the adyar river estuary waste audit report- prepared by reclaim our beaches
DESCRIPTION
It is impossible to think about Chennai without thinking about its beautiful beaches. These days however, it is impossible to think about Chennai’s beaches without thinking about how dirty they are. So, why are our beaches so dirty? Most people would say it’s because our government isn't doing its job; in providing dustbins or removing trash from the beach. Some would say its because of our ‘Indian mentality’ and lack of civic sense, which has resulted in litter all over the beach. However, we often neglect to mention how our poor waste management practices directly affect our beach environment. We fail to see our part in creating this problem- as consumers and thus creators of ‘waste’ through our lifestyle choices. We also overlook the need to discuss the regulation of materials that are used to package the products we consume. In fact, when most citizens think of how they can improve Chennai’s waste management or raise awareness, it is usually framed through a ‘cleanup’ ethic that only aims to remove trash and litter from the beach ecosystem. Is this enough? No. We believe it’s not. Its not about getting the government to buy more sand sieve machines or getting the ‘youth’ together for a cleanup. We know. We have organized too many cleanups to see the same amount of trash come back in a couple of months. In fact, when we compared the amount of trash and the materials it was made of on Elliots beach after a year of cleanup drives (organized by us and many others) we found no signicant reduction (Reclaim Our Beaches 2011). Moreover, beach cleanups can never be long term solutions because by themselves they are supercial interventions that only move trash from one place to another (from the beach to Pallikaranai or Kodungaiyur, Chennai’s primary dump-yards) contributing ironically to the spatial injustice of our city by delivering more trash to the residents in these areas. Rather than focusing on making our beach ecosystem clean, we need to look at solutions that help make it healthy. We need to expand our sight to make sure that these solutions are ecologically sustainable and socially and spatially equitable. This is the rst of a series of reports we have planned for the ROB ‘Exposing Waste Campaign,’ which focuses on documenting the ugly truths about waste, and the politics embedded within it.TRANSCRIPT
www.letsrob.org
9Reclaim Our Beaches H16/9, Seevakan Street, Kalakshetra Colony, Besant Nagar, Chennai 600090
Prepared by: Reclaim Our Beaches19 April 2012First report of the ROB Exposing Waste Campaign
The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
Running head
9Policy report: O�-track, o�-target
www.letsrob.org
9The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
It is impossible to think about Chennai without thinking about its beautiful beaches. These days how-ever, it is impossible to think about Chennai’s beaches without thinking about how dirty they are.
So, why are our beaches so dirty?
Most people would say it’s because our government isn't doing its job; in providing dustbins or remov-ing trash from the beach. Some would say its because of our ‘Indian mentality’ and lack of civic sense, which has resulted in litter all over the beach. However, we often neglect to mention how our poor waste management practices directly a�ect our beach environment. We fail to see our part in creating this problem- as consumers and thus creators of ‘waste’ through our lifestyle choices. We also overlook the need to discuss the regulation of materials that are used to package the products we consume. In fact, when most citizens think of how they can improve Chennai’s waste management or raise awareness, it is usually framed through a ‘cleanup’ ethic that only aims to remove trash and litter from the beach ecosys-tem. Is this enough?
No. We believe it’s not. Its not about getting the government to buy more sand sieve machines or getting the ‘youth’ together for a cleanup. We know. We have organized too many cleanups to see the same amount of trash come back in a couple of months. In fact, when we compared the amount of trash and the materials it was made of on Elliots beach after a year of cleanup drives (organized by us and many others) we found no signi�cant reduction (Reclaim Our Beaches 2011). Moreover, beach cleanups can never be long term solutions because by themselves they are super�cial interventions that only move trash from one place to another (from the beach to Pallikaranai or Kodungaiyur, Chennai’s primary dump-yards) contributing ironically to the spatial injustice of our city by delivering more trash to the residents in these areas. Rather than focusing on making our beach ecosystem clean, we need to look at solutions that help make it healthy. We need to expand our sight to make sure that these solutions are ecologically sustainable and socially and spatially equitable.
This is the �rst of a series of reports we have planned for the ROB ‘Exposing Waste Campaign,’ which focuses on documenting the ugly truths about waste, and the politics embedded within it.
