Hyderabad: The three-day international conference on solid waste management was held at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU). The seventh IconSWM 2017 discussed various issues related to the municipal and industrial waste management and sustainable processes, including segregation, collection, transportation, treatment technologies, policies and strategies, energy recovery, lifecycle analysis, climate change, circular economy, research and business opportunities. About 600 delegates from 30 countries participated in the event.
Addressing the conference, B. Janardhan Reddy, GHMC commissioner, said that even after distributing 44 lakh dustbins and 2,000 swachh auto tippers to lift the door-to-door garbage, city sanitation has not improved to the desired level. He said that waste disposal management has turned a major concern for all corporations. He said the getting a better ranking in the Swachh Survekshan has become more tough.
However, the GHMC chief received IconSWM 2017 award for debris management in the city even though it is not implemented in the ground level. About 38 schools across Telangana competed in the event by giving various presentations for implementing effective solid waste management policies.
Prof. Sadhan K Ghosh, chairman, IconSWM, said that India is making a paradigm shift with respect to the waste management. The rules pertaining to waste management have been revised on the circular economy models. Problem of waste management in India primarily lies in poor segregation of waste. Other participants said that the Swachha Bharat Mission (SBM), flagged off on October 2, 2014, is considered as the country’s biggest-ever cleanliness drive, costing over $10,600 million for five years involving 4,041 towns.
