every day each of us generates 600 grams
of waste
might not sound like much until you add
it up that's 226 kilos a year so what
happens to this waste once we send it
out of our homes and our offices take
Bangalore for example 68 percent of the
city's daily waste is wet waste if it is
properly segregated and processed it can
power our homes even fewer the city's
buses but as individuals and businesses
we've had no control over waste
management and no way to participate in
a more sustainable waste management
system I think when we first started out
we never segregated and then BBMP
started making noises about segregation
and then we felt okay let's it's time to
start this but we also felt that even if
even though we segregated we thought
that the people who were picking up a
probably mixing it all up that was a
problem secondly it was difficult to get
us staff to consistently segregate it
properly
and third was we won't show where this
garbage was going to end up in 2012
major cities of the world generated
about 1.3 billion tons of solid waste if
all this waste was loaded onto trucks
standing in a line that line would be so
long that it would go around the earth
13 times by 2025 these cities will be
generating 2.2 billion tons of waste
every year looks like that line of
trucks just about doubled how are we
going to deal with all this waste if we
don't take responsibility
ronita Saxena is an impact entrepreneur
transforming the way India is managing
its waste
she and her team at citizen gate have
already diverted over 15,000 tons of
waste from landfills and 86% of the
total waste they've collected has been
recycled citizen gauge is making India
the first country in the world to trace
what happens to every bit of waste that
is produced and actually have a system
to use it I think this is an amazing
story and I'm excited to meet her at the
red bangle studio to find out what her
pursuit is all about
this awesome video is from Red Bank a
global video agency email us on hello at
red bangle calm
meet the woman who was solving the
world's waste crisis right also what
actually happens to waste when it leaves
my home my apartment what is happening
is if you're lucky it'll end up in a
landfill hopefully somewhere up from
your house otherwise just a few streets
away in an empty plot so how much of our
waste actually goes to a landfill today
about 90% and let's be clear landfill is
just a glorified term for a ditch in the
ground where the waste is just sitting
there causing groundwater contamination
when it lights on fire causing air
pollution and the 10% that is being
recycled in some way is done so by RAC
because who are putting their health at
risk and have a life expectancy of less
than 39 years I don't think that's
really a system yeah I've worked I mean
I've lived and worked with rock because
and I'm stood in a landfill so I know
what it is you can't stand there for
more than a few minutes I have no idea
how people go in there pick up stuff to
recycle out of a landfill it's an
absolutely nauseating there on certain
substances to be able to do that
unfortunately so that this is why
there's a whole host of health issues
around the supposed system of recycling
that we have that I mean some people
glorify but I don't really see it as a
sustainable system so how are you and
the team at citizen gauge actually
helping India trace every bit of waste
and use it the first step is to go in
and create standards and train people as
to how wastes should be managed within a
specific facility so my team is actually
going and telling you where to place
bins what should go in them what size
they should be so on and so forth
next we actually sign up all the
facilities we can access that can use
any bit of waste so that can be a biogas
plant that can take in food waste
produce energy it can be a composting
facility it can be a recycling center so
this is where we've created the grid now
transferring waste from someone who's
producing it and has kept it separated
do any of these facilities is run in an
uber like fashion by engaging the
informal sector in dignified jobs with
GPS tracking on the vehicle
we have a real-time operations team that
is managing each transfer today citizen
gage works with nearly 50,000 people and
over 300 businesses to divert 15000 tons
of waste from landfills their process
has had an unprecedented 95 percent
compliance I'd been with the highest
anywhere in the world now what happens
to your waste once you've got the
segregation right well waste collectors
use a citizen gage app to transport your
waste in a smart goober like man your
wet waste goes into a local biogas plant
where it is converted into LPG and
compost and the dry waste is further
segregated at sorting centers and center
recycling facilities or incinerators and
that's how we can save plenty of
resources from going to landfills
getting citizen gage on board has
finally helped us with one reliability
and pickup of garbage second they audit
our garbage the auditor processes to
ensure that segregation
reliably within our organization third
it gives us peace of mind
aware of garbage actually ends up and we
can actually Jack is actually enough so
Prater how are you using technology to
help me as a consumer know what is
happening with my waste and to know that
my waste is not going to a landfill sure
so the main product that we have for
people who produce waste is basically a
