Principle of waste management

Proximity principle-:

The transportation of waste can incur significant environmental and nuisance impacts plus
unwanted additional cost. Therefore, the proximity principle encourages processing,
recycling, reuse or disposal of waste as near to the point of its production as possible.

Benefits of sustainable waste management

Sustainable waste management delivers lots of benefits such as :

 Reduced waste disposal costs (notably Landfill and Aggregates taxes).

 Reduced pressures on finite resources, such as virgin aggregates.
 Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from landfill and incineration.
 Reduced energy consumption from the manufacturing process.
 Increased economic productivity.
 Reduced requirement for additional landfill capacity.
 Reduced nuisance created by odour and visual intrusion from landfill sites.
 Improved corporate reporting and green credentials for business.

Waste reduction
By preventing waste before it occurs, money can be saved on the collection, treatment or
disposals costs of waste. It also reduced the environmental impact and costs of extracting more
raw materials, production and use.  
This becomes more important when the true costs of waste are considered.  
The true cost of waste is not only the Disposal cost it also includes

 Cost of purchasing materials/ resources

 Handling / processing / maintenance costs
 Management time
 Lost revenue
 Any potential liabilities

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 Principle of sustainable waste management
Population and household growth in Hertfordshire put increasing pressure on waste management
in the county. Consequently, the need to actively manage waste streams in Hertfordshire has
never been more significant. 

Sustainable waste management can be actively addressed through the planning process in the
following ways:  

 Reducing the quantity of materials required for the building.

 Reducing the amount of waste generated.
 Management of construction and demolition wastes.
 Materials specifications (e.g. use of reclaimed and recycled materials).
 Provision of recycling space/facilities.
The nationally accepted framework or approach for achieving reductions in waste arisings
and sustainable waste management is the Waste Hierarchy.

Waste Hierarchy
The waste hierarchy provides a framework where waste management options are set out in
priority order to enable  to correct choice to be made when assessing how to deal with waste. In
the hierarchy, waste prevention is the ost environmentally friendly and disposal the least. 

The hierarchy applies to all waste streams, not only those directly influenced by this guide. 

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1. Background
With increasing population, the management of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the country has
emerged as a severe problem not only because of the environmental and aesthetic concerns but
also because of the sheer quantities generated every day. According to the Central Pollution
Control Board, 1,27,486 TPD (tons per day) of MSW was generated in India during 2011. Of the
total waste generated, approximately 89,334 TPD (70%) of MSW was collected and only 15,881
TPD (12.45%) was processed or treated (CPCB, 2013). Segregation at source, collection,
transportation, treatment and scientific disposal of waste was largely insufficient leading to
degradation of environment and poor quality of life. This paper primarily focuses on the issues
related to the management of municipal solid waste. The key issues impacting proper
management of MSW include the following:
 Limited primary collection at the doorstep
 Reluctance in public to take ownership
 Unavailability of adequate funds
 Lack of access to proper technology; and
 Unscientific disposal of MSW at dump sites
In addition, as per CPCB estimates, the class I1 cities and class II2 towns in the country generate
around 38,254 MLD (Million Litres per Day) of sewage of which only 11,787 MLD (31%) is
treated and balance is discharged untreated (Ref). The key issue regarding sewage collection
treatment and disposal at the national as well as state level is inadequate provision of sewage
treatment facilities which is one of the major cause of pollution of water bodies in the country.
As per the estimates of CPCB, annually around 7.66 million Metric Ton (MT) of hazardous
waste is generated from 40,000 industries in the country, of which landfillable waste is 3.39
million MT (44.26%), incinerable 0.65 million MT (8.50%) and recyclable hazardous waste is
3.61 million MT (47.13%). (CPCB, 2010) .
The mechanism of disposal of hazardous wastes lacks proper enforcement resulting in
abandoned hazardous waste dumps. These abandoned disposal sites have the potential to cause
soil and groundwater contamination due to heavy metals and other toxic compounds, some of
which bio-accumulate through the food chain, thereby posing long-term health risks. The present
treatment capacity for industrial wastewater is 1/6th (142 MLD) of total generation. So the total
industrial wastewater generation can be pegged at around 850 MLD.
The rate of municipal waste generation in India in 2011 was 127458.1 T/day. This was divided
by the then urban population to get the per capita waste generation rate of 0.356 kg/day. The
amount of waste generated per capita is estimated to increase at the rate of 1- 1.33% annually.

