Mt. Plastic

By Cryptic moth

On the drive back into Delhi, Cryptic Moth spotted several large hills that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be landfills – dumps that largely consisted of plastic waste.



Thanks to Ashley, our kick-ass production coordinator, we would be one of the first film crews to actually climb these plastic mountains.



Parvinder works for Toxics Links (toxicslink.org), a local NGO committed to bringing awareness to everything from water quality to electronic waste.



Plastic is also on their radar and Parvinder agreed to show us recycling, India-style.



We chose a location on the backside of the landfill in order not to attract attention. We then hiked in a few hundred meters up the mountain where “ragpickers” as they are known actually live and work.



Different materials – like cloth, metal and plastic bags – are sorted by hand into large enough piles that are weighed and then sold as scrap for just a few rupees. The mixture of feces, rotting corpses, food waste and other garbage made our throats sting and eyes water.



We interviewed Parvinder amid the devastation. He spoke eloquently about how “ragpicking” is an illegal profession in India but the system relies on these families to deal with the ever-increasing throwaway packaging. And while recovering these materials is necessary, the toxic working conditions make sites like this a crime.



And we felt it.



After filming some walk-and-talk broll with Parvinder, Gad started to notice small pools of toxic sludge with hatching insects. It was time to move on.



We drove around to the entrance of the landfill. Tewari weaved the car through a train of garbage trucks to about half way up the mountain. It was as far as he – and most of the crew – would go. Ian spent 20 minutes filming alone on the topside and those details will be saved for the film. Suffice it to say, this was the most testing Cryptic Moth shoot to date. And we were shaken.



Parvinder still had another location for us – an area outside Delhi where computer equipment; monitors and circuit boards are salvaged – by hand – for various parts and metals. After only 5 minutes of shooting, the crowd that had gathered forced us back to the car.



On the way home, we stopped on the banks of the Yamuna river – a heavily-polluted waterway where children were collecting trash from a plastic raft and a woman washed her hair.



According to Parvinder, most Hindus believe that rivers will take the litter away to God but somehow don’t realize how much it is accumulating. Just as he was explaining that, a car on the overpass threw a plastic bag of trash from the bridge that let out a great SPLOOSH when it hit the water.



After another interview in the setting sun, Cryptic Moth dropped Parvinder at his office and planned to meet for dinner later in the week. We can’t thank him enough for giving us an inside look into Delhi’s plastic pollution. The city is lucky to have him.

Global HDR 2006 Urges Stronger Action on Sanitation

Source: UNDP

India is on its way to achieving the Millennium Development Goal on water, having made progress in enabling access to water to its rural and urban population. Access to sanitation is lagging and there is need to accelerate progress. This is stated in the Human Development Report (HDR) 2006.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-commissioned Report was released by the UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator in India, Dr. Maxine Olson, in the presence of the Union Minister for Water Resources, Prof. Saifuddin Soz, here today. The release coincides with the Global Launch of the Report in Cape Town, South Africa, by the UNDPAdministrator, Mr. Kemal Dervis.

Introducing the main messages of the Report, Dr. Olson said the Report traced the roots of crisis in the global water situation to poverty, inequality and unequal power relationships, as well as water management policies that exacerbate scarcity. “All these fall in the domain of human action and point to the key areas where countries including India need to focus their attention. Water has been treated as a limitless resource,” Dr. Olson said.

The UNDP Chief in India said the Report had powerfully resonated what experts know for some time now -- in parts of India groundwater tables are falling by more than 1 metre a year, jeopardizing future agricultural production.

“While water availability as delivered by nature is critical, equally important are policies, institutions and infrastructure through which people secure access to predictable flows of water”, she pointed out.

In the Keynote Address on the occasion, the Union Minister for Water Resources, Prof. Saifuddin Soz said by bringing out the HDR on the theme of water this year, UNDP had brought the issue to the centrestage and this would definitely help in drawing the attention of governments, policy makers, development practitioners and media around the world to the emerging water crisis.

Calling for increased and the right kind of investments in the water sector given its strong linkage with human development, economic growth and poverty reduction, Prof Soz said the challenge will be to invest in areas that not only augments supply and improves quality but also leads to greater equity and greater access to the poor.

