Waste Management Issues in India

1 Waste Management Issues in India Introduction India has a population of approximately 1.4 billion people, making it the second-most populous country in the world. Waste management poses a significant challenge to the country due to its large population. The country produces 150,000 tonnes of waste per day, and out of this only 80% is collected and less than 30% is recycled. The World Bank estimates that at its current rate of urbanization and industrialization, and as the country’s population continues to grow, by 2025, India will generate over 350,000 tonnes of waste per day. Essentially, India’s waste management predicament creates significant social and environmental challenges and needs to be controlled to prevent it from affecting the health and livelihoods of Indian citizens.

Outline of India India is a heavily populated country, its total population is equal to the combined population of Japan, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the United States. The major cities of India such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chandigarh are developing into megacities whose waste generation per capita has reached an all-time high. India is a developing nation that is becoming urbanized and industrialized at a fast rate. It is one of the top three destinations for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

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2 It is becoming increasingly challenging for the country to manage its waste properly and as a result, it has become one of the countries with the poorest waste management. India’s fast growth mandates an effective waste management strategy.

Waste management in the country falls under the domain of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. This ministry is in charge of overseeing the efficient disposal of waste disposal. In 2016, it released the Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules to facilitate a change in the waste management strategies used in the country. The rules include; firstly, making waste segregation compulsory, secondly, employing waste pickers, thirdly, making it mandatory for FMCG companies that use non-biodegradable packaging to implement a strategy of collecting the packaging waste used for their products and, prohibiting the dumping of non-recyclable waste that has a calorific value of 1,500Kcal/kg and above (Gezerman, Corbacioglu, & Gurjar, 2018).

Waste Classification Waste is classified according to its source of collection, its recyclability and biodegradability. There are different sources from which waste is collected, these include; domestic waste, agricultural waste, industrial waste, electronic waste and medical waste.

Biodegradable waste is organic and can be decomposed to produce green energy. Recyclable waste includes glass, plastic and paper, and can be reprocessed into other useful forms.

India’s Current Waste Management Situation

India is a mineral-rich country. There are nine different minerals that are mined in the country, each causing varying different degrees of environmental damage and pollution.

There is low social awareness of the effects of irresponsible waste management by its citizens,

3 and this father accelerates the rate of environmental pollution. Currently, the majority of the waste management budget is allocated waste collection and transportation where waste is collected through a community bin and transported to a low-lying landfill. This system of dumping waste in an open space creates significant pollution and health hazards such as the contamination of ground and surface water.

Over the years, there has been a drastic increase in the number of people residing in urban areas which essentially leads to her increase in per capita waste generation. Research shows that in India, there is rural-urban migration of over 30,000 people every day. The country's current waste management infrastructure and sanitation system cannot deal with this, together with the fast rate of industrialization. As a result, there is a wide gap between the rate of urbanization and the increase in access to proper waste management. It is imperative for the country to implement long term measures of addressing this challenge.

The Indian waste management crisis occurs as a result of unscientific treatment, poor collection of waste and public ignorance about the hazards of pollution and environmental degradation. India is yet to pursue scientific methods of waste management that would make it possible to solve the environmental crisis that the country currently faces. It is essential to develop an effective waste management infrastructure (Doron, & Jeffrey, 2018). The waste management crisis is serious because landfills have reached their full capacity and therefore need to be closed but the cities’ administrations have been unable to locate new areas for waste disposal.

Addressing India’s Waste Management Crisis India is among the most rapidly developing economies globally. Solid waste management poses a great challenge for India’s urban local bodies due to the growing

4 population density coupled with an increase in the industrialization and economic growth.

Developing sustainable methods of effective waste management has proved to be a great challenge because of the vastness and diversity of its population.

The current methods of waste disposal have an adverse effect on the environment and economy. Almost 90% of the waste generated is disposed of wrongly, which creates an urgent need for new sustainable solid waste management facilities and systems. A proper waste handling strategy is one of the indicators of sustainable development in a country. One of the reasons that India is yet to be classified as a world-leading economy despite its high rate of industrialization is its failure to develop an efficient waste management infrastructure. India’s population pressure contributes significantly to the depletion of natural resources. This predicament can be rectified by extracting resources from waste matter. These take the form of energy, nutrients, and recyclable and reusable materials. The conversion of solid waste material to valuable resources can only be achieved through effective methods of waste management.

India's waste management predicament is fast approaching unmanageable levels and if not addressed effectively, may lead to devastating social and economic effects. It is therefore essential to develop a radical strategy for solving the waste management problem. In India, the proper disposal of solid waste is the role of the municipal. The current structures and systems of waste management are old, outdated and were poorly implemented, therefore cannot handle the magnitude of the country’s current waste disposal needs (Purkayastha, 2016). Most municipalities have failed in their solid waste management duties due to their failure to create suitable waste management infrastructure. Instead of transitioning to

5 scientific methods of waste management, the activity is still highly manual and the departments understaffed.

