CEE Jul-Sep-2012

.. / WHY ARE INDIAN CITIES BECOMING GARBAGE DUMPS? The land fills and dump yards in major metropolitan cities have become an eyesore for the entire nation . Needless to say, waste management is the answer to our problems but the big question still remains - how do we tread the path ahead filled with the growing mound of waste? K P Agrawal provides the solution. The legal dumps and landfills in addition to a number of illegal dumps are overflowing in by-lanes, parks, streets and road sides. With changing life styles, ineffective policies and lack of awareness, the rate of waste generation may increase exponentially. Per capita generation of waste is more in developed countries (5.3 kg/day) as compared to developing ones where it is less than 0.8kg/day. A good percentage (4% - 5%) of precious land is being dumped by garbage which otherwise would have been used for important activities. In Delhi alone more than 500 hectares land is utilized to stock waste. Disposal of solid waste is becoming un-manageable world over because of increase in waste volume, change in waste type with generation of more inert and inorganic waste and inclusion of hazardous waste. Indiscriminate and improper dumping of wastes raises serious environmental hazards and loss of renewable resources like metals, plastics and glass, compost from organic waste and energy from burnable waste. Contamination of land water due to leakage hazardous materials, and air pollution due to emissions from burning and release of hazardous gases are also serious concerns. According to survey conducted in 25 cities by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), all the four metropolitan cities produce 20,500 metric tonnes of waste per day. In most cities in India, solid waste management means dumping it in the landfill sites of which only a fraction gets recycled . Percentage of uncollected waste in most of the cities is very high which often finds its way into sewers, eaten by cattle and rest is left to decay or burn in the open dump. Traditionally, waste in India is disposed off in crude landfills or deposited in the open outside the main city. According to a survey conducted in Delhi in 2007 , garbage collection was ill managed in most of the places. The bins overflowing and stray cattle feeding on the rotten garbage near the dhalaos, were a common sight. All the three landfills in Delhi are completely filled; overflowing and garbage heaps on these sites has reached to a height of 20 meters. About a year back, MCD outsourced the task of garbage removal to a private finn. lnspite of this, things did not improve and about 50,000 employees continued to engage in this work. The country has not yet established a scientific infrastructure as per Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules (MSW) 2000. There is a need for institutionalization of the recycling sector which not only recovers valuable resources from the waste but is also a source of livelihood. Firstly, the waste can be classified on the basis of contents (composition) of the waste, level of hazard to public and environment and source of generation. The solid waste in our country is characterized by high percentage of bio-degradable material (vegetables, fruits, leaves etc.)- 40%, non– degradable (plastic, glass and ceramic, ash, etc.)- 50% miscellaneous about 10%. Wastes can also be classified as hazardous (electronic items, radioactive items, bio-medical wastes, etc.) and non– hazardous. The third classification is based on source of generation like municipal solid waste (50%), construction and demolition waste (20%), mining and quarrying waste (20%) and others (10%). Fourth, the waste can also be classified as solid waste and liquid waste (sewage and urban effluents). Different kinds of waste, their source of generation , collection, segregation, recycling and or re-use and disposal strategies are also equally important. The system of collecting and disposing the domestic waste in our country is very poor. The reasons are two-fold; firstly, we do not have a well established collection and disposal system and secondly, lack of concern of households in waste disposal. Many of the dwellings in the metropolitan cities are clean from inside, but surroundings are filthy with open drains, garbage piled high and open 34