Zero Waste Kovalum, Kerala: Meeting with Jayakumar Chelaton Director of Thanal & visit to the Zero Waste Centre
The Zero Waste Centre in Kovalum comprises micro enterprises making products from waste materials and a training centre to support such enterprise development. A great project has evolved with a fascinating story that in 2007 resulted in the President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, releasing an action plan declaring a vision for Zero Waste in Kovalum by 2012.
Zero Waste Kovalum
Kerela became a popular tourist destination in the 1980’s and with no physical or regulatory infrastructure to handle the increase in tourism the rubbish mounted up. By the late 1990’s the number of tourists dropped significantly due to the pollution caused by mounds of garbage and plastic bag clogged cesspools. So in 1998 a 30 tonne/day incinerator was proposed by the Department of Tourism to deal with the waste problem.
At this time Thanal a small biodiversity conservation NGO were working with 25-30 villages negatively affected by Endosulfan a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP), this chemical spray causes endocrine disruption, birth defects and cancer). Thanal were looking for academic research to enable them to undertake an epidemiological study which ultimately would result in the ban of this toxic chemical. Their research networked them with the Stockholm Convention network, and to a conference where they found the academic research they needed and were introduced to toxicology, pollution related issues, campaigning and advocacy.
In 1999 alongside Greenpeace and Equations, Thanal launched a campaign against the Kovalum incinerator, this would change the face of waste in Kerala. The campaign was local and grassroots and also called on international support, a successful approach, resulting in Kerala Tourism Department shelving the scheme in 2000, and encouraging Thanal and Greenpeace to come up with a progressive solution to deal with the waste problem in Kovalum.
By 2000 Zero Waste Kovalum was conceived at Waste Not Asia, a conference on alternatives and what they could look like, Zero Waste Kovalum would be the pilot project that would demonstrate what was possible within a locality. The leaders of Thanal envisioned a solution that didn't just seek to find a place to store waste, but to design waste out of the system through a combination of waste prevention, re-use, recycling, and composting. Later in the year at Johannesburg GAIA (Global Anti Incineration Alliance www.no-burn.org) was formed and pledged their support to Kovalum.
Thanal are not a grassroots operational organisation, they work on strategic interventions and policy tools to achieve their goals; running an operational pilot project was out of the ordinary for them. However, they utilised their skills and set about documenting international scenarios, drawing on best practice models and Zero Waste experts, including the ‘mother’ of Zero Waste Kerala, Annie Leonard (www.storyofstuff.com) who continues to provide them with support and expertise.
In 2001 funds were secured to undertake a nine month study into waste generation and disposal patterns, this enabled the impact of the monsoon and tourist seasons to be accounted for and also highlighted the dubious waste generation data presented by the incinerator industry (estimated at 30 tonnes/day, the actual figure was considerably less, with almost 4 tonnes/day of biodegradable waste from 100 hotels and restaurants).
Thanal, Greenpeace, Kerela Hotel & Restaurants Association, and Dept of Tourism then organised skills share, Towards Zero Waste Kovalum. Kovalum stakeholders were engaged and experts were brought in, the result the start of a Zero Waste plan that focused on upstream management of waste and recyclables. For example: Cleaning the water supply & providing potable water and refillable bottles, thereby preventing the generation of plastic bottle waste. Biogas plants for handling biodegradable materials, and women’s groups expressing an interest in producing replacements for plastic products using natural locally available materials.
This 2 day engagement and planning event raised some interesting points. After thirty years of tourism, there had been no opportunity for women, they were cleaners and a lucky few receptionists, they wanted opportunity for enterprise, a gender balance and to reclaim the beach –a social revolution was emerging. All that was missing was a delivery vehicle for these pilot projects, Thanal were not an operational organisation in this sense, and felt that they had no expertise to deliver, but with no other contenders they were the obvious choice.
Ther Kovalum Resource Recovery Programme has two components, Resource Recovery Parks for non-biodegradables and biogas plants for biodegradables. Between 2003 – 2006 Thanal set up 3 biogas plants, vermin-composting (worms) and composting projects, 25 out of the 100 hotels and restaurants were cooperating. Others that were difficult to engage included lease hold establishments and small operators. All other waste that was collected prior to Thanals pilots was taken to a failing centralised composting facility that accepted mixed residual waste.
Post 2006, Thanal had demonstrated the art of the possible, convinced the council that there were some viable projects and solutions, Thanal then withdrew, needing to focus on their research, development and advocacy work so the delivery of the programme was now left to the council and contractors. Thanal have continued to support local sustainable organic agriculture, providing training and support to local communities.
Thanal’s approach has been strategic, post 2006 this was much easier as they were not involved in day to day delivery, Thanal won over the support of local politician and educated and engaged the community. Their strategic interventions resulted in policy changes, fiscal incentives, strategy documents and implementation plans, best practice manuals and the roll out of the programme to Kerala and 5 other regions – with a focus on rural employment, tourism and waste management. Thanal were able to achieve in one year what had taken 5 years in Kovalum.
- Implementing facilities that use biodegradable wastes from hotels to generate electricity. The facilities separate biodegradable discards, and then instead of tossing them into a stinky landfill, uses them in a fermentation process to generate methane gas (bio-gas), which then can be used in a generator to produce electricity. The initiative convinced hotels to operate in clusters and set up three bio-gas units that diverted one ton of garbage per day from the landfill into meeting energy needs. There are now more than 25 such facilities in municipalities throughout the state.
- Creating a Zero Waste Center to make sustainable materials. The Center promotes handmade products made from paper, jute, coconut shells, and cloth discards as substitutes for plastics and other unsustainable materials. Three entrepreneurial units now are run by local women who make the products and sell them to local restaurants and hotels to replace disposable plastics, and to tourists as souvenirs. The Center has generated 200 jobs, a significant number for this small community.
- Promoting Zero Waste principles for the broader community. Education is a key component of the Zero Waste plan. Education campaigns are aimed at hotels, local vendors, and schoolchildren. The project also educates tourists, with the intention that they will take these concepts and practices back to their home countries and states, which tend to have even greater waste and consumption problems than those in Kovalam.
International POPs Elimination Programme Case Study of Zero Waste Kovalum: A progressive waste management programme with focus on the best available technology options and materials substitution www.ipen.org
A Handbook on Waste Management in Rural Tourism Areas: A Zero Waste Approach
http://chm.pops.int/Portals/0/docs/batbep/sao_paulo/2_Resources/Handbook%20on%20Waste%20Management_A%20zero%20waste%20approach/Handbook%20on%20Zero%20Waste.pdf
ZERO WASTE CENTRE
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