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2. Policy framework
The status of solid waste management is considered as a development indicator as it has direct
link to issues like sanitation and public health. Thus, management of solid waste generated in a
country must be one of the priorities while forming policies at national level. However, the
situation of solid waste and sanitation in India has always been questionable. The major reasons,
particularly in urban areas, are economic growth, migration from cities, unplanned land use and,
most importantly, the lack of proper legislations on solid waste management.
One of the foremost regulations in the waste management sector was the Hazardous Waste
(Management & Handling) Rules, 1989 followed by Bio-Medical Waste Handling Rules, 1998.
However, the specifications regarding the roles and responsibility of waste management and the
protocol to be followed in municipal waste collection, segregation, processing and disposal were
missing. As a result, the sanitation standards in cities were not up to the mark. It was observed
that often the waste from all over the city was dumped at the periphery of cities in low lying area
which later got inhabited slums and unauthorized colonies for picking up recyclable waste. As
the waste was not segregated and included biomedical, industrial and e-waste, it was a serious
threat to public health. Thus public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court in
1996 against the Government of India and municipal corporations responsible for solid waste
management; following which a committee was appointed to look into the matter. The
committee submitted the final recommendation in 1999. The Ministry of Environment and Forest
was then directed to act on the recommendations and develop appropriate rules for management
of municipal solid waste (Zhu, Asnani, Zurbrugg, Anapolsku, & Mani, 2008).

- Projections of waste production in India at an all India level for 2011, 2021, 2031 and 2041

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Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2000: The MSW rules were
made effective in the year 2000. All the municipal authorities in country were directed to
manage solid waste in their respective jurisdiction according to the rules. The MSW rules
cover all the aspects of solid waste from collection to waste disposal. Some of the directions
made are:
 Collection/storage: A door-to-door collection must be done by the municipal authorities
including in unauthorized areas like slums. The collected waste must include both bio-
degradable and non-bio-degradable waste. There must be no littering on the streets; separate bio-
degradable and non-bio-degradable dustbins must be installed at convenient locations. Street
sweeping drives must cover all kinds of areas and on all days.
 Transportation: The transportation of the waste must be in closed trucks.
 Treatment: The bio-degradable waste collected must be either composted or used in waste-to-
energy plants.
 Disposal: Only the inert material or waste from treatment plants should end up in the landfills.
The rule also specifies the standards for waste disposal in landfills.
National Urban Sanitation Policy: The policy was prepared by the Ministry of Urban
Development in 2008. The objective of the policy is ‘to transform urban India into community-
driven, totally sanitized, healthy and livable cities and towns.’ The policy stresses upon
awareness and behavior change, open defecation free cities and integrating sanitation in all the
other aspects of cities. (Ministry of Urban Development)
National Mission on Sustainable Habitat: Launched in 2010 under the National Action Plan
for Climate Change, this mission will be implemented in the Twelfth Five Year plan. Apart from
energy consumption in buildings and shift to public transport this mission focuses on
technological intervention in the waste management and recycling. The mission will include
major R&D programs in bio-chemical waste processing, recycling and, especially in, waste-to
energy (Planning Commission, 2012).
Swachh Bharat Mission: The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in 2014. The main
objectives of the mission include elimination of open defecation, eradication of manual
scavenging, modern and scientific municipal solid waste management, to effect behavioral
change regarding healthy sanitation practices, capacity building for ULBs, and to create enabling
conditions for private participation in capital investment and operation and maintenance. One of
the overall objectives is to achieve scientific solid waste management in 4041 cities/towns for
30.6 crore persons.
AMRUT: Launched in 2015, the Atal Mission for Rejuvination and Urban Transformation has
an aim to ensure that every household has access to tap water and sewerage; increase the amenity
value of the city by promoting greenery and well maintained open spaces; and to reduce
pollution by promoting non-motorized and public transport. One distinguishing feature in
AMRUT is that now the MoUD will approve an annual state action plan rather than giving
project by project approvals.
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3. Institutional Framework for Implementation
The framework of solid waste management in India is broadly divided into three tiers, which are,
central, state and urban local bodies (UBL).
The main function at the central level is to make laws and rules, frame policies, financial support
and to prepare guidelines and manuals. The state is responsible for implementing the rules, laws
and guidelines set by the center at the state level. ULBs are responsible for the actual
implementation and to prepare plans for collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of the
solid waste (Bharat & Jaiswal, 2013)
Even though the major responsibility of MSW management lies with the governmental agencies
and urban local bodies, there are other stakeholders which play a crucial role as well. These are
households, businesses, industries, informal sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
community based organizations (CBOs), self-help groups (SHGs), secondary schools and college
students. Involvement of all these stakeholders is necessary in planning of solid waste
management. The rules and policies are framed at the national and state level but the actual
implementation is done by the ULBs. Other stake holders like private partners, CBOs, NGOs and
informal waste collector execute certain aspects of waste management like waste collection,
processing etc.

