Solid Waste Management; Types of Solid waste Management; Factors affecting Solid Waste Generation
Solid Waste Management
- Solid waste management is basic public services which every citizen should have access to, both for health and hygiene, and for ensuring a good quality of living. Sanitation here refers to toilet facilities, whereas solid waste management refers to the management collection and disposal of solid waste (as opposed to liquid waste).
- The image of a city as being clean and free of waste, impacts its desirability for doing business by entrepreneurs and for future residents to live.
- Municipalities in India are responsible for collection, sweeping, storage, transfer, treatment and final disposal of waste.
- A study by NIUA (2015) reports that urban areas in India generate more than 100,000 MT of waste every day, with Mumbai contributing 7000 MT, and Bangalore, 5000 MT.
- While the Ministry of Urban Development has mandated several management and handling rules for solid waste, most cities and towns are finding it difficult to comply with these rules, keep their streets clean, and safely dispose the waste.
- An analysis of waste disposal in 22 of India’s cities by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI (2009)), as pointed by Sridhar and Kumar (2013), shows that 14 out of India’s 22 cities which were studied, sent more than 75 per cent of their waste to dumpsites, indicating a lack of adequate treatment and disposal facilities.
- Mumbai sends 100 per cent of its waste to dumpsites, while Delhi dumps 94 per cent of its waste.
Solid waste management Methods
Centralised method:
- This method involves collection of municipal waste from all over the local area and by means of landfilling, dump outside the city/nagar panchayat limits.
- This process looks at door-to-door collection of solid waste by waste pickers who hand over to the collection team who then discard the collected waste in the landfill.
- The waste pickers are employees of the Municipal Corporation or Nagar Panchayat. The collection team is generally contracted out by a tendering process.
De-centralized method:
- This is a model seen in a few places like Suryapet in Andhra Pradesh and Bangalore in Karnataka. The waste is collected ward-wise and is segregated at source into bio-degradable and non-biodegradable.
- The biodegradable waste is composted at a nearby facility by different methods of aerobic and anerobic composting.
- The non-biodegradable waste is further categorised into paper, plastic, metal and other waste and then further collected by recyclers for up-cycling or downcycling of products
Rules and regulations associated with SWM
- Under the 74th Constitutional Amendment, Disposal and managemenf of Municipal Solid Waste is one of the 18 functional domains of the Municipal Corporations and Nagar Panchayats.
- The various rules and regulations for solid waste management are:
- The Bio-Medical Waste (Management And Handling) Rules, 1998
- Municipal Solid Waste (Management And Handling) Rules 2000
- The Plastic Waste (Management And Handling) Rules, 2011
- E-Waste (Management And Handling) Rules, 2011
- There are other court cases that find their importance in terms of Solid Waste Management in India:
- Almitra Patel vs. Union of India
- B.L Wadhera vs. Union of India.
- Judgement of Karnataka High Court towards Mandatory Segregation at Source
Solid Waste Management – Major Issue for India
- The Government of India had notified the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules in 2000, thereby making it mandatory for all urban local bodies in the country to engage in collection, segregation, secondary storage in covered bins, transportation in covered vehicles, processing through composting or waste-to-energy technologies and disposal of rejects in engineered/sanitary landfills.
- Door to door collection coverage is scanty at best, and segregation at household level is a rarity.
- Collection even from community bins is not regular. Collection efficiency is low.
- Processing is limited to very small portion of the waste.
- Dumping is done in land-fills without any regard for environment and without following scientific methods of disposal. Such inadequate disposal practice lead to problems that will impair human and animal health and result in economic, environmental and biological losses.
- Improper waste management causes public health and environmental hazards like climate change, air and water pollution, soil contamination, spreads odours and disease, and breeds vermin including flies, mosquitoes, rats, dogs and monkeys.
- Even after 12 years, most cities have confined themselves to collection and transportation of solid waste. Processing and safe disposal are being attempted only in a few cases.
- The CPCB report also reveals that only 68% of the MSW generated in the country is collected of which, 28% is treated by the municipal authorities. Thus, merely 19% of the total waste generated is currently treated. .
Some of the major issues concerning solid waste management are:
- Absence of segregation of waste at source
- Lack of funds for waste management at ULBs
- Lack of technical expertise and appropriate institutional arrangement
- Unwillingness of ULBs to introduce proper collection, segregation, transportation and treatment/ disposal systems
- Indifference of citizens towards waste management due to lack of awareness
- Lack of community participation towards waste management and hygienic conditions
- Lack of sewage management plan.
