SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

WHY IN NEWS:

• Prime Minister of India launched a campaign in August 2020 to free India of garbage

CURRENT SCENARIO:

• Waste management rules in India are based on the principles of "sustainable development", "precaution" and "polluter pays"
• According to World Bank report India is world’s highest waste generating nation with 62 million tonnes generated annually
• The per capita waste generation in Indian cities ranges from 200 grams to 600 grams per day, which is one of the highest in the world
• Only about 80% of the municipal waste gets collected and only 22-28 % of this waste is processed and treated. Rest 80% is dumbed in landfills

CHALLENGES:

• High waste generation:
  • With rapid urbanisation, rising population, high dependence on plastics >> waste generation exceeds in sustainable treatment
• Presence huge informal sector in the waste collection:
  • Difficult to implement the rules
• Ineffective waste collection:
  • Absence of waste segregation at source into biodegradable and non-biodegradable
• Unscientific disposal methods:
  • Lack of sophisticated technology for waste disposal and widespread burning >> GHG emissions and air pollution
• Failures of waste management rules:
  • They fail to incentivize and impose a strict penalty in case of poor implementation.
  • The rules have not pushed for decentralized management of waste but have encouraged centralized treatment such as waste to energy, the present state of which is not good in the country.
• Poor landfill management:
  • Landfills generate 20% of methane gas emissions in India and pollute surrounding land, ground water and air.
• Lack awareness:
  • People lack proper awareness regarding the need of better waste disposal for societies health and well being
• Low participation from civil society:
  • Despite immense potential in waste management sector, participation from non-profits or community is limited.
• Ill-focussed spending:
  • Three-fourth of solid waste management budget is allotted to collection and transportation, leaving leaves very little for processing or resource recovery and disposal.
• Inefficiency of Local Bodies:
  • Lack of funds and inadequate technical expertise, informalization of rag pickers, absence protective gears for workers >> results in poor waste management
• Waste to energy plants in India are not operating to their full potential.

IMPACT OF IMPROPER SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL:

• Health Impacts:
  • Burning of waste at dumb sites >> release of toxic gases and fine particles >> respiratory illness
  • Disease causing vectors >> breeding ground
  • Spread of epidemics through stray animals
• Water pollution:
  • Surface water contamination >> through run off from landfills
  • Ground water contamination >> through leaching
• Global warming:
  • Open landfills releases methane from decomposition. Methane is a major contributor to global warming
• Inefficient land usage:
  • Lack of proper treatment and processing >> increase in demand for expansion of landfills in many cities ( ex: Mumbai, Delhi) >> many hectares of land in cities becomes wasteland

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES:

• SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES (SWM), 2016:
  • Segregation at source:
    • The rules have mandated the source segregation of waste in order to channelize the waste to wealth by recovery, reuse and recycle.
    • Waste generators would have to now segregate waste into three streams- Biodegradables, Dry and Domestic Hazardous waste before handing it over to the collector.
  • Collection and disposal of sanitary waste:
    • The manufacturers or brand owners of sanitary napkins are responsible for awareness for proper disposal of such waste
  • Collect Back scheme for packaging waste:
    • Brand owners who sale or market their products in packaging material which are non?biodegradable, should put in place a system to collect back the packaging waste generated due to their production.
  • User fees for collection:
    • The new rules have given power to the local bodies across India to decide the user fees
  • Integration:
    • Integration of rag pickers, waste pickers and kabadiwalas from the informal sector to the formal sector would be done by the state government.
  • Zero tolerance policy
    • The rules also stipulate zero tolerance for throwing; burning, or burying the solid waste generated on streets, open public spaces outside the generator’s premises
  • Promoting use of compost:
    • The Department of Fertilizers should provide market development assistance on city compost
  • Promotion of waste to energy:
    • The rules mandate all industrial units located within 100 km from a solid waste-based Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) plant to make arrangements to replace at least 5 per cent of their fuel requirement by RDF so produced.
  • Revision of parameters and existing standards:
    • The landfill site shall be 100 meters away from a river, 500 meters away from highways etc
  • Management of waste in hilly areas
    • The construction of landfills on hills shall be avoided
  • Constitution of a Central Monitoring Committee
    • The government has also constituted a Central Monitoring Committee to monitor the overall implementation of the rules.
• CAMPAIGN:
  • Swachh Bharat Mission:
    • A country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management.
• TECHNOLOGY:
  • CSIR-CMERI has developed a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Processing Facility:
    • For scientific SWM and to create value added end products
    • Advanced segregation techniques
• WASTE TO WEALTH:
  • GOBAR-Dhan scheme.
    • Under this scheme Cattle dung, kitchen waste and agricultural waste can be tapped to create biogas-based energy
    • The objectives of this initiative is to make villages clean and to generate wealth and energy from cattle and other waste.
  • Government mandates:
    • Industries to buy electricity from power plants fuelled by solid from
    • Private fertilizer companies to buy compost that is extracted from municipal solid waste
• OTHER INITIATIVES:
  • Policy on promotion of city compost
  • Star rating protocol for Garbage free cities