“The present government is committed to bringing about improvement in this area as reflected in the Common Minimum Programme and the present 10th Five Year Plan. Prof Soz expressed the hope that the Government would be able to sharpen the focus in the 11 Five Year Plan on social inclusion and reducing disparities.

The Human Development Report 2006 argues that there is more than enough water in the world for domestic purposes, for agriculture and for industry. But the poor are getting systematically excluded from access to water by their poverty, limited legal rights and public policies that limit access to the infrastructure that provides water for life and for livelihoods.

The 1.8 million child deaths each year related to unclean water and poor sanitation dwarf the casualties associated with violent conflict. Yet the issue barely registers on the international agenda.

India receives mention in several sections like on how community action in water management has revived local economies. This has happened as a result of several grassroots leaders who have shown the way and led communities to manage resources, however scarce.

Drawing on these initiatives, the Government of India has framed policies that
enable and promote community management of water. There is scope for giving greater impetus to this movement and the Indian government is committed to this.

Citing experiences from Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the Report says that equitable distribution of water and sanitation services is greatly enhanced when access and management rights are transferred to communities themselves.

Emphasizing the importance of community-government partnerships in clocking rapid progress in sanitation, the Report takes note of the work of the slum dwellers associations in South Asia – the National Slum Dwellers Federation in India and the Orangi Pilot Project in Pakistan to bring sanitation to millions of people, using the power of communities to mobilize resources. The Total Sanitation Campaign in Bangladesh has been scaled up to a national programme that is achieving rapid increases in access to sanitation. India is among the countries that have adopted the Bangladesh model.

The Report observes and cites the success of Midnapur district in West Bengal in scaling up sanitation from 5 per cent to near total coverage as a result of this campaign. The Report says that conflicts over water have been an exception and not the rule. It refers to the fact that more than 200 water treaties have been negotiated. Some of these treaties—such as the Indus Basin Treaty between India and Pakistan—have remained in operation even during armed conflict.

India has made some progress on the Human Development Index (HDI) value that has gone up from .602 in last year's Report to .611 in HDR 2006. On HDI ranking, India is ranked at 126 this year against a total of 177, going up one rank over the last year. India's rank on the Human Poverty Index (HPI-1) is 55 in a universe of 102 developing countries.

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Quotes from the Earth: on celluloid

Quotes from the Earth: on celluloid
Sucharita Sengupta, Source: terragreen

The average Indian cinema-viewing audience loathes to watch anything but regular Bollywood fare. So how does one get them interested in documentary films addressing serious issues such as the environment? This was the question that evoked deep introspection from all present at the three-day long (3–5 November 2006) environment film festival, Quotes from the Earth, organized by Toxics Link in New Delhi.

The festival showcased a number of films on the three broad themes of earth, water, and survival. The longest films ran for as long as 150 minutes, while the short films ran for just a minute. Yet, each carried a message that can be ignored only at the peril of mankind. Besides several Indian films, foreign films – from Serbia, Switzerland, Germany, South Africa, and the US – were also screened and were well appreciated.

Point Calimere told the tale of a slowly degenerating migratory bird sanctuary situated on the Tamil Nadu coast. Only an Axe Away depicted the struggle of the people of Kerala against a dam proposed in the pristine Silent Valley. Other films documented the vanishing mangroves of the Sunderbans (A Green Agony); conservation plans in the Great Himalayan National Park (Turf Wars); the rare phenomenon of rain forests in Costa Rica (Mountains in the Mist); the story of recycling of car scraps by refugees in Belgrade (Pretty Dyana); and uranium toxicity near the nuclear test site in Nevada, the US (Downwind: depleted uranium weapons). Notable too were the award-winning film that predicted the devastating Uttarkashi earthquake (Call of the Bhagirathi) and traditional, successful water harvesting techniques in arid Rajasthan (Journey: traditional water harvesting). Two classic films were also screened at the event: Cheluvi, a bilingual by Girish Karnad based on a Kannada folk-tale and Ganashatru, by Satyajit Ray.

The film screenings were accompanied by a panel discussion on the topic ‘Are environmental documentaries only addressing the converted?’ Panelists included Pradeep Saha, Managing Editor of the magazine Down to Earth, Sanjay Kak, a filmmaker-activist, and Alec Wohlgroth, a Swiss filmmaker. The audience, which comprised of students, journalists, filmmakers, activists, and ordinary people concerned about the environment, participated enthusiastically. Although much was said, we present various arguments in a nutshell.

