INDIA WANTS ITS CITIES TO BE CLEAN: ECOSTAR’S TECHNOLOGIES ARE HERE TO EASE THE JOB
Ecostar will participate in IFAT India from October 17 to 19, 2023. Click here and book a meeting at booth A015 – HALL 3. Our experts in India will be at your disposal to discuss your material needs in depth.
In a previous article, we discovered some of Asia’s waste management systems, took a look at the current most stringent issues nations are facing, and saw some examples of countries that have made progress in collecting and recovering waste, seen as forward-thinking. Today we are taking you to India, where the Swachh Bharat Mission (India’s pledge to accelerate its transition to effective Solid Waste Management) – is already progressing and has started to deliver results. From how municipal solid waste is handled today to the Swachh Bharat Mission objectives and current initiatives to how Ecostar’s dynamic disc screening technology has been delivering results in the Indian market, becoming the desired solution for the screening of Municipal Solid Waste mainly.
Some interesting data on the current Indian solid waste management market
India has been facing for many years a lot of challenges when it comes to waste collection and management. Most of them are because of a lack of policies, inefficiency in handling waste or the inability to deliver social awareness programs for its inhabitants, and lack of infrastructure and technologies. All of that led to a weak collection and recovery rate. Corroborated to a population that is constantly growing – India is the second most populous country in the world, with a population that in 2020 amounted to 1,380 billion, the situation gets a bit more complicated.
Studies show that around 0,15 million tonnes of municipal solid waste are generated daily by urban India alone, while 62 million tonnes of waste are generated annually. Of those, only 68% is collected and 28% is recycled or converted into energy, while the rest ends up in dumpsites or is openly burned. Thus, one can understand the need for having a national program such as the Swachh Bharat Mission implemented, otherwise the volume of waste would be soon enough out of control and projected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2031 and 436 million tonnes by 2050.
While the entire waste management system is weak (according to the World Bank data, 75% of the solid waste in India was open dumped in 2016 and only 5% was recycled) plastic and food waste are two of the most critical issues in India. 3.5 million tonnes of plastic waste are generated annually, while each person throws away around 50 kg of food per year adding to the 40% of food that is wasted before reaching the consumer. Know that the organic waste counts for 40 to 60% of the total municipal solid waste.
The Swachh Bharat Mission
Launched in 2014, the mission has produced by now some positive results, but to sustain them a 2.0 phase was launched in October 2021, set to strengthen the objectives of the program and achieve an ultimate goal – Garbage free cities. It’s a five-year plan set to:
- Accelerate door-to-door waste collection that has proven to work and reach a 100% collection rate
- Put more emphasis on the source segregation of waste into wet and dry fractions
- Conversion of waste into value-added products
- Effective management of construction and demolition waste
- Reduction in single-waste plastic
- Remediation of legacy dumpsites and conversion into green areas
The good news is that some of the initiatives have already started to be implemented. For example, this July, India imposed a ban on single-use plastic such as straws, cutlery, packaging films, or candy sticks. Of course, plastic producers and manufacturers were not happy and requested to not restrict some of the mentioned items, stating they were not given enough time to prepare and adapt to such change, but the law has been enforced.
What about the co-processing-cement plants / RDF?
Achieving the set objectives will not be easy, and will not be done overnight, that is a fact that the cement industry in India has understood. Thus, in the past years, the industry has proven to be a viable solution to prevent non-recyclable waste from ending up in landfills while transforming it into alternative fuel and reducing the use of fossil fuels.
In India, the non-recyclable / combustible (RDF) fraction accounts for 10%-20% of the composition of the MSW, data from the Swachh Bharat Mission shows.
However, as lots of the MSW is still not segregated at the source, the waste that ends up in the plants has high moisture content and thus a low calorific value, meaning a much lower quality of the RDF. One solution to getting a higher quality RDF is an accurate separation of the organic fraction that can be done with a two or three-fraction separation technology. A solution that Ecostar has been successfully providing to the Indian market for 10 years now which has proven its effectiveness again and again.
How did the dynamic disc screening technology become the preferred solution for India’s waste?
Ecostar has been supporting the Indian recycling industry since 2012 when the first stationary dynamic disc screen, Hexact, entered the market. The needs of the operator regarding the screener were clear: high-quality separation of the wet and dry fractions to produce RDF and a machine that would perform well with wet materials due to the high moisture content and, at the same time, would handle materials that tended to twist or clog the system. A system that was capable to treat around 30 T/H, about 280 days/year. That’s how Ecostar’s collaboration with Indian operators started, by providing an Hexact 5000 that would work in a cement plant in Madhya Pradesh, in line with an M&J shredder and treating MSW to be turned into RDF. What made the client trust our system to provide him with the best separation results possible?
- The Dynamic Disc Screen technology thanks to which the materials are screened faster (1m / sec) reaching a productivity level up to 60 T/H. The technology is so efficient that it allows the installation of low-power 7.5 kW electric motors, translating into -70 % energy consumption compared to traditional screening technologies.
- The high-quality components and materials with which the screen is build meaning a long lifecycle, thus reduction in maintenance costs and maximum reliability.
- The machine can be configured with different disc sizes to screen at best the specific material, whether it is MSW, organic waste, or commercial and industrial waste.
- -300/ less fixed overhead costs, enabled by the compactness of the screen that requires less space and fewer investment costs.
- The anti-wrapping and anti-clogging system that reduces the chances of the material to wrap around the discs.
Today, the Hexact is still working at the same capacity of 30T/H. We have nearly 50 screening machines working in different cement plants around India, providing high-quality separation of old and new MSW. The dynamic disc screen continues to perform at high levels and provides operators with optimal results both in terms of separation and capacity.
The Ecostar screeners are known for treating at best MSW, RDF, organic waste, commercial and industrial waste, ashes, and C&D. Thus, come by the Ecostar stand to meet our experts that can provide you with insights and solutions to best treat your material. Click here to request more information about Ecostar’s screening machines.
