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<The Councillor as Guardian of the Environment> Part II - Workshop on the Councillor as Guardian of the
Environment WORKSHOP COMPONENTS 13.15 Role Play / Case Study: EVALUATING A TECHNOLOGY FOR WASTE MANAGEMENT
To engage participants in the process of deciding on the suitability of a prospec-tive technology by using criteria specifically designed to evaluate a technology's potential impact on the environment.
Start the exercise by giving each participant a copy of several handouts: 1) the case study that is the basis for the role play exercise; 2) a description of the role play task that includes three roles to be played by participants in each group as they carry out the task; 3) a set of guidelines for use in evaluating the adverse effects, transfer potential and capability for monitoring and management of the technology's impact (see the attached exhibit); and 4) an observer worksheet. Note: Owing to the amount of reading to be done, consider providing participants with copies of the handouts in advance of the workshop either in an advance mailing or at least one day ahead. When participants have read the handout materials, divide them into small groups of not less than five or more than ten. Explain that each small group will be assuming the role of a local government advisory committee that has been given the task of recommending for or against the adoption of a new solid waste disposal technology for the clean up of a major public market in the hypothetical city of Marimba. Ask participants to recall from the reading that some of the participants in each group, as committee members, will be asked to play a role that is concerned prima-rily with the potentially adverse effects of a technology based on the facts provided and the guidelines. Other participants will be asked to play a role concerned prima-rily with performance of the technology under similar circumstances elsewhere. Still other participants will be asked to play a role concerned primarily with questions of how effectively the technology's effects on the local environment can be monitored and managed. Finally, at least one member of each group will be asked to serve as an observer. Observers have the task of observing and reporting the interaction of small group participants as they discuss the task in their respective roles. Before leaving to begin their small group task, ask each participants in each small group to choose the roles they wish to play, including observers. Provide each small group with a reasonably private work space and easels and chart pads for recording ideas and drawing conclusions. Ask if there are any questions about the exercise. When questions have been answered, ask participants to move into their assignment work areas and to return in one hour. At the end of one hour, ask participants to reconvene. Ask for each small group to repeat the role playing that took place as role participants deliberated the pros and cons of the proposed technology and formulated a conclusion about what to recom-mend to the city council. Tell each group it has 10-15 minutes to complete its role play. Allow another five minutes for observer reports from each group. When the role playing has been completed, pose some general questions about difficulties in making decisions about assessing the appropriateness and environmen-tal soundness of technologies and the usefulness of criteria in the decision-making process. Encourage a general discussion of lessons learned.
Note: The following situation is freely adapted from Making Cities Work: The Role of Local Authorities in the Urban Environment, published in collaboration with The United Nations Environment Programme.18 The situation Disposal of solid waste in the city of Marimba (population 720,000) has become problematic owing to an increasing population density and an inefficient collection system. Uncollected garbage is left to rot in the streets or is thrown into waterways and drains to make worse an already serious flooding problem. Past efforts to encourage recycling in Marimba have failed for several reasons. Commitment to environmental protection on the part of political leaders and citizens is low. Nothing has been done to educate the public on the health risks of uncollected, decomposing household waste. There has been no effort by local government to take advantage of informal systems such as organizations of market vendors and hawkers already in operation throughout Marimba. The Central Marimba Waste Management Project is the outgrowth of a study commissioned by a leading consumer manufacturing firm with offices in Marimba to identify the source of pollution in a canal that runs through the firm's property. The study showed that 40% of the waste came from the Juba Public Market, another 40% from the squatter and low-income settlements along the banks of the canal and 20% from uncontrolled dumping upstream. Another part of the country, Port Marcy, a coastal community of 100,000 has initiated a waste processing and recycling project as a joint effort of the local govern-ment, a private company, and an NGO. The local government furnished the company with space in the municipal landfill and loaned the company money to set up a recycling and composting facility. The NGO, in turn, educated local residents on composting and recycling. With the project operating in the town's central market and adjacent commercial area, 40% of the town's waste is now being recycled or turned into organic fertilizer. Inspired by a waste reduction strategy initiated in Port Marcy and bending to pressure for action from the manufacturer, the Marimba City Council, recently appointed an advisory council committee to consider adapting the Port Marcy model to Marimba. Primary emphasis is being placed on community participation in the advisory committee by including several non-council members. Through exploratory meetings in the market and surrounding neighborhoods, several talented and influential individuals are identified and recruited to the advisory committee. Following extensive examination and evaluation of the environmental risks associated with the waste accumulations in and around the Juba Public Market, the advisory committee begins a careful analysis of the potential of a composting facility similar to the Port Marcy model. The committee's efforts focus on the potential for creating a profitable composting and recycling business that provides the economic 159 The Councillor as Guardian of the Environment Training for Elected Leadership incentive for a sustained clean-up effort. Unlike the Port Marcy model where the composting and recycling facility is owned by a single company, the hawkers and market vendors would form a cooperative which will own the facilities. More than 1000 members will benefit from the profits. The cooperative is to be the main service provider. Its members would segregate the waste, operate the composting facility, and conduct educational campaigns in the community. The city of Marimba would continue to collect the waste and provide a sanitary inspector and market master to enforce regulations in the Juba Public Mar-ket. The manufacturer would continue to furnish in-kind support to the project and assist the cooperative in its educational campaigns. A private company located in Port Marcy would serve as a consultant to the project. Its main responsibilities would be to prepare a feasibility study, help to transfer the technology used in Port Marcy, and identify buyers for the organic fertilizer produced by the composting plant. Financing for the project would be provided by a complex financing arrangement. Ten percent would be provided by the manufacturer. Thirty percent would come from a World Bank/UNDP ecological waste management grant. The remainder would come from a city council reserve fund appropriation. The funding scheme was intended to provide full funding for the first three years and then funding on a declin-\ing basis for another two years. After that, the business was expected to be financially self-supporting. When the project is fully operational, 50-60 percent of the waste would be composted while 20-30 percent would be recycled.
