Technical Session – Hall No.

6, 20th November 2008

SANITATION BEYOND TOILETS

“Sanitation” cannot be limited to toilets. A holistic definition of sanitation includes safe water, liquid
and solid waste management, environmental cleanliness and personal hygiene. sanitation” cannot be
limited to toilets. A holistic definition of sanitation includes safe water, liquid and solid waste
management, environmental cleanliness and personal hygiene. Failing to ensure any one of these can
have direct implications on the individual/family/community health.

The session on “Sanitation beyond toilets” addressed these very issues related to solid and liquid
waste management, use of waste (human and animal) for generating power and awareness generation
and capacity building on innovative clean technologies.

The session was chaired by Mr. Gauri Shankar Ghosh who has been the Ex-Director of the Rajiv
Gandhi Drinking Water Mission (RGDWM) and was co-chaired by Mr. Dara Johnston, WES
Specialist, UNICEF.

The session was divided into three thematic sections, namely,

- Climate Change and Sanitation – Clean Development Mechanisms and Carbon Credits

- “Waste” to “Wealth” - Liquid and Solid Waste Management

- EcoSan – Education and capacity building on Ecosan

The format of the session was in the form of presentations followed by discussions.

I. Climate Change and Sanitation

Presenters:

1. Mr. Kumar Alok, Secretary, Government of Tripura, India: Green Financing of Sustainable
Sanitation Systems, New Opportunities

2. Mr. Prakash Lamichane, BSP, Promotion of biogas from animal and human excreta

Presentations:

Green Financing of Sustainable Sanitation Systems

• The present focus is largely on “toilets” and “safe disposal of excreta”. Little or no attention is
being paid to liquid and solid waste management. There has also been very limited focus on
“recycling and reuse” and on extraction of the economic value of waste.

• There are definite linkages between sanitation and climate change. All human activities
including defecation release green house gases (GHGs) and are causing to global warming
and climate change.

• The Climate Change Market Based Mechanisms allow developed countries to invest in
carbon emission reduction (CER) projects in developing countries and these credits can be
traded and sold. This is the first environment investment and credit scheme.

• India has the largest number of CDM projects but accounts for 25 percent of the CER
earnings
Technical Session – Hall No. 6, 20th November 2008

• Opportunities in the sanitation sector

o Only 20 percent of the CER projects are in “waste management and disposal”

o All organic matter when decomposed releases Carbon dioxide and methane and these
are green house gases

o Methane which is potentially most dangerous is a good source of energy

o Systematic efforts aimed at methane avoidance and extractionare likely to earn

carbon credits. Globally there are 300 such projects

o Green house gas emissions can be reduced if we move from open defecation to leach
pit toilets and further to toilet linked to bio gas units.

o Need to tap CDM revenue for sustainable implementation of sanitation

• Advantages

o Reduction in Green house gases.

o Additional revenues,

o New advocacy tools

o Economically viable sanitation program

Promotion of biogas from animal and human excreta

• The Biogas Support Program (BSP) was initiated in 1992 and now covers 72 districts in
Nepal.

• Benefits of toilet attached bio gas plant

o Bio gas is a clean energy source.

o It is an alternative for fire wood and thus helps stop deforestation

o Since women and young girls were primarily involved in cutting fire wood and
carrying it over long distances they are relieved of this burden with a toilet attached to
a bio gas plant.

o The slurry from a bio gas plant is an organic fertilizer which has been known to
improve agricultural yields

o Reduction in Green House Gas Emissions

• Attempts are being made to integrate solid waste management with such bio gas plants

Discussion

• A bio gas plants has been designed for human and animal excreta known as the dinbandhu
Model in Midnapore district.

• Bio gas plant based only on human excreta is known not to be sustainable and always needs
other bio matter.
Technical Session – Hall No. 6, 20th November 2008

• Pathogens are destroyed in a bio plant as the temperature inside the chamber is usually over
55 degree centigrade.
Technical Session – Hall No. 6, 20th November 2008

II. Waste to Wealth

Presenters:

1. Mr. Chandrasekaran Srinivasan, Integrated and sustainable solid and liquid waste
management

2. Mr. P. Alegesan, MYRADA, Integrated Rural Waste Management Approach, Erode Model

Presentations:

Exnora Green Cross

• Garbage is an important yet neglected source of energy. When harnessed effectively it can
solve many of our present energy / power woes.

• The Zero Waste Management (ZWM) program has the following inter linked components:
waste collection (segregation of waste at source), cleaning unit, secondary segregation (wet,
dry and food waste), tertiary segregation (recyclable, re-usable and non recyclable) , cattle
shed, vermi-composting, drying unit, liquid waste management, office administration (self
help federation),composting

• Women Self Help Groups own the projects

• Awareness was a very important component of the project and was aimed at telling the target
population what could be done with waste and what exnora was planning to do to get the
community’s buy in into the process.

• The project has led to – job creation, protection of the environment, economic growth

“Integrated Rural Waste Management Approach, Erode Model

• Integration of household and farm waste

• In order to ensure that the households / families get involved an awareness generation
campaign was launched which included exposure visits

• The initiative covered all households an covered all waste – household, ECOSAN waste and
other waste from the cow shed and agricultural fields.

• Panchagavya (fermented from cow dung, cow urine, etc) is an eco friendly growth promoter
known to increase agricultural productivity

• What has the program achieved - reduction in use of chemical fertilizers, higher income,
cleaner environment.

• Covers forty three villages with an integrated development approach including sanitation,
kitchen gardening, EcoSAN, cow shed, rain water harvesting, etc.
Technical Session – Hall No. 6, 20th November 2008

III. EcoSAN

Presenters:

1. Mr. Dayanand Panse & Shreevidya Satish, EcoSan Services Foundation, Large Scale
Capacity building project in India

2. Dr. Shyamala Mani, CEE, Education for addressing challenges in sanitation in India.

Presentations:

EcoSan Capacity Building Program

• EcoSan is a concept based on “waste” to wealth.

• There was a need to promote awareness on EcoSan to all stakeholders including policy
makers, governments, media, and the public

• A major limitation was a lack of qualified local professionals to promote the Ecosan concept.
A massive capacity building program was launched. Innovative Ecological

• The training program details

o Issues covered - technological options, social and institutional aspects, health and
project management,

o International team of Ecosan experts are sourced as resource persons.

o Teaching Methodologies – lectures, group work, field visits, role play, case studies.

o Certificate and Expert card are given out at the end of the course

o Refresher courses

Mr. Dara summarized the deliberations of the session and said that the current mindset of “flush and
forget” has to be transformed into “wealth from waste”. This he said would require sustained capacity
building inputs for all stakeholders and awareness generation among the public.

Mr. Gauri Shankar Ghosh concluded the deliberations in the session saying that there is enough
traditional knowledge on waste management in the region and it was time proper attention was given
to initiatives that have been successful in creating ‘wealth’ from ‘waste’. He also stressed upon the
need for integrating public health and safety measures for the people handling waste in such
initiatives. Mr. Ghosh also stated that there is a need to deepen our understanding on the linkages
between climate change and sanitation and to use the same for advocating policy change on
sanitation.