Welcome back! In this module we will be presenting a case study of composting. For this, I would like to welcome Maqsood Sinha and Iftekhar Enayetullah from Bangladesh. They are the founders and directors of the Waste Concern Group. Waste Concern is a social business enterprise, with a for-profit, and a non-profit section. And they will be sharing some of their experiences with composting, particularly on a large scale composting project in Bhulta at the outskirts of Dhaka. So now, the floor to Maksood and Iftekhar. Solid waste management is a huge problem in Bangladesh, mainly because of the rapid population growth, as well as also the economic growth in Bangladesh. In 1991, as per our estimate, 6,500 tons of solid waste were generated per day, and in 2014, based on the study of this concern, we have found that total waste generation is around 24,000 tons per day. And the volume estimation, by 2020/2025, of the daily waste generation in urban Bangladesh would be around 47,000 tons per day. Dakha city is divided into two parts, North and South. 4,200 tons of solid waste is a combined total for both the cities. If we look at the composition of this waste, in Dhaka, around 70% of this waste is organic in nature. In terms of collection efficiency, the cities are able to collect around 50% of the generated waste per day. If we look at the solid waste management process in Dhaka, waste is collected from the containers by the municipality, and open dustbins, then transported by the municipal trucks and there is disposed in the landfills. There, different kinds of problems can happen. One of the major problems is that the landfills are not designed properly, there is greenhouse gas emission, mainly methane. Since the landfills are not properly designed and it's not a sanitary landfill site, there is an issue of ground water pollution and surface water pollution from the leachate. More land is required because it's an end of the pipe solution. There's an increasing waste management cost, and the way the entire waste is managed in Dhaka, and also in other municipalities of Bangladesh, can cause health hazards. The project which Waste Concern is implementing in Dhaka and also in other parts of Bangladesh, is based on the 3 R approach. We are promoting segregation of waste. Segregated waste is collected from the source, then is transported by the trucks, and then taken to a compost plant, where it is recycled through an aerobic composting process. The project we are implementing in Dhaka is the first large-scale registered CDM-project, where we are claiming carbon credits for recycling of organic waste. Another project we are doing is reducing greenhouse gas emission by avoiding waste from landfill sites. It is saving the cost and reducing pollution, it is reducing the need for land, creating value from the waste. And when this organic fertilizer produced from the organic waste, of Dhaka city, is used in the soil, it can increase the soil fertility. So, Waste Concern's approach is basically trying to solve three problems which are very prevalent in Bangladesh by converting this organic waste into organic fertilizer and then using the organic fertilizer in agriculture soils. This can not only improve the soil fertility, but at the same time, it can give higher crop yield. The management model which Waste Concern is following to implement a larger scale compost plant, based on public-private partnership model, and the second important feature of this project is that the project is also harnessing carbon financing. The project is implemented through a joint-venture company, between Waste Concern and a Dutch company called World Wide Recycling BV. This is a for-profit company, joint venture company, which has invested in the project, and this joint-venture company called WWR Bio Fertilizer Bangladesh Ltd. is currently operating this facility. We collect waste free of cost from the different markets of Dhaka city. The markets are authorized by the city, and we have got a concession agreement for fifteen years to collect waste from the market. The revenue model of this concern is based on two revenue streams, one is the sale of compost and the second revenue is the sale of carbon credits. Due to the recent crash in the carbon market, Waste Concern is mainly depending on only one source of revenue which is the sale of compost. Compost is marketed by a private company, and they market and distribute the compost all over Bangladesh. There is a stress on the project to sustain the operations with single source of revenue. First, we have to collect waste from the sources, from the city. This is one of the largest market of Dhaka city, where we have appointed a private company to collect the waste from these markets. It generates about 60 to 70 tons of waste, organic waste, every day. On the right hand side, the picture is of our second facility and a truck. For each and every truck, we record the weight on the weighbridge. This facility, at Bulta composting plant, can recycle 100 to 130 tons of organic waste every day. The waste is unloaded in our sorting area, we put it in a composting box which is especially designed, which has a draining system on the base, and we can blow air to insure oxygen in the pile. Here, compost piles are aerated by forced air from the bottom with large floors. And another aspect during the composting process that we have to monitor, is the temperature. As a thermophilic process, we need to maintain the temperature and monitor it. Quality control is very much important for doing this process. Normally it takes 40 days for the composting process in the pile, and another 30 days for the maturing phase. After the thermophilic composting phase, the compost is transferred to the maturing shed, where it stays for another 20 to 30 days, depending on the seasons. Thereafter, it is sealed with a rotating device. And then the next step is bagging and marketing. For good quality compost, if you want to market, you must ensure the moisture content. To ensure that we use plastic liner to protect the compost from moisture loss, and the design is very attractive to the farmer. Quality control of composting process is very important, and good quality compost is one of the important aspects for the marketing of this product, and we have to comply with that. In Bangladesh, according to our policy, we cannot market compost without a license, so we need two licenses, one license for the compost production facility, and then another license is needed for the product. The next step is packaging and branding. I think it is very important for all of us to understand that, if your product is good and packaging is attractive, it will attract the farmer to use it in the soil. In our previous slides, we have seen large scale composting plants which have more than 100 tons per day capacity. But these plants are especially designed, suitable for small and medium scale towns. We call it box method of composting. This technology is patented by Waste Concern. We have developed this technology in such a way that it is affordable and suitable for other parts of the world. After a successful experience in Bangladesh, we started to partner with United Nations ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific) to replicate Waste Concern's model, which is called Integrated Resource Recovery Center or IRRC, in different cities and towns in Ocean Pacific. At present, we are working in Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan and Indonesia. Apart from this partnerships, we established a recycling training center to offer capacity building training for the municipal staff, officials, mayors and also all enterpreneurs from private sectors. Out of many lessons, we have compiled a few lessons, key lessons, which we want to share with you. First, for any recycling project, there is a question of incentives and subsidies. Compost products cannot compete with chemical fertilizers. Whereas in most of the country chemical fertilizer is heavily subsidized, while the compost, as an organic product, it is not subsidized. So, there should be some thinking on this aspect with the government. And then, the clear policy guideline on private-public partnership. We also experience that small towns and cities cannot afford this kind of recycling projects with their own source of funds. So if you want to attract private investment in this kind of projects, we have to give comfort to the private sector. One of the opportunities for the recycling project is that we can claim carbon trading, although the market is low today. But we hope for the future a better market of carbon trading. Compost standard is very important. If we want to promote compost from organic waste, the farmer must have trust, they must have good quality compost which can be used in the soil. There's no compromise about the standards of the compost. And then, quality control is very important. So, during the process of composting, we must maintain the quality of the process, and the product quality. And as we're dealing with waste, source separation is very important. In most of the cities and towns source separation is existing. So, it's very important for source separation to make people aware, and there must be some policy in every city. A compost testing protocol is very important. Without this testing protocol you cannot ensure the quality of compost. That must be standardized by the government. A specialized marketing company is very important, right now, we are harnessing large fertilizer company, marketing company, for selling our product. They have a network all over the country, experienced people and storage facilities in regional towns and cities. And then inclusion of informal sector. This is very important. Sometimes, we make policy without thinking about these people. In our Waste Concern recycling factory, we try to include, train these informal, poor women and men, we train them and give them better working conditions and health situation. Hello! Thank you very much for your patience to listen to us, I'm Maqsood Sinha. Thank you very much for listening to our presentation. Thank you very much. Goodbye. Goodbye.