The waste disposal methods are extremely inefficient. Waste is currently disposed of in shallow land-fills, in cities' outskirts and vacant places. Municipal workers do not take the necessary safety precautions when handling waste matter which causes the easy spread of communicable diseases. The most common garbage collection system is the community bin system, however, it has been ineffective because they are poorly designed, insufficient and located far from some people’s reach, thus, failing to stop the littering problem. Additionally, most of the vehicles used to collect the solid waste are not properly covered or specially designed for efficient waste collection, therefore some of the waste is spilt on paths during the garbage collection process. The disposal area also poses a problem; the landfills are shallow and not scientifically designed to enable the safe disposal of waste, and as a result, they cause environmental degradation, especially by polluting water sources. Burning of waste is a popular waste management method in India; however, it is unsafe and unsanitary because it emits toxic gases into the atmosphere. The municipals have also failed to develop good waste management strategies by lacking the skills, coordination and equipment to handle the activity adequately. In addition to the government’s and municipal’s inefficiencies in addressing the problem, the public has also contributed further to it by failing to recycle and disposing of waste in the wrong places (Singh, & Mahapatra, 2019). Their ignorance, however, is mostly caused by poverty, lack of exposure and education.

Ineffective waste management destroys the aesthetic appeal of an area and makes it inhabitable and also poses a major health risk to people, vegetation and animals. India's urban areas also have an issue of mixed waste where all types of waste are mixed; recyclable,

6 unrecyclable, biodegradable and hazardous. The solid waste management problem is aggravated by the fact that India’s urban areas are not well planned and there are no laws regarding waste disposal (Uqaili, & Harijan, 2012). Property developers take advantage of the disorder by leaving little to no space for garbage disposal in residential areas. As a result of the poor urban planning, waste is scattered in any vacant space available.

Despite the magnitude of the waste disposal problem, municipals allocate very little money to waste management. The funds issued are only enough for the collection and transportation of waste. Therefore, there is very little waste sorting, treatment and recycling if any. The equipment and technology used for waste disposal are outdated.

Policies against the Environmental Issue Solid waste management is an essential service provided by the municipal authority of a city. Waste management regulations in India are based on the tenets of ensuring sustainable development, holding polluters accountable for their actions and taking precaution against environmental degradation. These tenets require the municipal to act in the best interests of the environment at all times. India is currently undergoing a period of rapid economic development and urbanization; this has led to an increase in the standards of living and consumerism, which ultimately leads to a higher level of waste disposal per capita (Pal, 2015). The Environmental Protection Act of 1986 encompasses various regulations regarding the activities involved in waste disposal.

Policy Recommendation Effective waste management entails encouraging the separation of waste to ensure that the biodegradables, non-biodegradables, recyclables and non-recyclables are disposed of properly. It also entails implementing scientific methods of solid waste disposal in landfills to

7 reduce the incineration of garbage. Landfills should only be used for disposing of inorganic waste. Of the 60 million tonnes of waste disposed of per annum, only 40 million tonnes of it is collected and 10 million tonnes is treated. The waste is either dumped haphazardly within the city or in landfills. Essentially, India’s solid waste disposal strategies are deeply flawed.

The implementation of efficient methods of waste disposal will improve India’s economy by making India aesthetically attractive and conducive for foreign investment and by providing employment opportunities to approximately half a million people. Additionally, a significant proportion of disposed waste contains resources such as energy, that if properly harvested, can be of immense benefit to the economy. To achieve this, it is essential to install bio-methanation plants that would greatly reduce the quantity of waste in landfills by processing the biodegradable waste. The corporate Poor waste management is hazardous to people, animals and plants. Plastic bags dumped in water suffocates marine life and also provides breeding grounds for parasites (Bhatt, & Illiyan, 2012). Animals such as cows may consume plastics, posing a danger to consumers of animal products as well as putting the life of the animal at risk. Shallow landfills contaminate water sources and emit toxic gases into the air which may cause illnesses, and in some cases, death.

Conclusion India is a developing country that has the potential to become industrialized in a few years. However, one of the reason it fails to operate to its full potential is poor waste management which leads to a decline in people’s standards of living and also makes it unconducive for investment opportunities. The quantity of waste produced in India is

8 significantly higher than that of other countries, and therefore it is essential for the government to focus on designing and implementing effective waste management strategies.

One of the main ways it can achieve this is by increasing its budgetary allocation to efficient waste management because it will improve the economy create employment opportunities and enable the transformation of waste to useful resources. Additionally, it is essential to pass stricter policies and acts that will guide citizens and law enforcement authorities on the procedures of waste dumping.

Reference

9 Bhatt, M., & Illiyan, A. (2012). Solid waste management. New Delhi: Synergy Books India.

Chandra, R. (2016). Building an Effective Environmental Management Science Program.

National Academies Press.

Doron, A., & Jeffrey, R. (2018). Waste of a nation. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Gezerman, A., Corbacioglu, B., & Gurjar, B. (2018). Effective solutions to pollution mitigation for public welfare. IGI Global.

Pal, P. (2015). The Complete Book on Waste Treatment Technologies. Niir Project Consultancy Services.

Purkayastha, J. (2016). Bioprospecting of Indigenous Bioresources of North-East India.

Singapore: Springer Singapore, Imprint: Springer.

Singh, L., & Mahapatra, D. (2019). Waste to sustainable energy. CRC Press.

Uqaili, M., & Harijan, K. (2012). Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development.

Vienna: Springer.