4. Challenges
The key challenges in achieving efficiency in waste management sector at the national level
include non-segregation of waste at the source; the ULBs lack funds and are inadequate to
address the existing identified problems in waste management. The institutional arrangement is
not adequate and there is no community participation towards management of waste and
sanitation. The ULBs are also unable to recover user charges from residents for solid waste
service provision.
In order to address these challenges, it has been suggested that informal arrangement of rag
pickers and NGOs/CBOs must be strengthened for an effective door-to-door collection,
guidelines from the state must be followed while acquiring land for projects and SWM solutions
must be developed according to the regional requirements and constraints.
A report by National Plastic Waste Management Task Force in 1997, looked at social and
environmental status of rag pickers and waste collectors in informal sector. In the same year, the
Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, under the clean city campaign, discussed about the
creation of waste recycling centers in a scientific manner. Following this in 2001, Ranganath
Mishra Committee on Plastic Waste Disposal suggested that the retrieval of packaging for
disposal must be the responsibility of the plastic industry.

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5. Learnings from international good practices
This section describes international (Brazil and Europe) best practices in case of solid waste
management. These examples and the lessons learnt could be helpful for policy makers in India
while framing policies related to municipal solid waste management.
 Brazil

The specific objectives of Brazilian national policy for solid waste management and the
Law include:
 Adherence to waste hierarchy - a) reduce b) reuse c) recycle d) disposal of treated solid
waste in an ecological manner must be promoted.
 The industries must be incentivized to use recycled products.
 Environmental impacts must be minimized by adopting, developing and improving
clean technologies.
 Integrating reusable and recyclable material collectors in actions that involve joint
liability for product life cycle.
 Preference to green procurement i.e. purchase of recycled and recyclable products,
goods, services and so on, such that it promotes social and environmental sustainability.
(al, 2013) The Brazilian government, in 2014, decided that all the unregulated landfills
must be shut down. Moreover, individual or entities not complying with policies and are
responsible for damage to environment are required to compensate the government for
remedial actions.

 Europe

Many initiatives have also been taken by the European governments to ensure the safe
disposal of solid waste to promote sustainability. Improvement in the efficiency of waste
treatment and disposal facilities, diversion of bio waste from landfills to reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, replacement of mineral fertilizers with organic
fertilizers (compost) and an improvement in the output from recycling units to reduce
natural resource consumptions are some of the steps taken.

The bio-degradable waste management (BMW) systems 3 , in Netherlands, Austria and

United Kingdom, focus on building separate collection systems like specific bins which
would eventually lead to BMW treatment systems. In addition, some economic
instruments like Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT)4 and organic waste tax have been used as
an incentive so that the residents’ themselves divert BMW from the regular waste.
Landfill Allowance Trading System (LATS), another such initiative by the United
Kingdom government, provided the local authorities the flexibility to manage waste more
efficiently.

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6. Measures for adopting green growth
I. Integrated Solid Waste Management

Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) is a system which defines a hierarchy

while managing solid waste. According the ISWM, solid waste must be managed in
the following hierarchy with the first strategy being most desirable and the
succeeding strategies to be followed only when a particular strategy cannot be
employed:

 Reduction at source and reuse: The most logical and preferred option is minimizing
the waste production. This can be done by using better technologies, efficient
packaging, reusing the waste produced at each level in some other process or activity.