Suggestion Made by Kasturirangan report For Solutions of Solid Waste
The Kasturirangan report by PC highlights the need for an integrated approach:
- Reduction and segregation of waste at source and also efficient utilization of various components of the waste.
- Principle of Reduce, Reuse, Recover , Recycle and Remanufacture (5Rs) should be adopted
- Motivate Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), CBO / NGO’s to take up work of community awareness and door to door collection
- Integration of kabadiwalas and rag pickers into MSWM system
- It emphasizes setting up centralised (for incineration, gasification, pyrolysis) or decentralised (for biomethanation, vermicomposting) waste processing facilities keeping in view the quantity and quality of waste generated and financial viability of the processing technology.
- Set up Common Regional Sanitary Landfill Facility, to reduce the land requirement. Cities above a population of one million should set-up their own landfill and permit all cities and towns within 50km periphery of the city to use the facility for disposal of their waste.
Internationally good example for Solid Waste Management:
- For instance, Copenhagen recycles most of the waste it generates and lets only 3 per cent go to the landfill.
- Japan: In Japan, Incineration has been the primary disposal route for waste due to lack of space for landfills – 74% of all waste produced in Japan is incinerated with just 2% sent to landfill.
- Extending the idea of recycling, Kitgum town in Uganda traps used water from houses and utilises it to grow food in grey water gardens.
Different type of Waste
Municipal Solid Waste
- Municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated from households, offices, hotels, shops, schools and other institutions.
- The major components are food waste, paper, plastic, rags, metal and glass, although demolition and construction debris is often included in collected waste, as are small quantities of hazardous waste, such as electric light bulbs, batteries, automotive parts and discarded medicines and chemicals.
Industrial Solid Waste
- Industrial solid waste in Indian states, as elsewhere, encompasses a wide range of materials of varying environmental toxicity.
- Typically this range would include paper, packaging materials, waste from food processing, oils, solvents, resins, paints and sludges, glass, ceramics, stones, metals, plastics, rubber, leather, wood, cloth, straw, abrasives, etc.
- As with municipal solid waste, the absence of a regularly up-dated and systematic database on industrial solid waste ensures that the exact rates of generation are largely unknown
Agricultural Waste and Residues
- Expanding agricultural production has naturally resulted in increased quantities of livestock waste, agricultural crop residues and agro-industrial by-products.
Hazardous Waste
- With rapid development in agriculture, industry, commerce, hospital and health-care facilities, the Indian State is consuming significant quantities of toxic chemicals and producing a large amount of hazardous waste.
- Currently, there are about 110000 types of toxic chemicals commercially available.
- Each year, another 1 000 new chemicals are added to the market for industrial and other uses.
- The availability of robust data on the generation of hazardous waste for Indian States is limited by the reliability of information on the quantities and types of hazardous waste produced at the country level.
- This is due to a variety of reasons, including the lack of qualified personnel to undertake the necessary assessment, the reluctance of industries to provide process information (including waste arising data) and a poor appreciation of the extent to which generated waste is hazardous.
- Where data is available, significant difficulties are encountered in seeking to draw international comparisons due to differences in classification and definition of hazardous waste from country to country within in the region.
- Most hazardous waste is the by-product of a broad spectrum of industrial, agricultural and manufacturing processes, nuclear establishments, hospitals and health-care facilities.
- Primarily, high-volume generators of industrial hazardous waste are the chemical, petrochemical, petroleum, metals, wood treatment, pulp and paper, leather, textiles and energy production plants (coal-fired and nuclear power plants and petroleum production plants).
- Small- and medium-sized industries that generate hazardous waste include auto and equipment repair shops, electroplating and metal finishing shops, textile factories, hospital and health-care centres, dry cleaners and pesticide users.
Type-based classification Solid Waste
Classification of wastes based on types, i.e., physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of wastes, is as follows:
- Garbage:
- This refers to animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, sale, and storage, preparation, cooking and serving of food.
- Garbage comprising these wastes contains putrescible (rotting) organic matter, which produces an obnoxious odour and attracts rats and other vermin.
- It, therefore, requires special attention in storage, handling and disposal.
- Ashes and residues:
- These are substances remaining from the burning of wood, coal, charcoal, coke and other combustible materials for cooking and heating in houses, institutions and small industrial establishments.
- When produced in large quantities, as in power-generation plants and factories, these are classified as industrial wastes.
- Ashes consist of fine powdery residue, cinders and clinker often mixed with small pieces of metal and glass. Since ashes and residues are almost entirely inorganic, they are valuable in landfills.