Experiential Learning of Solid Waste Management Facilities at SRMIST - 20.09.2024

 

    On the occasion of World Clean Up Day – 20.09.2024, Environmental Management System in association with the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 and Directorate of Learning and Development organized a programme on “Experiential learning of solid waste management facilities” from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm with 3 sessions at the SRMIST, Kattankulathur Campus. There were 22 participants including students, research scholars, teaching and non-teaching staffs and they have taken through the bus for the field visit.

Main objective is to enable the stakeholders understanding about the environmental aspects of solid waste management, importance of source segregation, challenges involved in solid waste management, bio-mining of legacy solid waste, solid waste management practices, and circular economy. this programme is carried out as 3 sessions

First session was about environmental aspects of solid waste management practices and Bio-mining. The environmental pollution caused by the ineffective solid waste management was discussed. The quantity and types of waste generated in the campus were explained to the participants. The process involved in the bio-mining was briefed. The trommel machine (figure 2) was placed in the yard to separate the solid waste materials (40 mm sieve size). The trash below the 40 mm was once again separated using a 10 mm sieve and to make the horticultural waste smaller in size, it was being shredded using shredder. The participants had a look around of the machineries and understood their operations. There was also an ongoing shed construction to segregate the daily waste to avoid dumping. Organic waste management for the left-over vegetables and dry leaves was explained. The vermi compost pit to produce manure was showcased to the participants, in which the American earthworm is the type of vermi used.

 second session was about solid waste generation and segregation rate, challenges involved, and circular economy. Participants learned about the amount of waste that was separated every day in the campus, it was about 4% of the waste was separated. The difficulties associated with segregation included theft, Oduor generation, and health concerns for the employees.

Final session was about horticulture waste management and production of manure. The participants acquired knowledge regarding the manure producing process. The Vermi used was the African night crawler earthworm (figure 6). Vermicomposting is the eco-friendly process, which can be used in farms to grow vegetables, flowers, fruits and other crops.

Overall, the 3 sessions made the participants more informative about the solid waste management practices. The visit enhanced their understanding of the programme objective clearly. After the programme, we have collected the feedback from the participants.

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