 Recycling: Recovery of material from the waste and reusing it again in

manufacturing of some other product is recycling. Although recycling helps in
recovering the material waste, energy is used in the process.

 Waste to Compost: Decomposition of organic municipal waste to produce manure.

 Waste-to-Energy: Production of heat, electricity or fuel from the waste using

biomethanation, waste incineration or Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).

 Waste Disposal: Inert waste or the residual waste produced in the other waste
management process must be disposed in engineered landfills.

Another aspect of ISWM is the integration of informal sector, to include rag pickers and private
door-to-door waste collectors. The informal waste sector plays an important role in waste
collection and segregation and this is done at a minimal cost. It has been observed that
developing countries spend almost 80%-90% of the allotted waste management budget on waste
collection (Marshall & Farahbakhsh, 2013). Thus, integration of informal sector through NGOs,
resident welfare association (RWAs), SHGs and CBOs will help in reducing the waste collection
cost. Moreover, this will also protect them from exploitation (CPHEEO, 2014).

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 II. Financing Mechanisms

In order to ensure the practicality and sustainability of the Solid Waste Management
programs being developed, it is very important to understand the financial aspect of
it. In India, the implementation of the SWM programs is usually done by the ULBs.
The central and state governments provide grants to the ULBs. Besides these grants
other sources of funds are internal revenues through taxes, loans and private partners.

While budgeting the costs of solid waste management a holistic understanding of the
process is necessary. The planners must take into account all the aspects of SWM
including collection, segregation, transportation, disposal, employee salary and other
hidden costs. Increase in population and waste quantity in future must be considered
while planning a long term project or constructing a facility.

These costs are majorly met through grants from government, taxes and user fee
charges (in only small fraction of cases). Studies have suggested that there is a scope
of improvement in the management of the money allocated for waste management.
Most of the funds available are spent on the salaries of the employees. 70-75% of the
funds are spent on street sweeping, 25-30% on collection and only 0-5% percent on
disposal. In an efficient waste management system, the majority of the funds must be
spent on waste treatment and disposal.
Grants from state/central government: The ULBs themselves seldom have enough funds to
meet the financial requirements of the Solid Waste Management projects. Thus, the government
at both national and state levels provides grants to ULBs for implementing projects.

Funds from government :

 Central funds

 Finance Commission Grants.

 JnNURM-UIG grants.

 JnNURM-UIDSSMT grants.
 State funds
 State Finance Commission grants.

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II .
i.) Subsidies
Waste-to-energy projects like refuse derived fuels; biomethanation, biogas and gasification
are highly encouraged by providing financial incentives.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) gives incentives to both private and
public sector companies. On an average a subsidy of INR 15 million to INR 30 million per
MW is given. Also, INR 15 lakh per MW of incentive is given to ULBs for providing
garbage free of cost and facilitating the needs of waste to energy projects. Whereas, the state
nodal agencies are provided an incentive of INR 5 lakh/MW for the promotion and co-
ordination of projects. Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change and Ministry of
Agriculture provides a subsidy of upto 50% of capital cost of compost plants.

ii.) Loans from government or other financial institutions

The ULBs can approach private or public banks if loans are required for funding projects at
low rates of interests. Some of such financial institutions are Housing and Urban
Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO), Infrastructure Development Finance Company
Limited (IDFC), Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), National
Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Indian Renewable Energy
Development Agency Limited (IREDA), Industrial Development Bank of
In March, 2006, the Indian government borrowed 3,584 million yen (INR 6,254 crore) from
JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) for the 'Kolkata Solid Waste Management
Improvement Project). The aim of the project was to promote healthy and hygienic living
conditions in Kolkata by developing a sustainable regional solid waste management system
including sanitary landfills.

iii.) Incentives to invest in waste sector

The government of India has provided certain incentives to promote the investment in the
solid waste management sector; some of these have been listed below:
 Tax exemption of certain bonds selected by the local authorities.
 Tax holiday for the projects involved in solid waste management.
 Exemption of taxes on the income of the companies which have invested in the projects of
infrastructural development, including solid waste management infrastructure.
 India was part of the Kyoto protocol in 1997 -- industrialized countries which participated
in this agreed to reduce their carbon emissions. In order to do that, these countries could also
invest in the carbon mitigation project in developing countries. Since solid waste is a source

