SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Col. V Katju       katju@sdalt.ernet.in

According to the World Bank, Report 1994, MSW is defined to include refuse from institutions, market waste, yard waste and street sweepings.  In other words, the term "municipal waste" applies to those waste generated by households and to waste of similar character derived from shops, offices and other commercial units.  Levels of municipal waste production are related to levels of industrialisation and levels of income.  Per capita waste generation varies between 2.75 and 4.0 kg per day in high-income countries, but is as low as 0.5 kg per day in countries with lowest incomes.

Solid waste in urban settings can be divided into two broad categories namely MSW (municipal solid wastes) and ISW (industrial solid wastes).  Municipal solid waste is collected and disposed of by municipal corporations and the industrial solid waste is disposed of by the respective industries.

Municipal solid waste is a heterogeneous mixture of paper, plastic, cloth, metal, glass, organic matter, etc. generated from households, commercial establishments, and markets.  The proportion of different constituents of waste varies from season to season and place to place, depending on the lifestyle, food habits, standards of living, the extent of industrial and commercial activities in the area, and so on.  Packaging materials are becoming an increasingly important component of municipal waste in developed countries.  Recent estimates suggest that packaging materials account for about 30 per cent of municipal waste in the USA (US EPA, 1990).  Municipal wastes in developing countries tend to have a higher organic and ash/grit content, and also a higher moisture content.

Indian MSW Composition
The composition of MSW in India indicates lower organic matter and high ash or dust content.  It has been estimated that
 recyclable content in solid waste varies from 13 to 20% and compostable material is about 65 to 80%.
A typical composition of Indian Municipal Solid waste is given in Table 1.

 Quantity of Waste Generated
IIt is estimated that solid waste generated in small, medium and large cities is about 0.1 Kg, 0.3-0.4 Kg and 0.5 Kg per capita per day respectively.  This difference in the quantum of waste generation is because of the difference in lifestyles of the poor in the villages to the rich in urban areas.  Table 2 gives a clear picture of the status of quantum of waste generated in the past and compares it with the present scenario :
 

Waste generation is expected to increase to a mammoth figure of 300 million by 2047, i.e., from the present 500 grams to 945 grams per capita.  The estimated land requirement for disposal of such huge quantum of wastes would be 169.6 sq. kms as compared to 20.2 sq. kms in 1997.  This escalation can be accounted to India's population explosion, change in consumption patterns among urban populations and relatively high spate of waste generation; which has a direct relationship with the amount of waste generated in a community.

Waste generation is expected to increase to a mammoth figure of 300 million by 2047, i.e., from the present 500 grams to 945 grams per capita.  The estimated land requirement for disposal of such huge quantum of wastes would be 169.6 sq. kms as compared to 20.2 sq. kms in 1997.  This escalation can be accounted to India's population explosion, change in consumption patterns among urban populations and relatively high spate of waste generation; which has a direct relationship with the amount of waste generated in a community.

Solid Waste Management
Solid Waste Management (SWM) usually refers to the collection, transfer, recycling, resource recovery (Composting, waste to energy, etc.) and the ultimate disposal of municipal solid waste.  With the changing consumption patterns among urban populations, solid waste management is becoming a serious environmental issue.

Gauging the quantity and the type of waste generated within an area is a pre-requisite to determining any type of waste management.  This helps to determine the type of waste management plan which would be most effective, the quantity and type of waste generated within the area to be managed to the highest degree of accuracy possible.  This is necessary to properly size and design a waste management facility, whether it is composting, recycling, resource recovery, or landfill facility.  It is also necessary in order to estimate the costs of implementing and operating the program, as well as the amount of labour which will be required.  The facility should be able to handle both current waste generation loads as well as any anticipated increase in generation.  In addition to the quantity of waste generated, it  is  also  necessary  to  determine  the  type  of  waste  generated.   When implementing   a recycling program, the types of materials generated must be known to select processing equipment and to determine markets for the recovered materials.

An environmentally sound waste management plan must go beyond mere safe disposal or recovery of wastes that are generated and seek to address the root cause of the problem by attempting to change unsustainable patterns of production and consumption.  Accordingly, waste management should be an integrated affair. 
Role of Stakeholders
Municipal Corporations
Municipal Committees / Corporations are the main role players in Solid Waste Management.  A well coordinated plan involving all stakeholders will lead to efficient segregation, removal and uitlisation of garbage.  It will also reduce the work load for the agency and the amount of garbage to be sent to landfill sites, which are nothing but dumping grounds.  The municipal agencies have the responsibility to create awareness for which they can take the assistance of the media.  Advertisements in local dailies and audio-visual publicity through radio and TV will help in a large measure in bringing about attitudinal changes.  They can also inform the citizenry about their role, who all can be contacted for guidance, the programme of action and other agencies like NGOs who are involved.  The strategy for implementation  would be :

The civic agencies should also plan a viable marketing system to ensure that vermi-compost is sold.