scorecard
now that's coca tells you what is the
potential in your waste based on what
you're actually producing and our study
of your waste profile
what happened operationally did your
security guard fall asleep you couldn't
access the waste we had a vehicle issue
so we had to schedule a later pickup all
of this is on that scorecard most
importantly if you're in a apartment
complex for example it actually breaks
out what was the level of compliance of
every single household in your building
if you're a restaurant we actually do
digital blueprinting where we can tell
you which bin in which section and even
for corporates we can gamify this whole
thing and you know bitch accounts
against product against you know finance
or whoever team is Magra gating its
waste properly exactly and there's that
is the biggest problem isn't it once
it's aggregated it becomes a little
easier to then manage it absolutely so
based on how well you segregate if you
have a system like ours where we utilize
every ounce of waste then your
segregation behavior determines your
carbon footprint
the citizen gates scorecard gives you a
detailed view on how recyclable your
waste is and how much of your waste was
actually transformed into a resource
they call this the waste to resource
profile so how do you improve your waste
to resource profile to segregate your
waste correctly and that's a great start
with such data on our waste and waste
habits citizen gage can help local
governments deal with the garbage crisis
and even plan infrastructure for the
future I think before citizen gage no
one was collecting this data and we
didn't see the potential for data in
transforming our waste management
systems today if we know what kind of
material is sitting where and what can
be done with it we actually have the
capability to make that match happen for
its conversion into some recycled
product or something new and the way we
use technology because we're a platform
there's multiple layers of technology so
first of course we use applications
internal and external to produce data
around what is happening at every
location the next layer is really around
sensors where we cannot rely on someone
punching in information it's not
realistic in those cases we're relying
on a range of sensors and the last piece
of this is actually innovation on the
integration of processing technology so
today you have to go by solar technology
wind technology biogas technology all
separately with this new technology
planter ship that we have we can
actually have one decentralized unit
that is customized to your energy
footprint at a particular site utilizing
your food waste your bio hazardous waste
and your sewage even to produce gas to
produce electricity to produce heat and
even biochar that can be pelletized and
given to other industries India let's be
honest we don't even have a very well
functioning centralised system so we can
get to decentralized solutions much
faster here and I think that's really
the opportunities all sort of leapfrog
leapfrog to the future exactly we are
actually beating resource recovery even
in the most advanced
economies in the world because now we
are better positioned do not just talk
about circular economies like the Europe
is doing they can run a pilot here and
there we can build recycling economies
at a city level at a country level at an
industry level what's the hardest thing
about about working in waste management
so I think for being an impact on Suppan
on waste management in India today I
mean I didn't know anything about waste
I literally didn't know I studied
economics and this is something that
requires math chemistry biology physics
all these kinds of different skills and
I think there's not really a model to
look to saying the hardest thing about
working in waste management today and
moving from waste sort of recycling
economies is figuring out so much that
you have to learn to be able to innovate
I suppose what is the funniest thing
that's happened when you've worked with
waste okay so one night I you know got
all dressed up to go to one of our
restaurants as a customer and you know I
just put on my makeup jewelry everything
whatever despite that I get to the
restaurant and the magic madam vase this
side in the back madam wastes like mad
no matter what I do everybody can take
me to the trash oh yes so all my friends
is various garbage Queen trash lady
trash talk Ida there's I don't know an
endless list of nicknames related to
garbage and me so what's your big goal
for 2025 with citizen gauge so by 2025
god please I hope we have expanded into
multiple cities we are actually she's
running cities isn't across the globe I
also would love for us to have actually
realized this wasted resource grid with
decentralized processing I just want to
show the world that we can utilize every
piece of ways that you're producing and
that you as the facility owner as a
brand can make the choice to invest in
renewable energy and will run the plants
for you so just why aren't we all doing
this right now so I I hope by 2025 we're
all doing it if you live in a large
residential
work in a large Business Park or run
large business operations you should get
in touch with Susan gage it's time you
and I became part of a sustainable waste
management solution I hope you enjoyed
the episode do like and share this
inspiring story we've got many more
coming your way thanks for watching
you