10
of greenhouse gases, particularly methane; projects with an aim to capture methane emission
from anaerobic decomposition of solid waste could be financed under this scheme. However,
the international carbon market crashed after some time. (Zhu, Asnani, Zurbrugg, Anapolsku,
& Mani, 2008)
In the financial year 2013-14, the government of India recommended the percentage
investment in different aspects of solid waste management. Table 6 gives the details of these
recommendations.

iv.) Challenges in the financial support to solid waste management

The municipalities in India are in a poor financial condition. The most important way for
municipalities to raise money is through taxes, especially property tax. Property tax is
deliberately kept low to avoid public outcry. Moreover, the collection method of property tax
is questionable. There are many loopholes in the current collection system and more often
than less, the taxed property is under assessed. The ULBs, thus, have to majorly depend on
the grants from the government. Another big challenge in the solid waste sector is the manner
in which the collected funds are utilized. Ideally, the majority of the share must be spent on
the treatment and disposal of waste but the real situation in India is the exact opposite. Most
of the funds are spent on the salaries of the staff (Zhu, Asnani, Zurbrugg, Anapolsku, &
Mani, 2008). The challenges faced in funding the MSWM projects have been summarized in
table 7. Private companies can be encouraged to spend the CSR (corporate social
responsibility) funds in developing technologies for waste management or funding ULBs to
carry out certain selected projects in the municipalities.
According to a report published by the High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC), total
investment required for urban infrastructure over the period 2012 to 2031 amounts to be INR
31 lakh crore. In this estimate solid waste management has been allotted INR 48582 crore,
that is, 1.6% of the total investment. The per capita investment cost in solid waste
management comes out to be Rs 391 and the per capita annual operation and maintenance
cost of the sector is INR 155.

 The use of technology

This waste composition indicates that the waste generated in India has a high potential to
be treated and re-utilized. The organic waste can be composted and recyclable waste can
be used for material recovery. This implies that only 30% of the waste generated in India
must be disposed in landfills. However, as mentioned earlier, the actual situation is
opposite. Only 12.45% of the waste generated is treated, rest is either dumped into

Landfills without any treatment or remains uncollected.

Improving the waste collection efficiency and developing suitable technologies for waste
segregation, transportation, treatment and disposal could be a step towards the solution of
this problem.
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 Collection

As mentioned earlier, out of the total solid waste generated in India only 70% of waste is
collected. The remaining waste remains in the streets creating unsanitary living
conditions. This calls for an intervention in the collection system in India.

Collection of waste is generally divided in two categories, primary collection and

secondary collection. The collection of waste from the source like houses, commercial
establishments, markets and so on is primary collection. When waste is collected from
storage places like bins and finally transported to processing units or disposal sites, it is
termed as secondary collection.

In India, primary collection is usually a door to door collection from households

facilitated by using push-carts, tri-cycles, mechanized vehicles or compactors depending
upon the location of the area. It is usually noted that less influential areas with narrow
lanes like slums is not included in the collection drives. This leads to unsanitary living
conditions in the urban areas.

 Recycling

Recovery of the material from the waste is an important step in waste management. This
not only reduces the volume of waste but also prevents over exploitation of natural
resources. Paper and plastics are the most recycled waste products in India. However,
other constituents of municipal wastes like metal scraps and glass can also be recycled.
Box 3 shows an example of efficient recycling of paper waste.

Plastic forms 1-10% of total municipal solid waste. According to CPCB, India produces
approximately 8 million tons of plastic every year (CPCB, 2012). Plastic waste maybe in
the form of bottles, carry bags, cables, pipes, and tea cups. Recycling is the best strategy
to handle plastic waste. However, virgin plastic can only be recycled 2-3 times. The
strength and utility of plastic is reduced with every recycling cycle. There are safe ways
to dispose plastic. It can either be converted to fuel using plasma pyrolysis or liquid fuel,
or it can be used in construction of polymer blended bitumen roads.