Communities / RWAs

Communities play a very important role in SWM.  There is an utter lack of understanding that unless they show definite interest, even a well-planned scheme may not achieve success.  RWA office bearers have to convey the responsibilities of each resident for ensuring that waste is segregated at source and bio-degradable waste conveyed to the collection point from where it would go to the composting area.  They must assist the assigned municipal staff in ensuring that the area is kept clean and littering is not permitted.  Composting at the community level would require supervision and responsibilities have to be assigned to individual residents for interaction with municipal authorities, safai karamcharis, ragpickers and sewage and sanitation staff.  It is also essential that the community contributes a small percentage in such an activity.  To minimise taxing of municipal authorities, the RWA should make efforts for selling the product from an outlet to reduce the financial expenditure on the residents.  The RWA representatives have to ensure that the system is workable and viable and besides the day-to-day operations it has to be ensured that the compost when ready is disposed off.

NGOs

NGOs play a very crucial role in catalysing community action.  The most workable method is to use the enthusiasm of children from schools in the neighbourhood.  They have the expertise to systematically initiate the programme, putting the system in place, monitor its progress and provide valuable guidance.  It is recommended that a consortium of like-minded NGOs be formed and geographical zones allotted, keeping in view the aspect of total coverage of the town / city.  The NGOs are required to impart training for orientation and do hand-holding of RWAs till the system is set in place and starts working.  To keep alive the interest, NGOs could organise competitions among RWAs.  NGOs should also involve charitable institutions like Rotary, Jaycee, Lions, etc. for financial support.

 Business Districts, Community Centres and Markets

These generate large amounts of waste.  Visitors, shoppers and customers litter the area making it a virtual mess and an eyesore.  The waste is both biodegradable from eating places and dry / non-biodegradable resulting from packaging, plastic bottles, cups cardboard, etc.  Every shop / establishment should have both types of bins with adequate sign posting for proper disposal.  This is specially needed for eating places where segregation is necessary.  Safaiwalas provided by the business community and the municipality should be available throughout business hours to ensure cleanliness.  It is pertinent to mention that regular policing from the nearby police station is required at such places and strict enforcement resorted to by penalising defaulters.  Very soon the mindset will change for the better and all will become more responsible for maintaining the public place.  Segregated garbage should either be sent to an allocated composting site in a nearby municipal park or to landfill sites.  This should be done twice a day to ensure the cleanliness of the area.

Ragpickers

The ragpicker community is an important link in the SWM system.  They are instrumental in segregating the waste and then taking away the non-biodegradable for selling to the Kabariwalas. This ensures an income of about Rs. 100/- per day. For an individual.  The income not only provinces employment but also recognises their important contribution to the society and prevents them from resorting to petty thefts and other anti-social activities.  It is a laudable step towards “dignity of labour”.  Present day activities of ragpickers are not systemised and they scavenge around from one locality to another.  Their movements in the early hours of the morning lead to suspicious and they are exploited by law enforcement agencies.  All ragpickers in a particular locality should be brought together by the municipal authorities, assigned areas of responsibilities and introduced to the RWA.  They can also be given the task of picking up segregated waste from households for which they could be paid a fixed monthly amount by residents.  Collection can be done by rickshaws.The ragpickers can also be trained to do composting and a certain amount from the proceeds of sale could be allotted to them.

According to Dr. Bhide of NEERI, a ragpicker picks-up and feeds into the recycling chain between 12 to 15 % of the total waste generated.  In case of Delhi where the total waste per day is 6000 metric tonnes, the ragpickers (1,00,000 to 150,000) lift 720 to 900 tonnes which is a daily saving of Rs. 620,000/- to Rs. 7,75,000/- to the MCD.  These figures clearly indicate an unnoticed or unacknowledged subsidy being provided by the ragpicker.  Their activities are beneficial to the waste producer (households) and the civic agency.  It also benefits the composting unit by saving them from sorting out a sizeable portion of the recyclables.

Solid Waste Management at Community Level

Although handling of solid waste is the responsibility of the municipality, it has become quite evident that they alone cannot accomplish this task.  The perception of this responsibility has led to the feeling of waste producers (residents) that after having paid municipal taxes they have complied with their obligations and are not obliged to contribute further, either monetarily or through other actions.  The only viable method is by soliciting participation of all stakeholders in a well-coordinated plan of action defining the roles and responsibilities of each and highlighting the benefits that will accrue.  It is, however, essential that good practice enforcement is a pre-requisite to solid waste management.  The waste producers have to contribute monetarily, ensure segregation at source and shoulder responsibility of the scheme within their localities.  q
 

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