Task description Each small group, acting as the advisory committee, is to evaluate prospects for a successful transfer of the composting/recycling technology used in Port Marcy to Marimba and to make a recommendation to the city council based on this evaluation. As a guide for its evaluation, the committee has obtained from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) a set of guidelines on information that should be considered before the transfer/adoption of any technology (see the at-tached exhibit). The guidelines consist of three types of information: 1. Information concerned with environmental releases and potentially adverse effects; 2. Information concerned with environmental performance of the technology in other locations; and 3. Information concerning environmental monitoring and management Three members of each small group are asked to play the roles of Robert Winsgood who is concerned primarily with the adverse effects aspect of the guidelines, Angela Romacky who is concerned with the transferability potential, and Elizabeth Clogette who is concerned with questions of environmental monitoring and management (see their role descriptions below). Other small group members choose one or another of the three roles with which they will align themselves during the role play. One or two members of each small group is assigned as an observer and asked to complete the worksheet (also shown below). Small group members with role assignments take the lead in applying the guide-lines assigned to them and, based on the results of the interaction, reach a decision on what to recommend to the city council before the one hour time period has elapsed. It is important to allow enough time at the end of each small group discussion for the observer report and to plan a 10-15 minute presentation on the small group deliberations for the general session. Role descriptions Councillor Elizabeth Clogette The Mayor has asked you to chair the advisory committee and to give special attention to the guidelines related to Environmental Monitoring and Management Programmes (see 3rd column in exhibit.) Like the Mayor, you embrace the concept of ecological waste management, having for many years been employed as a civil servant in the environmental division of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. However, you have reservations about on-going management of a project modeled after a much smaller city and the prospect for adequate performance stan-dards and monitoring procedures to keep the project on track. You also have grave doubts about the success of a project entrusted to a cooperative of vendors unfamiliar with the management of public projects. Besides, as you see it, the bottom line is not profitability but environmental sustainability; and you have difficulty accepting the notion that the public good can be assured when those in charge are motivated primarily by the pursuit of profit. With respect to project monitoring, you have always ascribed to the notion that one does not entrust protection of the hen house to the fox. This is a job for government. However, it may be difficult to find government people with the expertise to manage and monitor the project; and you have been told that adequate training of this kind is not available locally for unskilled personnel. Ms. Angela Romacky For many years you have operated a vegetable kiosk in the Juba Public Market. Your leadership in the local vendor's association made you a good choice to represent the interest of market vendors on the advisory committee. You are impressed with Port Marcy's success in joining multiple sectors in a joint venture that could produce a profit and were pleased when you were asked by the Mayor to work with the guidelines related to technology in other locations (see 2nd column on exhibit.) As an entrepreneur, you were quick to see the profit potential and were instrumental in encouraging formation of the hawker/vendor cooperative as owners of the composting and recycling facilities. On the other hand, you can see obstacles to a successful adaptation. The Juba Public Market is large, unplanned and overcrowded, making it harder to move garbage through the market and workers harder to organize. Although supportive, the size and complexity of the local government bureaucracy could delay implementation. Other differences include the presence of squatters and the lack of sanitation facilities in and around the market which contribute to the environmental degradation of the area and difficulty finding undeveloped land suitable for a processing site. Mr. Robert Winsgood As the manufacturer that is underwriting a portion of the start-up cost for the composting and recycling facility, your firm has asked the Mayor to include you on the advisory committee. Inasmuch as your company has suffered for several years from pollution of the canal that runs through its property, it has a vested interest in finding a way to reduce the disposal of solid wastes in the canal upstream from the plant. Since your firm is particularly interested in the nature of the pollutants and the potential damage to the environment should they not be abated, the company president has requested your participation to focus on the guidelines related to Environmental releases and adverse affects (see 1st column on exhibit.) A particular concern of yours is the possibility that toxic or hazardous materials contained in the raw pollutants might contaminate the organic fertilizer to be harvested for sale. Frankly, you were surprised to learn that the city government was supportive of ecological approaches to waste management. You were particularly pleased that the city took the initiative to create a vendor's cooperative to run the project and invited an experienced firm from Port Marcy to serve as a consultant.
As the group's observer, watch closely what takes place during the role play activities of your small group and answer the questions below about the interaction. Be prepared to report your observations before the small group planning period is over and assist role players to demonstrate for the general session how they devel-oped their findings and conclusions through role playing. 1. Describe how members of the group adapted to the group task and their
respective roles? 2. How and to what extent were the information gathering guidelines used by
any of the group members to evaluate the technology under consideration? 3. What conclusion was reached by the group regarding the appropriateness of
the technology being considered and what factors weighed most heavily in the
ultimate decision? 4. What would you suggest to the group in preparing for its presentation at
the general session?
In an effort to assist technology decision-makers acquire adequate information about technologies deemed to be environmentally sound, the United Nations Envi-ronment Programme (UNEP) developed the following guidelines on information that should be made available to prospective technology users before transfer/adoptions of any technology.
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