 Composting

Biological decomposition of organic waste is known as composting. In India, majority if

the waste produced is organic which makes composting a viable technique to handle
waste. The technologies used for composting are:

12
  Windrow composting: In this type of composting, the organic waste is stacked into
windrows. The windrows are stacked to maximize the exposure to air. They are also
constantly turned using mechanical turners. The finished product is rich in organic matter
and nutrients with C/N ratio of 20:1 and moisture content of 30 to 35%.

 Aerated static pile composting: The waste is placed over piles which are directly
above a system of pipes connected to blowers. This helps ensure better aeration, hence,
fermentation time and the fuel spent on mechanical turners (in windrow composting) is
saved.

 In-vessel composting: The composting of waste is done inside a closed vessel like
drum, silo, digester bin or tunnel. Conditions like air-flow, moisture content, agitation
mechanism and temperature are controlled. This allows more waste to be decomposed in
less time. Moreover, with proper care the odour and leachate production can be reduced.

 Decentralized composting: Since organic waste decomposes, it is better not to waste

time in collection and transportation but rather treat it at the source itself. Decentralized
composting is done either at community level in boxes with capacities of 3-5 tons or at
individual household level in bins.

 Vermi composting: This is composting of bio-degrade able waste with help of

earthworms. The resultant compost is rich in nutrients and can be used as a soil
conditioner. Ideally, the vermin-compost beds must have a moisture content of 30- 40%
and a temperature range of 20-30°C.

 Waste to energy

The waste unfit for recycling and composting must be utilized in waste to energy plants.
Waste with low moisture content and high calorific value is suitable for waste to energy
plants. Thus, segregation of waste is a necessity for optimal functioning of such plants.
The most common waste to energy technology used in India is Refuse Derived Fuel
(RDF). Other waste- to- energy techniques include pyrolysis and gasification.

RDF comprises of the non-recyclable municipal solid waste which is processed in order
to obtain waste with high calorific value. The objective is to utilize this segregated waste
as fuel to generate electricity or any other form of usable energy. The MSW Rules 2000
and Electricity act 2003 provide some guidelines for RDF projects. Moreover, permission
and regular monitoring by respective SPCBs is necessary for RDF plants.

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 Deployment of technology

Smart Waste Management System:

The major problem with the waste management system in India is inefficiency is waste
collection and transportation. A nationwide intervention is required in collection and
transportation system.

SM-WMS is providing logistic solutions and constantly developing the mechanism

according to needs and previous learning. These solutions are usually a combination of
hardware and software developed by IT professionals. The basic objective is to minimize
time consumption and investment, and maximize the quality of the service provided. For
instance, the collection system can be improvised if the quantity and quality of the waste
collected is regularly monitored. This knowledge will eventually help in better planning
of collection routes, types of vehicles to be used and identification of critical areas which,
probably, need special attention. Technologies like optical sensors could be used for high
quality segregation of waste which will minimize the economic losses and provide a
better input for specialized processing units.

The municipal corporation of Coimbatore is using an online waste truck monitoring

system using radio frequency identification linked with waste transfer stations and
processing units. The Bhopal Municipal Corporation saved up to 2000-3000 liters of
diesel per day only by installing GPS devices in about 50 waste trucks.

Information Communication Technology:

Integrating the information technology with the existing waste management system can
have a huge impact on the condition of the waste sector in India.

Technologies like GPS, GIS, remote sensing, online web services and cloud computing
can find some real time application in waste management. For example, trucks and bins
can be installed with remote optical sensors which can constantly record the data of type
and amount of waste collected at various locations and create a database.

This database can be instrumental in understanding, analyzing and predicting the waste
production patterns, and eventually manage waste more efficiently. (Ion & Gheorghe,
2014) (Planning Commission, 2014).

