Shalin Shah

Environment regulations allow disposal of waste through landfill or incineration. This is mere conversion of waste from one phase to another and it also has disadvantage of loss of land and resources. Waste hierarchy suggests to focus on prevention first and disposal at last. Between these two ends one has to explore various options for reduce, reuse, reprocess, recycle and recovery of waste. These 5R principles of waste management have become essential for Sustainable Development. Port & logistics generates four types of wastes i.e. Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial waste, Bio-medical Waste and E-waste. APSEZ has developed a vision of becoming – a zero waste company by 2020. All wastewaters are reuse for Horticulture purpose. MSW includes paper, plastic, metal, glass, rubber; scrap etc. is segregated at source, sent for recycling. Non-recyclable waste is handled through combustion without use of fuel or electricity. All biodegradable waste is converted to manure and same is used in-house for horticulture purpose. E-waste including other materials such as metals, plastic etc, Used oil/spent oil, and Downgrade chemicals from on board tanks of ships are sold to registered recyclers. Oily water received from vessels (slope) is pumped tangentially in the Oil Water Separator. Separated oil is sold to registered recyclers. Oily cotton waste & pig waste is sent to cement industry for co-processing through cement kiln. These practices results in saving of land, resources, money, emission, pollution and help generate revenue in some cases. Time has come to focus on value added initiatives to make business Sustainable.