Sustainable solution to address waste management and energy challenges in rural India

Abstract

Waste management and access to energy for cooking are some of the pressing challenges faced by Indian rural areas. Most of the Municipal Solid Waste is burned or landfilled without treatment. In the same time, 85 % of rural Indian households rely on carbon-emitting sources of energy for cooking. The context of rural India is extremely challenging for technology development due to its complexity and resource constraints. This study explores how technological solutions can be developed to address the contextual needs of Indian rural communities, based on the case study of a village located in the Northwest India. The participatory research approach relied on Human Centered Design to understand the community perspective. Through active field engagement, a collaborative solution was developed, in the form of a community biogas plant. It was designed to address the interconnected sustainable development challenges of waste management, access to energy for cooking and even agriculture, based on the community specifics. This customized bottom-up process has proved to be successful to address the multiple challenges of technology development and adoption in rural India.