COOLING AGENTSClimate : Justice and

Victims

April 7th 2010

Solid Waste and Disasters

• Slow accumulating :

Surat

• Seem like freak

incidents : Payatas

• Exacerbate : Mumbai

• Slow toxics : Dioxins

• Unreported : Hastsal

Climate Change, India, and

Waste Concurrent growth in population, urbanization, and GDP

Third largest emitter of GHGs in the world

5% of global total

Low per-capita emissions

Rising emissions from waste sector

Over 30% rise in GHGs from waste since 1995

Proportion of overall emissions from waste: 6.7%

Emissions from waste are twice the regional average

Delhi/India

• 8000 tons of waste

per day

• 3 landfills

• 150,000 informal

sector recyclers

• 2000 tons recycled

everyday

• 2500 tons of plastic

recycled everyday

• 100,000 tons per day

• 20,000% increase in

landfill space 1947-

1997

• 10% per annum

increase in plastics

since 1996 (50% in

packaging)

• Appx. 1 million

informal recyclers

Case Study : Delhi’s Recyclers • Many have been around for decades

(average is 14 years)

• Most are poor, but most touch minimum

wages during peak season

•Save appx. Rs. 1,20,00,000 daily to

government

•Almost all live in sub-standard housing with

poor access to clean water/energy

•Illness prevelant : 82% of the women

acutely anemic in New Delhi.

•Save appx. 3.6 times more GHG than any

other CDM waste project in India

How Recycling Works

• Reprocessors

• Large Scrap Dealers

• Small Scrap Dealers

• Itinerant Buyers

• Wastepickers/Doorste

p Collectors

Who Are These Recyclers? • Rural, marginal,

dislocated, often due

to landlessness and

agricultural crisis.

• Mostly adults, mostly

Dalits and Muslims.

• Continue to be

marginalized on

account of their work,

seen as polluted.

• Ironic in a climate

justice framework

Solid Waste and GHGs

Three key GHGs from MSW: CO2, CH4, & N20

Emissions from MSW must be viewed on a life cycle basis

Waste management affects both upstream and downstream emissions

Informal Recycling Sector in Delhi accounts for

estimated net GHG reductions of 962,133 TCO2e

each year

What We Found

What We Really Found

Conservative Estimates? Based on MSW generation rate of 8,500 tones per day

Doesn’t account for recyclables in the waste stream that

are removed and recycled before the level of the dhalao

Doesn’t account for informal sector direct composting,

animal feed or segregation for later composting at dhalaos

Only uses published recycling rates or national averages

for each stream recycled by informal sector

Material-specific emissions factors tailored to US national

average conditions, which are certainly different than India

No landfill gas recovery systems in Delhi, so diversion to

landfill has greater impact.

India’s Northern Grid is more carbon-intensive than US

average (60% in Northern India to 40% in the US)

They Said It

“While the informal sector is

the backbone of India’s

highly successful recycling

system, unfortunately a

number of municipal

regulations impede the

operation of the recyclers,

owing to which they remain

at a tiny scale without

access to finance or

improved recycling

technologies” - NAPCC

Climate Justice

Ap

pro

ve recyclin

g m

eth

od

olo

gies

CDM Executive Board

India’s CDM Designated

National Authority

Central Pollution

Control Board

Civic Authorities

In-kind compensation (space for

livelihoods, door-to-door contracts,

licenses for small junk dealers);

incentives for composting

Develop material-specific emissions

factors; improve data transparency

and specificity; undertake study on

informal sector recycling rates

No WTE projects that compete with

informal sector for waste; press

CDM for methodologies; expand

portfolio for recycling and

composting

Conclusions

• In India, informal sector waste recyclers

are an important factor in mitigating

disasters

• Unfortunately, they are also victims of

ecological crises

• Their marginal urban conditions makes

them vulnerable to disasters

• Climate justice must include them