272 JOHAN POST AND ISA BAUD
alternatives (especially manure). In addition, farmers in both cities seemed to be insuf-
ficiently informed about the potentials of compost as soil conditioner/fertilizer and,
hence, about what would be a fair price for them to pay. One should not forget that
most composting activities take place in small-scale, neighbourhood units that lack
adequate marketing and promotion channels to enable them to fully exploit the market
potential. The lack of official backing and interest is also frustrating the expansion of
the composting sector.
For the time being most neighbourhood composting groups, even the more sophisti-
cated vermicomposting unit in Hyderabad, are unprofitable undertakings. In both
cities the activity depended heavily on donor funding, not only to cover initial invest-
ments, but in many cases also for keeping businesses running. Although this may
partly be justified by the positive social or environmental spin-off (creating employ-
ment and training opportunities for a category of deprived people, raising community
awareness on solid waste problems, etc.), the long-term survival of these schemes is
not guaranteed as external support is likely to be phased out. In Hyderabad the conti-
nuity problem was further compounded by the negative attitudes among neighbouring
residents complaining about vermin and stench in community composting experi-
ments.
Reuse and diversion of organic waste: system concerns
The overall impact of the reuse and diversion of urban organic waste from households
on reducing volumes of mixed municipal waste going to the dumpsites is limited in
Nairobi and Hyderabad. Without an active policy towards separation of different types
of waste at source the likelihood of progress in this respect is low. The two cities do
not have an incentive structure – for example through differentiated rates for the
collection of mixed and separated waste – that encourages households to participate
in separation at source. Neither do they have the capacity to sensitise people on the
environmental gains of such schemes. This is yet another piece of evidence of the lack
of coordination and integration within the SWM system. Potential savings in collec-
tion and disposal costs could be utilised (partly) to subsidise waste separation, reuse
and composting schemes, but responsible city authorities have not yet adopted a more
comprehensive outlook that would allow for a reconciliation of brown and green
agenda issues at local level. The prevailing bias towards service efficiency and effec-
tiveness at the cost of long-term environmental concerns – thereby making systems of
solid waste disposal artificially cheap (especially due to the practice of open dumping)
- results in an underestimation of the potential savings of reducing waste volumes.
Consequently, it seems less likely that the cities will want to subsidise initiatives that
contribute to waste reduction. Nevertheless, large cities in India are now required to
divert organics from dumps through composting and other techniques, so they will
have to grapple with the dilemmas of organic waste management. The successes and