Foreword
Running head
9Policy report: O�-track, o�-target
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9The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
Introduction
The Adyar Estuary is the site where the Adyar River meets the Bay of Bengal. It is located just north of Elliots Beach in Besant Nagar. The estuary supports a multitude of �ora and fauna, which thrive in its ecosystem. Along with the Adyar Creek and Theosophical Society, it forms part of an important network that supports a large number of migratory and resident bird species.
Studies have shown elevated pollution levels in the adyar river, caused mainly due to it receiving large quantities of municipal and industrial wastes from the city (Ramesh et al. 2002, Gowri et al. 2008, Shan-mugam et al. 2006, Achyuthan et al. 2002). Anthropogenic pollution in the river is so extensive, that it has been classi�ed as one of 4 ‘major polluting zones’ responsible for our coastal waters exceeding international pollution level standards. As a result of this pollution, many �shing communities su�er from skin diseases, and communities closest to the estuary like Urur Kuppam, Olcott Kuppam and Srini-vasapuram su�er the worst (Shanmugam et al. 2006).
However, most studies that measure pollution in the Adyar River and Estuary tend to focus on the impact of sewage and industrial waste water. They use dissolved and particulate contaminants that constitute sewage and sullage as indicators to measure pollution. In our study, we were interested in understand-ing pollution caused by the end products of consumption- the empty food packets, the broken alcohol bottles and the used containers of every-day household items that are the by products of our lifestyle.
Summary of FindingsFrom a survey area at the estuary measuring roughly 0.8 square kilometers, the waste of 663 unique products belonging to 11 different product categories like Food & Drink, Household etc. were found.
Research showed that there were more than 301 companies respon-sible for the manufature of all these products.
85% of all products were packaged using plastic and/or silverfoil.
54% of all products found were in the food and drink category out of which 97% were packaged using plastic and/or silverfoil.
29% of all the unique products found were manufactured by 20 companies.
These top 20 companies that had the most unique products at the estuary are all large well known, highly profitable entities like Hindustan Unilever, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and so on.
90% of all products from these top 20 companies were packaged using plastic and/or silverfoil.
This is because we believe that to reach a truly sustainable solution, it is not enough for only the government to improve the way it manages waste. It is also imperative that we consume less and demand more sustainable products from companies that manufacture them. This report surveys the kinds of waste (food & drink, household, etc.) and waste material (plastic, silver foil, etc.) found at the mouth of the Adyar Estuary.
Through such an empirical study, we hope to convincingly assert the need for more holistic solutions to waste management, ones that leaves no one out; not the gov-ernment, not large companies, and de�-nitely not ourselves.
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9The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
Survey Area and Methodology
The Adyar River, along with the Cooum and Buckingham Canal, forms one of Chennai city’s three major waterways. The course of the river from its source near Guduvancherry to the sea is around 42 Km. It drains a total catchment area of 1142 sq. Km and it’s width varies from 200m to 10m through its length. It opens to the Bay of Bengal forming an estuary with swash back tidal currents a�ecting about 200m into the river mouth during high tides (Ramesh et al. 2002, Achyuthan et al. 2002, Kanthimathinathan 2010).
Picture 1: Google Map image of a portion of the Adyar River
The mouth of the estuary served as the survey site, measuring around 0.8 square kilometers in area. The size of this site was decided (shown in picture 2) based on accessibility, and only land portions were surveyed. A signi�cant portion of the sample area was surveyed due to the presence of a sand bar. The survey area was divided into 11 zones and over the course of 6 weekends, data was gathered with the help of ROB volunteers. Data collection was done in the months of August and September 2011.
Picture 2: Google Earth image of sample area (image date: 16/05/2011)
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9The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
Survey Area and Methodology
Volunteers were divided into teams with one responsible for picking up the trash while the other entered data into a simple survey sheet. Four kinds of information were collected about each piece of trash that was picked up:- Product name (eg: Mango Slice).- Company/Corporation name (eg: PepsiCo).- Product type (eg: Food & Drink).- Material type (eg: Plastic).
Types of products that were found were classi�ed as either Food & Drink, Clothing & Apparel, Alcohol, Tobacco, Household, Personal Care and Cosmetics, Pharmaceutical, Stationery, Industrial or Miscellane-ous. Data was digitized by volunteers and uploaded onto a google spreadsheet. This data was then cleaned up during the months of November, December and January by volunteers working mostly over the weekend.
