Public Awareness Seminar on Solid Waste Management, Environment and Health Issues in Five Tibetan settlements in Karnataka state
4-15 October 2006

Purpose of the Seminar:

The purpose of the seminar is to create awareness and educate public about the environmental and health impacts of the wastes that are not properly managed and importance of having a proper solid waste management system for the sustenance of natural resources, keeping cleaner environment for good health and maintaining aesthetic beauty of the area.

Topics covered during the seminar:

• Basic introduction to environment and environmental issues.
• Traditional Tibetan practices & Modern environmental initiatives.
• Waste and its environmental impacts.
• Waste and its health impacts
• Waste and its impact on natural resources.
• Today’s waste management system and its flaws.
• Working towards Zero waste community.
• Need of segregation of waste at the source.
• Making compost from biodegradable wastes.
• Need of saving natural resources through optimum recycling.
• Need of people based movement.
• Need of subscribing the salary of green workers by the community.

Materials distributed (all in Tibetan language):

• 1. Waste Management Tips
• 2. Do not Burn Plastics
• 3. Say No to Styrofoam Cups and Plates
• 4. Energy Saving Tips
• 5. Posters with information on different types of wastes and segregation.
• 6. Basic introduction to environment and environmental issues.

Number of seminars held and approximate number of attendants:

Dogueling Settlement, 4-6 October 2006

a) Gaden and Nyingma Monasteries: Number of Paricipants - 600 monks Age group – 18-35
b) Drepung and Sakya Monasteries: Number of Participants – 600 Age group – 18-35
c) CST Camp 6 and Camp # 6, 7, 8: Number of participants: 250 Gender : 1:1 Age group: 13 – 60 Classes – Class V - VIII

d) Camp # 1,2,3,4,5,9 and nunnery: Number of participants –350 Gender: Male 30%, Female 70% Age group : 18 - 65

Dekyi Larsoe settlement, 10 October 2006

a)Settlement,Number of Participants – 350 Gender : Male 40%, Female 60% Age group – 30-60 years
b) CST CVP: 50 students of class VII and above attended Gender : 1:1, Age group : 12 -16

Lugsung Samdrupling settlement, 11 October 2006

a) Settlement, Number of participants – 150 Gender: Male 40%, Female 60% Age group: 20 – 65
b) CST Bylakuppe: List of participants – 400 Gender: 1:1 Age group : 12-18
c) SOS Bylakuppe: Number of participants - 700 Classes – VII – XII Age group – 14-18

Rabgyaling Tibetan settlement, 12 October 2006

a) Settlement, Number of participants – 300 Gender : Male 60% Female 40% Age group : 25 – 65
b) CST Hunsur: Number of participants – 250 Gender : 1:1 Age group: 12-17

Note: Gyudmed monks were on holiday and could not arrange.

Dhondenling settlement, 14 October 2006

Settlement, Number of participants - 250 people including representatives from Zokchen and Thibu monasteries, Mentsee Khang and cooperative attended. Gender: Male 60%, Female: 40% Age group : 20-65

Observations:

Awareness:

The general awareness of the public about environmental and health impacts of the wastes, particularly burning of the wastes is very low. We assume that this is perhaps due to lack of adequate awareness and education programme. There was literally no feedback or suggestions from the public. However, monks at Gaden and Drepung have made suggestions of exploring the possibility of banning plastic bags in Dhondenling. And the people of Rabgyaling expressed its inability to deal with the plastic wastes that we generate and suggested they could have a system like the one here in Dharamsala.

Types of Wastes:

The amount of wastes we find in the settlements are substantial comparing the population density and economic situation of the people. Though some of the settlements are situated at decent distance from the cities, the nature of waste we find is very similar except those of e-waste and bio-medical waste. 1) Bio-degradable wastes: Settlements generate substantial amount of agricultural and kitchen wastes. However, it is not a serious problem as people make compost and kitchen wastes are being fed to cattle. 2) Recyclable wastes: Settlements also generate a huge amount of recyclable wastes like paper, metals, plastic and glass. Shops, monasteries and schools generate these wastes, particularly, papers and cardboard. 3) Other wastes: Other non-recyclable wastes that are generated from food wrappings, like chips, chewing gum etc, and local Indian and Tibetan selling edibles in plastic bags or cups are huge. These can be found either dumped or scattered and in some cases burnt.

