We have an active solid waste management system at all our campuses, and we segregate and collect all solid wastes in bins kept in our buildings, without allowing the wastes to contaminate water sources. Waste is not disposed of off by landfilling because Landfilling increases the chances of polluting the water.
All liquid waste from toilets, bathrooms, laundry, laboratories, cleaning or rinsing of parts, air conditioning, etc. is connected to the wastewater stream, and it flows to the wastewater treatment plant.
The stormwater that falls on the paved and unpaved grounds is collected into rain pits placed all around. These directly pass deep into the underground, facilitating groundwater recharge. We have a proper mechanism that makes the stagnation of water impossible.
Liquid waste is treated by effluent treatment plants (ETP) where up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) technology is used followed by flocculation, chlorination & filtration (biochar & sand filters). A part of the treated water is reused for toilet flushing/gardening after ultrafiltration treatment.
In Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, all liquid waste is fed into the ETP. The pollution control board can monitor the quality of the runoff every 10 minutes. We follow stringent measures to ensure that the effluent is non-polluting.
Bio-medical wastes are not mixed with other wastes and are segregated into various containers at the point of generation on the basis of their color-coding and type of containers.
Spent Oil from DG sets is stored in the HDPE drums in an isolated covered facility. This is then sold to the recyclers authorized by SPCB/MoEF for further treatment. Proper care is taken to avoid the spills/leaks of spent oil from storage facilities.
We periodically conduct clean up drives near water bodies (ex: near the beaches, rivers and backwaters). It’s a part of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
For 2019, AYUDH Pune launched a new project: ‘Punarjani – the River Cleanup’. They had adopted a 5-kilometer stretch of the Pavana River, crossing the cities of Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune. They will clean up the river and shores, install dust bins, make compost out of the green moss, plant trees, paint the walls in the area with awareness quotes, and maintain the whole area for at least one year.
All the campuses practice Organic gardening. We don’t use chemicals in any garden. We create organic manure in our recycling center and use it in the garden.
Waste treatment techniques seek to transform the waste into a form that is more manageable, reduce the volume or reduce the toxicity of the waste thus making the waste easier to dispose of by acceptable means. Treatment methods are selected based on the composition, quantity, and form of the waste material. Some waste treatment methods being used today include subjecting the waste to extremely high temperatures and the use of biological processes to treat the waste.
Burning of plastic and other toxic materials are strictly prohibited within the university grounds.
All the Campuses of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham are declared as Plastic free campus to create a better environment.
To make the Campus Litter-free, Waste Segregation Dustbins are kept at specific points of the Campus.
We take measures to ensure that the villages in the vicinity of the university campus are open defecation free. This prevents water sources from being contaminated by fecal matter.