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7. Ways forward

The situation of solid waste management has certainly improved over the years. However, there
is still a long way to go. Instead of following the usual end of pipe approach, waste management
must be looked at holistically and preference must be given to reduction of waste at the source.
The waste management system is blocked at collection stage, which is inefficient and consumes
most of the funds and time. Instead of working against the informal sector, it is important to
recognize the importance of informal sector and incorporate it into the formal waste collection
system. Waste processing and disposal deserve more strategic and financial importance. There is
need to maximize resource recovery from waste and waste recycling to reduce the land
requirement for waste disposal.
As regards to municipal solid waste and other urban waste streams like e-waste, construction and
demolition debris, partnership of various stakeholders viz. ULBs, private formal and informal
waste managers, waste generators, and regulatory agencies need to evolve to ensure that waste
management is carried out in most efficient manner. The ULBs in India are running low on
funds. The current mechanisms to raise funds for waste management must be improvised. Also,
it must be realized that municipalities can no longer ‘provide’ all the waste management services
in isolation. The aspects of waste management which the municipalities can handle efficiently
must be identified and private players must be given a chance to manage the remaining aspects.
The government must alter policies in such a way that private sector is encouraged to invest,
establish and operate facilities in the waste management sector. The key strategies for efficient
management of waste as part of greening the waste sector would include:
 Waste reduction strategies: Waste reduction strategies involve lesser generation of waste at
source and using alternative material which generate waste of lesser hazard as compared to
traditionally used ones. It is necessary to decouple the waste generation process from the growth
of economy and population. Various ways in which this can be achieved are:
a. Alternative packaging – use of fabric or jute packaging instead of traditionally used polythene
bags which are difficult to collect and recycle (reviving of jute sector).
b. Designing products like cell phones and other electronic goods for longer shelf life so that
they enter the waste stream a little later.
c. Designing products for disassembly so that majority of their components can be recycled at the
end-of-life.
d. Developing re-manufacturable products to increase their life cycle.
 Waste inventory: In absence of dynamic waste inventory, long term planning for waste
management becomes difficult. Each municipality should maintain a complete database for its
waste management activities, particularly generation of waste (daily data), characteristics of
waste (monthly data), processing facilities actually installed and operated and their performance
(monthly data) and final disposal in a sanitary landfill (monthly data).

15
 MSW to composting: Excessive use of chemical fertilizers and resulting run off is resulting in
pollution of soil and water bodies and is key non-point source of pollution. The top soil as a
result of over irrigation is also getting depleted in organic carbon which affects soil fertility. As
stated earlier, MSW in India comprises of around 50% organic or food waste with high moisture
content. This waste (food waste, agricultural residues, etc.) can be composted either aerobically
or anaerobically. This process not only treats the waste, diverting it from landfill (thus saving on
cost of disposal) but also the compost produced can enrich the top soil with organic carbon
which is key to soil fertility. The process is net GHG saver as compared to open dumping of
waste which results in uncontrolled emission of methane. Decentralized, community composting
options should be explored wherever feasible (away from residential areas to avoid community
conflicts)
 MSW to energy: Viability of producing energy from MSW (woody waste, agricultural
residues, food waste, waste papers and plastics) and extraction of landfill gas from ‘open but
soon to be closed waste dumps’ can not only treat the waste but also provide renewable source of
energy to ‘energy starved’ cities. Technologies like anaerobic digestion (producing power as
well as compost), use of refuse derives fuel and landfill gas will be explored for processing such
waste. These processes also would be net GHG saver as compared to open dumping of waste
which results in uncontrolled emission of methane. Decentralized biomethanation options as
implanted in Pune should be explored for other cities as well. The Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy (MNRE) estimates that there is potential of generating around 2500 MW of
energy from processing of waste in the country.
 Material recovery and recycling: India reportedly salvages and recycles around 70% of MSW,
though most of it is collected and recycled by informal sector using rudimentary technologies. It
is reported that in developing countries around 15-20 million people are engaged in waste
recycling activities – in some cities 2% of the population. More than 1 million people are
engaged in waste recycling activities in India. It is also reported that informal sector (waste
pickers) remove around 10-15% of waste every day from city streets and are key to solid waste
management system in any city. There should be efforts to institutionalize informal sector and
modernization of recycling technologies. Informal waste recyclers can be trained to collect the
waste from households, do decentralised waste processing (composting or biogas) and trade
recyclable waste as is demonstrated by Stree Mukti Sangathan in Mumbai.

The goals of greening the waste sector cannot be achieved without increased investment.
Minimising waste generation requires changes to product design and production processes
upstream. Downstream recovering, remanufacturing, recycling, and final treatment require
new facilities or upgrading of existing facilities. Investment is also needed to train the labour
force in the sector as well as to formalise the informal sector.

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