The focus was to collect data about all the di�erent products that were present at the estuary in the form of waste. Therefore, repetitions of products that had already been found and recorded in the survey sheet were disregarded when compiling the data for analysis.
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9The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
Data Analysis
To help understand the survey data, two kinds of visualizations were used- bubble charts and treemaps.Bubble charts are ideal to help visualize proportions of individual categories with respect to each other. It was used to help understand the distribution of product types and material found at the estuary. It was also used to visualize the diversity of companies based on type of entity and the top 20 companies based on most unique products found.
Tree maps help understand hierarchal structures and are visualized as a set of nested rectangles. They were used to visualize the number of products, product types and material within the top 20 companies that had the most unique products found at the estuary.
2. Classification of products by material:
100
0
AluminiumCardboardClothCompositeGlassLeather
PaperPlastic
Plastic and Silver FoilRubberSilver FoilStyrofoam
Rubber (2.11%)
Leather (1) (0.15%)
Paper (1) (0.15%)
Aluminium (1.05%)
Styrofoam (2) (0.30%)
Cloth (0.90%)
Cardboard (1.20%)
Plastic (61.08%)
Composite (3.92%)
Silver Foil (21.56%)
Glass (5.42%)
Plastic and Silverfoil (2.11%)
14 405
26
143
36
6
7
14
8
1. Classification of products by category:
100
0
Alcohol
Clothing & ApparelFood & DrinksHouseholdIndustrial
MiscellaneousPersonal Care & CosmeticsPharmaceuticalStationeryTobacco
Water
Stationery (1.5%)
Industrial (0.45%)
Food & Drinks (53.84%)
357
Pharma-ceutical (4.97%)
Miscellaneous (4.52%)
Tobacco (4.22%)
Water (4.67%)
Household (5.12%)
Alcohol (4.52%)
Personal Care & Cosmetics (9.5%)
Clothing & Apparel (6.63%)
30
28
33
31
34
3063
44
3
10
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9The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
Data Analysis
A total of 663 unique products were found during the survey. When the data was analyzed by type of product and material, it was found that the majority of waste was from the food and drink category (almost 54% percent). Furthermore, products from the food and drink, household and personal care and cosmetics categories made up almost 80% of the waste found at the estuary. It is important to note that since we did not record repititions of products, the size of the bubbles are not indicative of the total number of waste at the survey area, but rather only the number of unique products found. So for instance, while the number of products that were classi�ed as industrial were only three, thermocoal, which was one of these three, was found in large quantities and spread out over the entire survey area. 85% of the packaging material of all products found at the estuary were made out of mainly plastic and/or silver foil.
Out of the 663 products found, companies responsible for the manufacture of 110 of these products were unable to be obtained; either due to the decay of the product or lack of information about it (for products like decayed slippers, helmets, old medicine bottles, soft toys and so on). The data revealed that the rest of the 553 products found were manufactured by a total of 301 companies. Information about these companies were obtained through research and classi�ed based on type of entity.
Out of the 237 companies that we were able to classify, 98% were from the private sector. We were unable to obtain information for 67 companies. This was due to the absence of information about these companies online.
3. Classification of companies by type of entity:
60
40
20
0
Co-operative
Private Sector (privately listed)
Private Sector (publicly listed)
Public Sector
Unknown
Co-operative (0.66%)
Public Sector (0.99%)
Private Sector (privately listed) (48.83%)
147
Private Sector (publicly listed) (27.24%)
82
UNKNOWN (22.25%)67
3
2
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9Policy report: O�-track, o�-target
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9The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
Data Analysis
The top 20 companies that had the most number of unique products at the estuary were all large well known, highly pro�table entities like Hindustan Unilever, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and so on. They accounted for 29% of the total number of products found at the estuary. The frequency of companies having more than one unique product was heavily skewed to the top 75 companies, which accounted for 327 of the total 553 products whose information was known. The bar chart below shows the �rst 98 companies with most number of products in descending order to illustrate this point.