Those who saw essentially nothing wrong in showing environmental documentaries to the ‘converted’, emphasized that this small group is not insignificant. These are the people who can take the cause forward and create an impact. In fact, precisely because it is a fragile minority, it must be enlightened through films. Often, the converted themselves may not have full understanding of the complexities involved. Watching films may help them to engage with different issues.

The opposite view was that there is an acute need to drag environmental issues from the fringes to the centre of public attention. Earlier, environment was seen to be outside the purview of politics. However, matters related to waste or water are dealt with by municipalities, thus bringing them within the ambit of mainstream policy. The idea is not to get approval from the ‘converts’, or increase the number of environmentalists to whom the films reach. The films must be able to reach the politician, the policeman, or the bureaucrat, and get them to think differently.

The attention soon turned from the issue to the craft of filmmaking. Environmental documentaries are often accused of being ‘boring’ or similar in look and make. One view was that constraints of time, money, and specifications of funding agencies kill creativity. Also, making documentaries on the environment has become a safe bet, in terms of getting funds. Playing safe is the death of imagination. It reduces filmmaking to just another job and takes away passion.

However, there can be no excuse for bad art, or for that matter, poor social communication. A panelist pointed out that in general, social communication in India was poor. Environmental documentaries have followed the model of ‘Beginning ® Case Study ® Ending’. This model must be challenged and changed, and imaginative ideas infused into the craft. Perhaps one could use the tact of creating a thought provoking scenario to grab people’s attention.

Marketing and circulation turned out to be the major concerns. Besides making more interesting films it is important that they must also be widely circulated. Since environmental films have gained a relatively wider acceptance in the West, it is not difficult to circulate them or garner revenues. Films such as March of the Penguins or An Inconvenient Truth were testimony to this fact. But this continues to be a bottleneck in India. While some panelists suggested the development of a new business model, others said that films could be circulated via e-mail and Internet.

The audience raised several pertinent questions, including ones demanding solutions. Documentaries discuss matters but rarely come up with solutions. Perhaps filmmaker’s job is not to provide custom-made solutions, but only to provoke people into thinking. There were several voices of disagreement, demanding some kind of solution.

Lamenting inadequate research before making films, audience also highlighted the lack of channels devoted entirely to documentary film. Some suggested that these films should be beamed on slots reserved on private television channels. Filmmakers commented that one must be wary of making such a move, for several compromises will have to be made in the process, thereby deviating from the issue.

This engagement of filmmaker and audience comprising people from the India and abroad, all point to a space for ideas that is screaming to be filled. The festival must be taken beyond the posh walls of the India International Centre, to schools and colleges, and perhaps, homes. It would be a very ambitious, but a necessary step.

"Multi-Stakeholder Workshop on E-Waste Management"

Toxics Link is organising a "Multi-Stakeholder Workshop on E-Waste Management" on November 28, 2006 in Mumbai to bring on a common platform experts, professionals and policy makers to flesh-out new ideas to deal with the burgeoning problem of e-waste.

The workshop is being held in collaboration with Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at Conference Room, 4th Floor, Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan, Nariman point, Mumbai.

E-waste is an emerging and critical waste issue in India, with cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore contributing largely to the quantum of waste and also bearing the adverse impacts of it. Mumbai, the commercial capital of the country and thus headquarters for majority of the corporate offices, is one of the largest consumers of electronic goods. The rapid change in technology, high obsolescence rate of the electronics and also the imports of junk for sheer economic gains in port cities like Mumbai are challenges that need to be taken up on priority.

The workshop is expected to fulfill the need for exhaustive deliberations and exchange of information on e-waste management practises with specific focus on the Greater Mumbai region that is arguable emerging as the hub for e-waste in India.