Current Waste Management System:

The current waste management practice differs from settlement to settlement. Currently they are practicing four different types of waste management systems. At Dogueling, Tibetans are employed to collect wastes in tractor from the camps on a specific day. And the collected wastes are being dumped at a site on the way from settlement office to Gaden monastery, which is very near to the road and field. The wastes are left there for few days and rag pickers collect recyclable items. After sometime the waste are being burnt.. At Delar and Lugsung, the office has allotted 3-4 huge bins at each camp. And the waste collectors, mostly Indians come occasionally to collect the wastes for dumping. One will often find overflowing bins. At Rabgyaling, each household was given a certain amount of money to dig pit around their houses for dumping and burning wastes. At Dhondenling, each camp was provided with 3-4 cement bins funded by Christian Children Funds. However, there is no waste collector and people burn the wastes when it is full. People also use open sites, which are very close to the farmland for dumping wastes.

Current situation:

One can find almost similar types of wastes in all the five Tibetan settlements. Though there is a practice of waste collection and dumping in Dhogueling, Delar and Lugsam, most of the non-biodegradable wastes are not segregated. All the wastes are dumped together and after certain time these wastes are being burnt openly which is not a good practice. These dumping sites are not properly fenced which give easy access to wild animals, stray dogs and local cattle. One can also easily find overflowing bins and accumulated garbage along roadside posing environmental and health problems. The current practices in Rabgyaling and Dhondenling may even pose greater danger, as they do not have common dumping site/s. Each household in Rabgyaling dumps and burns the wastes near its premises with serious health and environmental consequences. In the case of Dhondenling, wastes are either dumped in the community bins or dumped openly at other sites which are near to farmland. When the community bins are full, wastes are being burnt. Open dumping of wastes, particularly plastic wastes around farmland is not a good practice with the current efforts being made towards organic farming in Dhondenling. These plastic wastes after sometime leach out chemicals like lead and cadmium into the nearby farmland and underground water source.

Recommendation:

Landfill or dumping site:

Though three of the Tibetan settlements have their own dumping sites, these are not engineered dumping sites. Luckily, the amount of toxic wastes like batteries, computer parts is very low and the biomedical wastes produced from local clinics and hospitals are considerably low and they are being treated separately by the hospitals. Nevertheless, landfill or dumping site lend to air pollution and attract vermin and other disease causing germs. Landfill fires, a common incident, releases heavy metals and other toxic substances such as dioxins and furans into atmosphere. The poisons from dumping sites leak out in the form of a smelly black toxic liquid called “leachate” and escapes into the ground surrounding dumping site and contaminate the nearby underground water source. Rabgyaling and Dhondenling settlements do not have common dumping sites which force the residents to either dump the wastes openly or burn them. Therefore, there is an urgent need of properly regulated dumping site/s in every settlement, which are away from water source. However, there is also an urgent need of a system in place that would check the amount of wastes going to the landfill. Also these landfill or dumping sites should be properly fenced and the wastes in the landfill should be properly treated by covering with soil so as to check the leachate particularly during monsoon.

Burning of waste:

Open burning of wastes is a very common practice throughout all the settlements. Be it at the landfill or within the camp or on the roadside. This is the most inefficient way of waste management with heavy environmental and health impacts. Burning of plastic wastes is very closely associated with the cause of cancer, heart diseases and respiratory disorder etc. In the process of indiscriminate burning, resources that could be conserved for further use also go up in flame. It also has far-reaching environmental impacts causing air pollution and adding to the global warming. So there should be a strict instruction to stop burning garbage and efforts need to be made to educate people about it.

