Municipal solid waste: India
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Contents |
Best practices
2017
See graphic, ' Best municipal solid waste disposal practices from across India, 2017 '
Quantity of waste generated
2017: India vis-à-vis China, other countries
From: August 3, 2019: The Times of India
See graphic:
The quantity of solid waste generated in 2017: In India vis-à-vis Brazil, China, Indonesia and other countries
Processing
2018-19: processing doubles
Dipak Dash, June 18, 2019: The Times of India
Solid waste processing doubles in a year: Study
New Delhi:
Processing of municipal solid waste has more than doubled in urban areas in the past one year, government data show. Till Mayend, little over 54% of municipal solid waste generated across urban areas had been processed as compared to about 25% a year back.
Among all bigger states in waste processing, West Bengal is at the bottom of the list where only 9% of the garbage collected in cities and towns was being processed while Puducherry, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh reported processing more than 80% of municipal solid waste.
According to official data, in 17 states, including Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Uttarakhand, the share of garbage being processed was less than the national average. Meghalaya is the worst where only about 4% of the trash collected was being treated. In Delhi, about 55% of garbage is processed. Sources said considering that progress so far in this area is little over the halfway mark, the urban affairs ministry is likely to seek the government’s approval to extend the urban component of Swachh Bharat Mission beyond October, 2019. They said efforts need to be put in to sustain the progress made in toilet construction and their maintenance.
Officials said, on an average, urban areas in India generate about 1.44 lakh tonnes of municipal solid waste every day. “There is progress in collection of solid waste... We need to push the processing of waste,” said an official. Till now 100% door-to-door collection of waste has been achieved in nearly 76,000 municipal wards out of total 8,000.
Indore
2017
How India's cleanest city handles its waste, Sep 5, 2017: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
Over 1,000 metric tonnes of garbage is collected daily in the city
Door-to-door service was started in June 2015 as a pilot project in two of the 84 wards in the city and became a resounding success
It took a year to achieve 100% door-to-door garbage collection
Indore looked ahead, adopted green solutions.Indore looked ahead, adopted green solutions.
Until 2016, Indore was choking on its plastic waste. People used plastic indiscriminately which was collected and burned, sending toxic fumes into the air. But in January this year, the city hit on a way to recycle its plastic - by using it to make roads. This is just one example of how Indore, one of Madhya Pradesh's busiest cities, made it to the list of India's most swachh city this year.
Today, over 1,000 metric tonnes of garbage is collected daily from the source -whether it is an individual household or commercial establishment. Door-to-door service was started in June 2015 as a pilot project in two of the 84 wards in the city and became a resounding success. It took a year to achieve 100% door-to-door garbage collection. The city's corporation has now set bigger goals. This includes complete waste segregation at source, managing the city landfill site at Devguradiya and establishing a waste-toenergy plant by 2019.
One of the significant challenges is managing the waste at the landfill site of Devguradia.The dumped garbage results in spontaneous combustion of gases. To this end, the municipal authorities plan to establish a modern transfer station (that will take garbage from tippers to collection centres), establish and operate small composting plants for biodegradable waste, plastic waste collection and processing unit.
Two engineered landfill sites of over six acres each are being created. Bioremediation, a waste management technique that involves the use of organisms to neutralise pollutants, will also be used to treat old waste in the next two years.
The city has also given contract for the establishment of a 20MW waste to energy plant, and there is a separate plan for processing construction and demolition waste. But the nub of the problem, say environmentalists, is segregation of waste at source and a complete ban of plastic bags.This demands behavioural change. But now that Indore residents have tasted the positive impact of the Swachhta campaign, it may not be difficult.