PROGRAMME

TIME	SESSIONS
0930-1000	Registration
1000-1100	Inaugural Session
	Welcome by Mr Satish Sinha, Toxics Link
	Key note address by Dr Boralkar, Mem Secy, MPCB
	Address by Chief Guest
	Address by Bas de Leeuw, UNEP
	Vote of Thanks, Toxics Link
1100- 1115	Tea Break

1115-1315	Session I: Chaired by
	E-waste in India: A NGO Perspective, Dr Kishore Wankhade, Toxics Link
	E waste Trends and Assessment in Mumbai: MPCB
	Issues of E-waste in India: An IT Industry Perspective- Mr Vinnie Mehta, MAIT
	End of Use Management by Corporate sector-
	Question Answers/Discussion Session
1315-1400	Lunch

1400-1545	Session II: Chaired by
	Existing Regulations on Imports and De-bonding: Customs, Mumbai
	Existing Recycling Practices by Recycler: Mr BK Soni Info trek
	Existing and Future Legislation for E-waste in India: CPCB
	Inter-State of movement of e-waste and its challenges: MPCB
	Question Answers/Discussion Session
1545-1600	Tea Break

1600-1700	Session III: Chaired by
	EWA Initiative in Bangalore: Mr David Rochat, EMPA
	A Model for e-waste management in India: Toxics Link
	Break up in Small groups to discuss model
	Discussion/comments/recommendation
	Summing up: End of workshop
1700-1730	Press Briefing

City of Joy's emergence as destination for e-waste!

By Priti Mahesh

Electronic waste seems to be increasing rapidly in the major cities like national capital Delhi and commercial capital Mumbai. A trip to Kolkata seems to suggest that other metros are catching with e-waste recycling emerging as a highly profitable pursuit for the traders. With over 11 million inhabitants, Kolkata is among one of the biggest cities of Asia.

In Kolkata, the technological boom has happened only after it peaked in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Computerization has now invaded the City of Joy and so has the menace of e-waste. Government offices, banks, multinationals, private companies seem to be main source for this. Household contribution to e-waste stream is still minimal, 'Kolkatans' believe in using the product till the very end.

Most of the big companies (public and private) are disposing off their waste through official tenders (published in newspapers) or auctions. Some of them have though, in recent years, embraced the exchange policy wherein they return the old computers and get some discount on the new purchase. And in some cases, where the e-waste generation is small, the companies just dispose off their waste to the local ‘kabaddiwala’.

Where does all this waste land up?

A visit to the by lanes of Chandni Chowk throws some light to this question. Chandni Chowk is a busy commercial area in the very heart of the city. This stretch has all but lost its entire footpath to hawkers. The encroacher sell a variety of items, including second hand electronic goods (television, computers, music systems etc), mobile phones etc. One can find array of items in these temporary, unauthorised structures, from a monitor to a mouse, from a keyboard to a tiny capacitor. The hawkers get these old computers mainly from local companies. If you are interested in assembling a computer of your own- this is probably the best place, as you will find every part and being second hand- much cheaper than the original prices. One can get a DVD writer in 180-200 rupees with a little bargain! Many lab technicians, professors, hardware repair personnel also visit these areas to get electronic parts as per their requirement. The road has a large number of repair shops as well which probably uses some of the components available here and also adds waste in the market.

In midst of these streets, one can find people breaking different parts of computers to get the material they require- the rest is thrown in a nearby dustbin or dumped in the road! The seemingly illiterate hawkers and labourers do know about 286s, 386s and 486s versions being obsolete and break open these to get different materials, mainly metals like copper. The methods used are rudimentary and the people engaged in these activities seem completely oblivious of the ill effects of handling this hazardous variety of waste.

Many recycling plants are also mushrooming in the different parts of the city. Though the trade is rampant, nobody is ready to admit that they are part of this. Rajabazar, Kankurgachi, Phoolbagan are some of the areas where the unauthorised recycling is happening regularly. The waste, which is, recycled in Kolkata and the adjoining areas of Howrah are not just waste generated in the city but there also lot of waste coming from the other parts of the country. The usable parts are sold unit wise to the local traders and rest are dealt as scrap. The recycling units in Kolkata mainly extract valuable metals like gold platinum, copper and sell it the smelting plants. The remaining plastic and glass parts are sold further for extraction and recycling. There is also part of this waste that is going to places like Delhi, which is hub of recycling activities. The printed wire boards are normally bought by the Delhi traders and brought to areas like Shahadra for further processing.

According to a source, lot of PVC wire burning for copper extraction happens in these areas and also near the Ganges riverbank. The people involved in this work being aware of its harmful nature, the burning generally takes place in the evenings after sunset and bribes are paid to the local police to carry the illegal activities. These fumes are not only polluting the air but also the water body.

