India

India is one of the most polluted countries of the world. In a way, an overflowing garbage dump has become a landmark for India. The management of the rapidly increasing solid wastes is a very critical issue for most of the metro cities of India. The responsibility of the solid waste management and its manipulation lies primarily with the municipal bodies.

• Waste Generation

  It is estimated that about 115000 MT of solid waste is generated daily in India. (The present figure is about 1, 60,000 MT per day). Per capita waste generation in cities vary from 0.2 kg to 0.6 kg per day depending upon the size of the population of the city. An assessment had been made that the per capita waste generation in India is increasing by about 1.3% per year. With the growth of urban population ranging from about 3 to 3.5% per year, the annual increase in the overall quantity of solid waste is assessed at about 5%. The sold wastes generated by the million plus cities range from 1200 metric tonnes per day in cities like Ahmedabad and Pune to a maximum of 5000-5500 metric tonnes per day in cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Per capita solid waste generation varies from 300 gm in Bangalore to 500-550 gm in Mumbai and Delhi.

• Waste Management - Existing Situation

  The urban solid wastes include household trash garbage and rubbish; debris accumulated after constructions and demolitions, sanitation remains, medical wastes, etc. Solid waste management has three basic components to it. They are- collection, transportation and disposal. The crucial objective of solid waste management is to reduce the quantities of the solid wastes disposed off on a land by recovery of materials and energy from solid waste in a commercial and environment friendly manner.
  The increasing rate of urbanization with an increase in per capita waste generation driven by changing urban lifestyles and consumption patterns in view of economic growth and improved living standards is applying significant additional pressures on the already stretched Municipal Solid Waste Management systems across the metro cities of India. This challenge is further provoked by the lack of adequate capacity; institutional, financial capabilities and skilled resources in collection, transportation, processing and final disposal.

• Municipal Solid Waste Management-challenges for urban local bodies

  1. Funds and Resources- To establish and control MSW management facilities.
  2. Technical Expertise - To set up and operate MSW management facilities.
  3. Commercial Competence- To engage private partner transparency
  4. Finding appropriate land with buffer zone(s) for MSW management

• Some drawbacks of the present Indian scenario

  1. No storage of waste at source
  2. Irregular street sweeping
  3. Waste storage depots have faults or have been having consistent problems
  4. Transportation of waste is not satisfactory -Processing of waste. Only a few cities have been practicing this.

'In the Indian set-up, the so-called waste pickers or scavengers who come play a very unique role. These scavengers or rag pickers, as they are commonly called, earn a living for themselves, by collecting and selling mostly recyclable materials. In this process, they make a very significant and important contribution to the environmental and solid waste managements in different metro cities of India.'

Delhi

The amount of wastes generated in Delhi has consistently rising as the years go by. Delhi is the largest MSW producer in the country, followed by Mumbai. The city produces about 6800 tonnes of solid waste a day. This can be credited to the rapid population growth, mass migration from the rural areas to the metros, the increase in economic activities in general in and last but not the least, the change in the lifestyles of the people. Urban solid waste is usually a complex mixture of household, construction, toxic industrial elements and hospital wastes. On an average, Delhi produces 4000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day. A physical analysis reveals that 32% of it contains compostable matter. The recyclable components include 6.6% paper, 1.5% plastics and metals 2.5%. Solid Waste Management in Delhi

Three municipal bodies- the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) are responsible for solid waste management in Delhi. The MCD alone manages about 95% of the total area of the city. The above authorities are supported by a number of other agencies. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is responsible for siting and allotment of land to the MCD for sanitary land filling. The Delhi Energy Development Agency (DEDA) under Delhi Administration (DA) is responsible for solid waste utilization projects aimed at bio-gas or energy generation in consultation with the Department of Non-Conventional Energy Resources (DNES) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India. Apart from all the above public agencies, there are other important agents who play their part in the overall format of solid waste management in the city. They are private sweepers and garbage collectors employed b the people for cleaning privately owned premises, waste pickers, and waste dealers, etc. In the overall sequence of activities, starting from the collection of recyclable materials to the final disposal and recycling of waste, significant contributions are made by many stakeholder groups other than the municipal authorities. These stakeholder groups control the informal sector recycling trade activities explicitly segregation, collection, sale and purchase of recyclable items and the actual process of recycling at recycling plants and units.

Bhagidari Scheme in Delhi

The Delhi government has instituted the Bhagidari Scheme for ensuring close cooperation of the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), civic agencies and the government. In December 2003, the Municipal Commissioner of Delhi announced a system by which segregated garbage from homes would be transported to municipal bins, through specially designed handcarts with two compartments. He further added that the segregation system would reduce 50% of the garbage going to the landfills and thereby result in cost reduction. Only in some colonies of Delhi, the RWA has decided to tackle the problems themselves. However the system is working.

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Mumbai

Mumbai is the largest metropolis of India. The city generates about 6500 tonnes of solid waste every day. It is commonly stated that half of Mumbai's population lives in slums. The Population Census, 2001 puts 48.5% in BMC (Municipal Corporation) area to be living in slums. In 2011, the population in BMC area was 11.9 million; signifying that 5.8 million to 6.8 million population of the city was living in slums. If other industrial workers' housing is included, then close to 70% (or 8.3 million population) of Mumbai's population was living in either slums or chawls. The slums are considered vulnerable locations because of their locations. They are located on the hilltops, slopes, nallahs, low-lying areas (with tendency to flood during high tides), coastal locations, under high-tension wires, within industrial locations, along water mains and open drains. Therefore, in slum areas, garbage clearance becomes a major problem.

The per capita generation of wastes in Mumbai is about 630gm. The quantity of municipal solid waste generated within Greater Mumbai is 7800 MT per day. Of this the waste generation within Greater Mumbai is 48%, when its population is just 27.92% of Greater Mumbai's population. There is a higher share of the island city, because the island city being the major employment centre gets a large proportion of population in day time.

Solid Waste Management In Mumbai

Under the Municipal Corporation Act of 1998, it is the mandatory duty of the Corporation to maintain the area falling under its jurisdiction in clean and hygienic conditions in order to create a clean, hygienic and healthy environment. The Municipal Solid Wastes Rule, 2000 framed by the Government of India makes it mandatory for the storage of garbage at the source and its coordinated collection at the doorstep.

Present Waste Management System

1. Street Sweeping and collection of wastes
2. Collection and temporary storage of solid wastes
3. Removal and transportation of wastes
4. Disposal of the wastes

Issues of Solid Waste Management in Mumbai

1. Primary Collection

   A very high population of floating population and daily commuters, with almost 65 lakh people traveling daily is a major cause for road littering. In many areas of the city, the streets are in ill-maintained conditions due to the lack of proper and timely sweeping. There is clogging of surface water drains due to wastes dumped in it.

2. Disposal of wastes

   With increasing urbanization, the sites available for dumping and creation of landfills for disposal of waste are becoming unavailable. There are only 4 landfill sites in the MGM area, whose expected lifetime remains only 5 years.

3. Incompetence in the enforcement of MSW rules

   The MCGM has not yet been able to enforce MSW Rules 2000. Although it is mandatory to segregate waste at the household level, notices to this effect has not been given for the implementation of the rules.

4. Lack of participation/communication

   It has been proven through research that in the case of Mumbai, there has been an absence of communication between the local government and the communities. This is due to the diverse backgrounds of communities and the difficulties of the everyday life of the citizens.