4. Top 20 companies with most number of unique products:
25
1510
5
0
Hindustan Unilever
PepsiCoBritannia
ITCProcter & GambleKraftParle Agro
DaburNestleTATA
Aachi Masala FoodsCavin KareUnited BreweriesSakthi Masala
HaldiramsPidiliteCoca-Cola
SS FoodsDodla DairyGlaxoSmithKline Hindustan Unilever
PepsiCoBritannia
ITC
Procter& Gamble
Kraft
Coca-Cola
Cavin Kare
Dabur
Parle AgroTATA
Neslte
Haldirams
Pidilite
SS Foods
Aachi Masala Foods
UnitedBreweries
SakthiMasala
GlaxoSmithKline
Dodla Dairy
29
1714
14
13
10
77
67
10
9
8
8
9
55
54 4
5. Top 98 companies with most products found at the estuary:
Company
Hindu
stan U
nileve
r
Peps
iCo
Brita
nnia ITC
Procte
r & G
amble Kraft
Parle
Agro
Dabu
r
Nestl
È
Aach
i Mas
ala Fo
ods
TATA
Cavin
Kare
Haldir
ams
Unite
d Brew
eries
Sakth
i Mas
ala
Coca
-Cola
Pidilite
SS Fo
ods
Dodla
Dairy
Glaxo
Smith
Kline
Gujar
at Co
opera
tive M
ilk Ma
..
Hatsu
n
Herita
ge
Lava
zza
Parry
Enter
prise
s
Tirum
ala M
ilk Pro
ducts
Aksh
aya F
ood P
roduc
ts
Aqua
sprin
g pvt.
Ltd.
B.P Fo
od Pr
oduc
ts
Colga
te-Pa
lmolive
Crea
mline
Dairy
Prod
ucts
Empe
e Dist
illerie
s
Gene
ral M
ills
Goku
l Foo
ds pv
t. Ltd.
Murar
i Lal
Horcs
h Cha
nder
J..
Perfe
tti Va
n Melle
Radic
o Kha
itan
Shan
ti Frag
rance
s
V.V.
Vann
iaperu
mal &
Sons
Yoga
m Fo
od Pr
oduc
ts
Adity
a Birla
Grou
p
Amar
Reme
dies
Anil G
roup
Balaji
Food
Prod
ucts
Dhan
avilas
Mad
ras Sn
uff Co
.
DS G
roup
Duke
s Foo
ds ltd
.
Godre
j
Himala
ya He
rbal H
ealth
care
0
10
20
30
Numb
er of
Uniqu
e Prod
ucts
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.003.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.004.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.005.00
5.00
5.006.007.00
7.00
7.008.00
8.009.00
9.0010.00
10.0013
.0014.00
14.0017
.00
29.00
Sheet 1
Sum of Number of Unique Products for each Company. The marks are labeled by sum of Number of Unique Products.
Company
Hindu
stan U
nileve
r
Peps
iCo
Brita
nnia ITC
Procte
r & G
amble Kraft
Parle
Agro
Dabu
r
Nestl
È
Aach
i Mas
ala Fo
ods
TATA
Cavin
Kare
Haldir
ams
Unite
d Brew
eries
Sakth
i Mas
ala
Coca
-Cola
Pidilite
SS Fo
ods
Dodla
Dairy
Glaxo
Smith
Kline
Gujar
at Co
opera
tive M
ilk Ma
..
Hatsu
n
Herita
ge
Lava
zza
Parry
Enter
prise
s
Tirum
ala M
ilk Pro
ducts
Aksh
aya F
ood P
roduc
ts
Aqua
sprin
g pvt.
Ltd.
B.P Fo
od Pr
oduc
ts
Colga
te-Pa
lmolive
Crea
mline
Dairy
Prod
ucts
Empe
e Dist
illerie
s
Gene
ral M
ills
Goku
l Foo
ds pv
t. Ltd.
Murar
i Lal
Horcs
h Cha
nder
J..
Perfe
tti Va
n Melle
Radic
o Kha
itan
Shan
ti Frag
rance
s
V.V.
Vann
iaperu
mal &
Sons
Yoga
m Fo
od Pr
oduc
ts
Adity
a Birla
Grou
p
Amar
Reme
dies
Anil G
roup
Balaji
Food
Prod
ucts
Dhan
avilas
Mad
ras Sn
uff Co
.
DS G
roup
Duke
s Foo
ds ltd
.