Recycling:

Recycling of papers and metals is a good practice that is prevalent in India. However, recycling of plastic is a new thing. Not all plastics are recyclable. Plastics that are below certain micron are not recyclable. And plastics cannot be recycled more than 4 times. In India manufacturing and selling of plastics below 20 micron is not allowed. However, thick and transparent plastics with no chemical additives can be sold to recycling agents. For example, old plastic items like lids of bottles or bucket, toys fetch about 15 Rupees a Kilogram at Mundgod. If properly sorted, even the plastic cups can find buyers. The kitchen waste, particularly the bones have a very good market in Mysore where they make bio-fertilisers. People often sell recyclable wastes, which is a very good practice. However, one can still find a huge amount of unsorted wastes dumped together, which make other recyclable wastes useless. So there should be awareness programme on how to segregate the recyclable items from other wastes. Efforts should be made to stop recyclable wastes from going to the dumping site. If possible, there should be a system whereby people can easily sell or donate recyclable wastes. For example, school such as SOS can even start a mini paper recycling plant. Recycling papers can save many trees and requires less natural energy in producing papers. A proper recyclable wastes collection system can hugely minimise the amount of waste going into the dumping sites.

Civic participation:

Public cooperation is the key to achieving a successful and sustainable waste management practice in the settlements. A good solid waste management practice presupposes the involvement of the local community in its day-to-day processes. Hence, forming people based green workers committee is important. It is important to take environmental, health and economic issues to the common people and help them understand these issues better. Identifying the local garbage related problems or issues that people from all walks of life could best relate to is the key here to bring the people together.

Camp to Camp Collection :

Rather than dumping all kinds of waste together onto the streets or into public bins, there should be a system where people are employed to collect wastes from camp on a specific day. Names like Green workers or street beautifiers should be given to those people who are employed by the community to do camp-to-camp collection of wastes. The names like these also give dignity to the job. This new system ensures that wastes are not disposed onto the streets or even into the public dustbins, which are not often used properly. It is very important to see the solid waste management from a positive angle. If possible Tibetans should be employed as green workers whose monthly salaries are subscribed by the community itself. The households should be ready to bear a monthly cost of about Rs. 10-20 per month, which is minimal today where parents spend so much on unhealthy foods like chips and fizzy drinks for their children.

Segregation:

However, for green workers or street beautifiers to work efficiently and effectively, segregation of waste from the source is very important. It is the best way to minimise the amount of wastes going to the landfill or dumping site. Each household should be educated on the need and method to segregate wastes into organic and inorganic, recyclable and non-recyclable and to keep them in different coloured bags. The waste collectors also need to have compartmentalised tractors for collection. However, during the process of segregation, a third category of considerable amount of mixed wastes will be found. This cannot be composted nor recycled and should be transported to the dumping sites. The Green workers committee should be provided with a decent size plot with proper shelter for keeping the recyclable wastes, which will be later transported to buyers.

Composting:

The organic wastes could be converted into manure through composting. DoH has given workshop on different types of composting and quite a few families are even practising it. The other organic wastes like food leftovers are being fed to cattle. For developing community composting, a decent and properly fenced plot is needed, which can be sold to few organic farmers to generate revenue.

Conclusion:

To have a proper solid waste management system in the Tibetan settlements, it is imperative to have more education programme. It is also important to have a local community based green workers committee and employ only Tibetans for the job. Discussions need to be held on providing facilities like plot for landfill, safekeeping of recyclable wastes, transportation and tools. The committee also need to explore the possibility of finding agencies in the nearby town or city. Some of the local Indian buyers do not accept plastic water bottle and cups but there are buyers in the town or cities. If possible there should be efforts in banning polythene bags, cups and Styrofoam cups and plates in the settlements. Efforts should be also made in educating and finding alternatives at monasteries and households while making offerings (tsok) which always come in plastic bags and tsok materials are all in plastic wrappings, which are not recyclable in India. Among the five Tibetan settlements in South India, the current practice at Dogueling is closest to achieving a zero-waste community, which still has room for improvement. The current practices in other settlements need to be completely changed with continued education and initiatives.

Thinley Norbu (Mr.)
Programme Director
Tesi Environmental Awareness Movement
Dharamsala