PSA Reviews Framework to Optimise Urban Waste Management and Cut Carbon Emissions

Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the government, chaired a meeting to review the outcomes and recommendations of the project “Development of LCA Framework for Solid Waste Management (SWM) Technologies in India”, an official statement said on Thursday. Office of the PSA supported the project, jointly undertaken by IISc Bengaluru, IIT Madras and IIT (BHU) Varanasi, which aimed to develop a contextual Life Cycle Assessment framework and a web‑based greenhouse gas (GHG) calculator to help Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) plan, compare and optimise waste management systems with lower carbon footprints.

Dr Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary, highlighted the project’s alignment with the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban and stressed the need for institutional mechanisms that can support the wider implementation of such solutions across the country. The project also proposed strategic recommendations for improving the efficiency of existing and future SWM systems, along with a national roadmap for India’s transition towards climate-resilient, low-emission waste management.

The project team presented findings from the LCA study covering a wide range of waste management technologies, supported by case studies from Bengaluru, Mysuru, Tumakuru, Chennai, Delhi, and Varanasi. A demonstration video of the GHG calculator app showcased its key features and how it can help ULBs quantify emissions associated with different SWM technologies and operating scenarios. The team also presented scenario comparison modules for evaluating alternative waste management pathways and identifying low-carbon options, along with detailed LCA insights into Indian SWM technologies such as biomining, anaerobic digestion, waste-to-energy, and landfilling.

The GHH calculator app developed under this project specifically for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) seamlessly analyses emissions from existing solid waste management practices. The app features common waste management processes like anaerobic digestion, incineration (waste-to-energy), composting, recycling and landfilling. The app also provides net emissions, avoided emissions, logistic emissions, carbon footprint, different GHG emission data (methane, carbondioxide, NOx, black carbon). It helps the ULBs to visualise different best practice waste management scenarios that result in minimum GHG emissions with the lowest carbon footprint.

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