BEST PRACTICE:

• Local:
  • Alappuzha Model – ‘Nirmala Bhavanam Nirmala Nagaram’:
    • Alappuzha gets recognised by UNEP for its solid waste management practices
    • The city has adopted decentralised waste management and is pushing for 100 per cent segregation in all the 23 wards of the city.
    • Moreover, as many as 80 per cent households now have biogas plants and decentralised composting system.
• International:
  • South Korea - waste management system
    • Focused on controlling waste generation and achieving maximum rates of recycling after 1990s
    • It has since seen a drastic reduction in MSW generation - from 30.6 million MT in 1990 to 19.3 million MT in 2016.
    • Meanwhile, landfill and incineration rates have decreased dramatically from 94% in 1990 to 38% in 2016.

WAY FORWARD:

• Proper segregation of waste at source
  • The key to efficient waste management is to ensure proper segregation of waste at source and to ensure that the waste goes through different streams of recycling and resource recovery.
• Effective use of sanitary landfills:
  • Then reduced final residue should be deposited scientifically in sanitary landfills.
  • Sanitary landfills are the ultimate means of disposal for unutilised municipal solid waste from waste processing facilities and other types of inorganic waste that cannot be reused or recycled.
• Energy-from-waste:
  • Energy-from-waste is a crucial element of SWM because it reduces the volume of waste from disposal also helps in converting the waste into renewable energy and organic manure
• Waste-to-compost and bio-methanation plants:
  • Biodegradable component of India’s solid waste is currently estimated at a little over 50 per cent
  • Installation of waste-to-compost and bio-methanation plants would reduce the load of landfill sites
• Concept of common waste treatment facility
  • The concept of common waste treatment facility is being widely promoted and accepted as it uses waste as a resource by either using it as a co-fuel or co-raw material in manufacturing processes
  • For example: Bio-medical waste (management and handling) rules, 1998 prescribe that there should be a Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF) at every 150 kms in the country
• Governance:
  • Civic bodies have to redraw long term vision in solid waste management and rework their strategies as per changing lifestyles
  • They should reinvent garbage management in cities so that we can process waste and not landfill it
  • It is reported that almost 80 per cent of the waste at Delhi landfill sites could be recycled provided civic bodies start allowing ragpickers to segregate waste at source and recycle it
• Encourage recycling of e-waste:
  • Recovery of e-waste is abysmally low, we need to encourage recycling of e-waste on a very large scale level so that problem of e-waste disposal is contained.
• Viability gap funding:
  • Government should provide VGF for waste processing infrastructure projects to make in financially viable
• Replication of best practices such as Alapuzha model etc.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. “The key to efficient solid waste management is to ensure community participation”. Analyse.