generator is “any person or association of persons or institution, residential and commercial …who undertakes construction of or demolition of any civil structure which generate construction and demolition waste.” [1] Further, there exists a distinction between “those who generate more than 20 tons or more in one day or 300 tons per project in a month” [1] who we refer to as bulk waste generators and those who generate less than that, who we call small waste generators.
So as a first step, ask yourself, "What kind of waste generator am I?"
Use our Malba Calculator below to estimate how much C&D waste your project will generate. This is based on the thumb rules by TIFAC (2001).
Once you know what category of waste generator you are, here are the duties you must follow.
All Waste Generators (including Small Waste Generators)
Bulk Waste Generators
If you are a bulk waste generator, all of the above rules apply to you, as well as some special rules as given below:
In Delhi, a sum of Rs. 72.6 per sqft is paid to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for collection, transport, processing and disposal. But since no such service is offered to people, a good question to ask is where is this money going?
If you’ve been to any Indian city, it is a common sight to see dug-up roads and sidewalks, often done to lay down service lines for electricity, sewage, water, telephone etc. These agencies who provide such services in our cities are what the Rules call Service Providers [1]. They often have to excavate and demolish as part of their work and hence are major producers of C&D waste.
These Service Providers, as per the Rules, were supposed to have “prepared within six months from the date of notification of these rules, a comprehensive waste management plan covering segregation, storage, collection, reuse, recycling, transportation and disposal of construction and demolition waste generated within their jurisdiction.” [1]
Further, it is the duty of these service providers to remove all C&D waste generated daily and clean the area, or as per the duration, quantity and type of waste generated, provide appropriate storage and collection facility in consultation with the concerned local authority.
So the next time you see such a work obstructing traffic in your neighbourhood, ask about their waste management plan!
Once State Governments have allocated land for setting up storage, processing and recycling facilities for C&D waste, interested Recyclers can apply using Form 1 of the Rules [1]. This is the process through which Recycling Plants are being set up around the country. The Recycling Plants in India are usually set up as Public-Private Partnerships, with some of the most popular contracts being design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) where the recycler bears most of the financial burden, or an engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) contract where the capital expense is borne by the urban local body. These contracts last around 20 to 25 years, after which they are handed over to the municipal corporation.
As per the Rules, the conditions that recycling plants must comply with include:
Now that you know what the roles and responsibilities for waste administrators and executors are, here is what is still missing from the waste policy.
Policy and governance are two related but distinct concepts. While policy creates guidelines to regulate behaviour, actions, and decision-making within a context, governance involves the execution-management of the policy.
The drawback of the C&D Waste Management Rules 2016 is not the policy, but rather its governance. In specific, the enforcement. The purpose of enforcement is to ensure that individuals or entities comply with the policies and face consequences if they fail to do so. However, without incentives or appropriate penalties in place, the C&D Waste Management Rules (2016) to date, remain at a guideline level, without the much-required enforceability.
