Sorting college waste into green, blue and black bins, and a plan for collection and disposal

Introduction

Segregation means keeping different kinds of waste apart at the point where they are thrown away, so that each can be treated in the right way. The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 require every waste generator to keep its waste in three streams, biodegradable, non-biodegradable and domestic hazardous, and to hand it over separately (rule 4). Following the club's format, the three bins are used as below.

• Green bin: wet, biodegradable waste (food and plant matter).
• Blue bin: dry waste that can be recycled (paper, plastic, glass, metal, cloth).
• Black bin: other waste, in two lots kept apart: domestic hazardous waste in a closed box of its own, and wrapped dry waste that cannot be recycled.

Segregation table

Notes on the table

• Egg shells, like leftover food and vegetable matter, count as wet garbage.
• Expired medicines and used batteries are named in the Rules as domestic hazardous waste, so they must never go with ordinary garbage. Blades go with them, wrapped, because they can injure the people who handle waste. Rule 4(1)(a) makes domestic hazardous waste a stream of its own; the format here has three bins, so the black column carries it beside the rejects, but the two are not mixed: these items stay in their closed box and are handed over separately (step 5 of the plan).
• Used sanitary pads must be wrapped securely (in the pouch supplied or in paper) before they are binned, and placed in the bin for dry or non-biodegradable waste, as rule 4(1)(b) requires; they are not recyclable, so here they go with the rejects in the black bin.
• A broken clay or ceramic pot does not rot and cannot be recycled, so it is inert waste for the black bin.
• Used cloth is listed among recyclables, with paper, plastic, metal and glass, that can be sorted for recyclers.
• The Rules themselves colour bins green for biodegradable waste, white for recyclable waste and black for other waste; the blue bin here plays the role of the white one.
• Garden waste is biodegradable, so the table shows it under green, but rule 4(1)(d) has it stored separately on the premises and disposed of as the local body directs: it goes in a heap of its own beside the compost pits, not in the canteen's food bins.

My plan for collection and disposal in the college

1. Bins at every point of waste. Place a set of the three colour-coded bins, clearly labelled with pictures, in the canteen, corridors, library, hostel and staff room, and put a small closed box for hazardous items near the office.
2. Awareness. Run a short drive each semester: posters of this table, a demonstration at the canteen and volunteers beside the bins in the first weeks. Mixed bins are checked and the class concerned is told.
3. Composting on campus. A college is a bulk waste generator once its waste averages more than 100 kg a day, and institutions with more than 5,000 square metres of area must, within a year of the Rules being notified and working with the local body, segregate at source and process biodegradable waste within the premises as far as possible. The green-bin waste and garden waste will go to compost pits or a vermi-compost pit: a pit lined with dry leaves, fed with organic waste, given a culture of worms, kept moist and turned regularly, which yields compost in about 45 days. The compost is used in the college garden.
4. Recyclables. Blue-bin waste is weighed and handed to authorised waste pickers or a registered recycler, and the money raised goes to the club; this also supports the people who earn from recycling.
5. Hazardous and reject waste. Black-bin waste is never burnt on campus. Medicines, batteries and blades are handed over separately to the collector or centre named by the local body, and the remaining reject waste goes to the municipal collection as dry waste.
6. Reduce first. The canteen serves in washable plates and cups, students carry their own bottles, and notices go online, so that less waste is made at all.
7. Monitoring. The club keeps a monthly record of how much of each kind is collected, composted and recycled, and reports it to the principal.

Conclusion

With three clearly labelled bins, a little training and on-site composting, most of the college's waste can be composted or recycled; only the small share of hazardous and reject waste needs to leave the campus for safe disposal.