Though the state pollution board recognizes this growing problem, there has been hardly any activity or action from their side. According to an officer in the board, they have heard about the recycling units in and around the city, but they have failed in locating these. Can this be actually true when these units are burgeoning in the heart of the city?

Hundreds of chemicals could harm kids' developing brains

Environmental exposure from hundreds of industrial chemicals could be damaging the developing brains of children worldwide, but few of the potentially toxic compounds are regulated because too little is known about their effects, researchers say.

In a paper published on-line Wednesday in The Lancet; two specialists in environmental medicine (each of whom have spent decades studying the effects of lead and mercury exposure on the fetus and children) compiled a list of 201 industrial chemicals they say have the capacity to cause irreparable damage to the developing human brain.

Lead author Dr. Philippe Grandjean, chair of environmental medicine at the University of Southern Denmark, said he and co-author Dr. Philip Landrigan of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine both had similar experiences while studying the neurotoxicity of lead and mercury.

“First, things were seen in adults and later on, the disease was seen in children born to pregnant women or children exposed in early childhood at much lower doses,” Dr. Grandjean said Tuesday from Copenhagen. “Later on, it was found that these effects were more serious and they were permanent (in children).”

3 Screens Film Festival

3 Screens Film Festival is being presented by the Delhi Film Archives at the India Social Forum 2006. ISF is being organised from 10 to 13 November at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Grounds, New Delhi.

The film festival will be held on 10,11 and 12 November. The screenings begin at 10 in the morning and continue till ten in the night. The festival presents 99 films in the following five Sections.

Director's Cut : ten Indian film makers show a film of their own and
a film of their choice

New Images : 35 new documentaries made in the last three years in India


Other Worlds are Breathing : 22 films shown at the WSF 2005 in Brazil

Working Lives : 22 international films on labour and globalisation

Open Slot : films registered with ISF through an open call.

We are sure you will enjoy watching films in Public Ka Multiplex! The schedule is attached. It can also be accessed from www.delhifilmarchive.org
Entry to the ISF is through delegate passes available at the entrance of ISF.

Where have all the sparrows gone? Wonders Delhi Chief Minister

'Quotes from the Earth' environment film festival inaugurated


"I haven’t seen a sparrow in a long time, though my garden has over 80 different kinds of birds." A concerned Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit said at the inauguration of ‘Quotes from the Earth’ environmental documentary film festival here Friday morning.

Taking time off from an intense political drama over the issue of sealing of shops in residential areas, she said: "I agreed to attend this opening ceremony because of the intense and personal concern that I have for environment."

Calling for all possible action ranging from individual acts to broad based community awareness on safeguarding environment, the Delhi Chief Minister said films are one of the most powerful mediums to take the issue to the masses.

Commending Toxics Link, the organisers, for holding the event she offered all possible financial and infrastructural support for taking the films showcased in the festival to people of the National Capital Territory region through projection vans.

She also used the platform to share with those present a school intervention programme being framed for conducting plantation drives in wastelands and denuded areas for increasing green cover in the capital.

Speaking about inter-linkages, so far as global nature of the issue of environment protection is concerned, Dr Dominique Dreyer, the Swiss Ambassador to India, said that though his country has largely protected its environment, one cannot deny the significance of supporting pro-environment activities in other societies.

Director of Toxics Link Ravi Agarwal detailed the dynamism that is visible in environmental debates and thus a need to create platforms for furthering the concerns that surround the issue.

The three-day film festival began on a high note with the inaugural screening of Shekhar Dattari's Point Calimere: A little kingdom by the Coast being appreciated not only with claps but also some heavy whistling by a young crowd.

The event that saw the most animated exchange of ideas among those present was a panel discussion on “Are environment documentaries only addressing the converted?” The panelists included acclaimed documentary filmmaker Sanjay Kak, Swiss director Alec Wohlgroth and Pradip Saha from Down to Earth.

The debate encompassed issues ranging from decline in creative standards to need for breaking away from agenda-based funding; from the new technological developments allowing greater freedom to need for cultivating new audiences.

http://www.toxicslink.org/filmfestival/2006/docs/Quotes_from_Earth_2006_Brochure.pdf