Godre
j
Himala
ya He
rbal H
ealth
care
0
10
20
30
Numb
er of
Uniqu
e Prod
ucts
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.003.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.004.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.005.00
5.00
5.006.007.00
7.00
7.008.00
8.009.00
9.0010.00
10.0013
.0014.00
14.0017
.00
29.00
Sheet 1
Sum of Number of Unique Products for each Company. The marks are labeled by sum of Number of Unique Products.
Company
Hot C
hips
John
son &
John
son
Kalee
suwa
ri Refi
nery
Lion D
ates I
mpex
Priva
te Ltd Lotte
Lotus
Herba
ls
Maha
k
Maric
o
Moon
Mine
ral W
ater C
o.
Naga
Mills
Nilgir
is
Nissin
Pand
ias
Paras
Pharm
aceu
ticals
(Mar.
.
Rajam
Cond
iments
Rajam
Indu
stries
Reck
itt Be
nckis
er
Reyn
olds
Ruch
i Soy
a Ind
ustrie
s
Sarav
ana S
tores
SNJ D
istille
ry
Starw
ood H
otels
& Res
orts .
.
Tamil
nadu
Co-op
erativ
e Milk.
.
Tamil
Nadu
Ratio
n sho
p
Urmin
Prod
ucts
pvt. L
td.
VVD a
nd So
ns
A. V
e. Aq
ua Fa
rms
A.M.
S Spic
es an
d Foo
ds
Abhig
aya
Adan
i Wilm
ar
Aerof
lex In
corpo
rated
Aishw
aryam
Aqu
a Prod
ucts
Ajino
moto
Inc
AJJ s
weets
Alemb
ic
Alree
f Res
tauran
t
Amalg
amate
d
Anna
i Foo
d Prod
ucts
Annie
's
Arad
hana
Soft D
rinks
Co. (P
..
AVT
Ayya
nar
B.R. F
oods
B.S. A
ward
Food
s Prod
ucts
Banik
Rubb
er Ind
ustrie
s
Barn
Food
s
Basu
vi Sa
lt Com
pany
Bhara
tham
Bhau
ji Bag
s
0
10
20
30
Numb
er of
Uniqu
e Prod
ucts
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.002.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
Sheet 1
Sum of Number of Unique Products for each Company. The marks are labeled by sum of Number of Unique Products.
Company
Hindu
stan U
nileve
r
Peps
iCo
Brita
nnia ITC
Procte
r & G
amble Kraft
Parle
Agro
Dabu
r
Nestl
È
Aach
i Mas
ala Fo
ods
TATA
Cavin
Kare
Haldir
ams
Unite
d Brew
eries
Sakth
i Mas
ala
Coca
-Cola
Pidilite
SS Fo
ods
Dodla
Dairy
Glaxo
Smith
Kline
Gujar
at Co
opera
tive M
ilk Ma
..
Hatsu
n
Herita
ge
Lava
zza
Parry
Enter
prise
s
Tirum
ala M
ilk Pro
ducts
Aksh
aya F
ood P
roduc
ts
Aqua
sprin
g pvt.
Ltd.
B.P Fo
od Pr
oduc
ts
Colga
te-Pa
lmolive
Crea
mline
Dairy
Prod
ucts
Empe
e Dist
illerie
s
Gene
ral M
ills
Goku
l Foo
ds pv
t. Ltd.
Murar
i Lal
Horcs
h Cha
nder
J..
Perfe
tti Va
n Melle
Radic
o Kha
itan
Shan
ti Frag
rance
s
V.V.
Vann
iaperu
mal &
Sons
Yoga
m Fo
od Pr
oduc
ts
Adity
a Birla
Grou
p
Amar
Reme
dies
Anil G
roup
Balaji
Food
Prod
ucts
Dhan
avilas
Mad
ras Sn
uff Co
.
DS G
roup
Duke
s Foo
ds ltd
.
Godre
j
Himala
ya He
rbal H
ealth
care
0
10
20
30
Numb
er of
Uniqu
e Prod
ucts
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.003.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.004.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.005.00
5.00
5.006.007.00
7.00
7.008.00
8.009.00
9.0010.00
10.0013
.0014.00
14.0017
.00
29.00
Sheet 1
Sum of Number of Unique Products for each Company. The marks are labeled by sum of Number of Unique Products.
