Thanks for your comments, Chris Z (m).  I am a (f).

I think those who advise composting would all like
municipalities to view composting as a treatment method, and for
calculations to be done on the avoided costs when large amounts of MSW are
diverted from dump disposal by composting.  But few municipalities in
developing countries have been prepared to view the economics of
composting in that way.  Now, India seems poised to require cities to take this view.

Still, we can't get around the ultimate need for markets for compost, and
there have been instances in India where, in the past, municipal compost
plants could not even give away compost for free.  There are distribution
problems along with price problems.

The point made about the difficulty of estimating demand and willingness
to pay (was that by Rogier M. or Chris Z.?) is very relevant.

I too wonder how so many cities in India will be able to comply with
requirements mandated by the Supreme Court when there is at present little
expertise in most cities on the many matters necessary to implement these
rules.  If Almitra is reading this, she may be able to tell us how many
cities and approx. how many residents will have to implement source
separation and composting within a year or two years.

Chris Zurbrugg mentioned that there are many experiments going on in
composting.  I know that Dr. Graham Alabaster of UNCHS has been supporting
about 7-8 projects in different countries for a number of years.  But I
have never seen any report on progress.  If anyone has heard of a report
on the UNCHS projects, I would be delighted to hear about it.

Chris

Christine Furedy, D. Phil.
Senior Scholar & Professor Emerita
Urban Studies, York University
Adjunct Professor, Institute of Environmental Studies,
University of Toronto