Running head
9Policy report: O�-track, o�-target
www.letsrob.org
9The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
Data Analysis
6. Top 20 companies with most number of unique products:
Hindustan Unilever
PepsiCo
Britannia
ITC
Procter & Gamble
Kraft
Parle Agro
Dabur
Nestle
Aachi Masala Foods
TATA
United Breweries
Sakthi Masala
Cavin Kare Haldirams
Coca-Cola Pidilite
SS Foods Dodla Dairy
Glaxosmithkline
Company or CorporationProduct Name
Product Type
Food & Drinks
Personal Care & Cosmetics
Household
Water
Stationery
Alcohol
Pharmaceuticals
Tobacco
Miscellaneous
7. Top 20 companies with most number of unique products:
Hindustan Unilever
PepsiCo
Britannia
ITC
Procter & Gamble
Kraft
Parle Agro
Dabur
Nestle
Aachi Masala Foods
TATA
United Breweries
Sakthi Masala
Cavin Kare
Haldirams
Coca-ColaPidilite
SS Foods Dodla Dairy
Glaxosmithkline
Company or CorporationProduct Name
Type of Material
Plastic
Silver Foil
PLastic and Silver Foil
Composite
Glass
Aluminium
Cardboard
Tree maps helped visualize the spread of product type and material across the top 20 companies with the most number of unique products. The big rectangles represent the top 20 companies while the smaller ones within them represent individual unique products that were found. The colour represents either type of product or type of material. It was found that 67% of all products manufactured from these companies were in the food and drink category. Furthermore, 90% of these products were packaged using plastic and/or silverfoil.
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9The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report
A study that measured pollution in the Adyar River, noted that the presence of a sand bar at the mouth of the river prevents tidal �ushing. Due to this, the river has a higher dissolved concentration of pollut-ants than the Cooum (Gowri et al. 2008). Gowri et al. (2008) note that about 0.775 mega liters per day (mld, 0.775*10^6) of industrial e�uents and 8.1 mld of domestic sewage discharge into the Adyar River. They also found that between the stretch of Ja�erkhanpet and Thiru Vevekananda Nagar bridge, a total of 58 industrial and domestic sewage drain outlets were found.
Our waste survey clearly indicates that municipal, commercial and industrial solid waste is also being dumped into the river. Therefore, there is an urgent need to conduct similar kinds of studies as those mentioned above, that document locations and quantities of solid waste dumped into the river.
According to the Corporation of Chennai (CoC), 3200 tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is generated daily. Of this, the CoC states that per capita generation is around 0.5 Kg per day. Jha et al (2007) state that three-fourths of all MSW in urban India is dumped in non-scienti�c open land�lls; and as our study has taught us, also in our rivers, damaging once pristine environments like the Adyar Estuary. Therefore, it is imperative that as citizens we enforce better practices, and demand accountability in waste manage-ment from our government. However, it is also important for us to understand that they are not the only ones responsible.
In Chennai, 68% of all MSW generated is residential (Jha et al. 2007). As our study clearly indicates, the majority of waste found was either food & drink, household or personal care. So if we are to make our waste management systems truly sustainable, we must realize that we are duty bound to reduce the amount of waste we put into the system. This can happen by doing two things. The �rst is to internalize sustainable habits like composting and consuming less. The second, is to demand better products from companies that manufacture them. Equally vital, is to make sure that their responsibility does not end once a product leaves their factories.
This point is emphasized by the waste audit, which revealed that a majority of products found at the estuary were packaged using unsustainable materials. However, we often overlook this crucial element, and do not hold companies to account for the products they make. We often fail to understand that the environmental burden of a product should not be transferred away from the company that manufac-tures it just through the mere act of consumtion. By blaming only the government, we fail to critically assess the sustainability measures incorporated into the lifecycle of products that we use daily. It is thus crucial that we become smart consumers to make companies incorporate global best practice stand-ards of Extended Producer Responsibility and Take Back policies.
Discussion
Running head
9Policy report: O�-track, o�-target
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Reclaim Our Beaches 2011, Project Proposal for Dustbins and Toilets on Elliots Beach. Available at www.letsrob.org/enter/projectproposalfordustbinsandtoiletsonelliotsbeach.doc Shanmugam, P, Neelamani, S, Yu-Hwan Ahn, Philip, L, P, Gi-Hoon, H 2006, ‘Assessment of the levels of coastal marine pollution of Chennai city, Southern India’, Water Resources Management, Volume 21, Number 7, pp. 1187-1206.