14 YEARS, 14 RED FLAGS ON LANDFILLS IGNORED

TOPIC: GS PAPER III ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

AN OVERVIEW

Waste management rules in India are based on the principles of “sustainable development”, “precaution” and “polluter pays”. These principles mandate municipalities and commercial establishments to act in an environmentally accountable and responsible manner—restoring balance, if their actions disrupt it. The increase in waste generation as a by-product of economic development has led to various subordinate legislations for regulating the manner of disposal and dealing with generated waste are made under the umbrella law of Environment Protection Act, 1986 (EPA). Specific forms of waste are the subject matter of separate rules and require separate compliances, mostly in the nature of authorisations, maintenance of records and adequate disposal mechanisms.

With rapid urbanisation, the country is facing massive waste management challenge. Over 377 million urban people live in 7,935 towns and cities and generate 62 million tonnes of municipal solid waste per annum. Only 43 million tonnes (MT) of the waste is collected, 11.9 MT is treated and 31 MT is dumped in landfill sites. Solid Waste Management (SWM) is one among the basic essential services provided by municipal authorities in the country to keep urban centres clean. However, almost all municipal authorities deposit solid waste at a dumpyard within or outside the city haphazardly. Experts believe that India is following a flawed system of waste disposal and management.

Urban Waste Management Issues

• The conditions, issues and problems of urban waste management in the industrialized and developing worlds are different. Though the developed countries generate larger amounts of wastes, they have developed adequate facilities, competent government institutions and bureaucracies to manage their wastes.
• Developing countries are still in the transition towards better waste management but they currently have insufficient collection and improper disposal of wastes.
• Clear government policies and competent bureaucracies for management of solid wastes are needed urgently especially in countries where there is rapid population growth through urbanization into peri-urban areas.
• Services and programmes that include proper waste disposal for management of hazardous biological and chemical wastes, minimization and recycling will be needed.
• Disposal of wastes is commonly done by dumping (on land or into water bodies), incineration or long term storage in a secured facility. All these methods have varying degrees of negative environmental impacts with adverse environmental and health risks if wastes are improperly disposed or stored.

Resolve Waste Management: Cost effective, environmentally responsible waste disposal. Catering needs of customers in the automotive, industrial and paint markets.

Resolve Waste Management protects your company and your employees from liability by ensuring the proper handling, recycling and disposal of both hazardous and non-hazardous waste. 

With Resolve the following solution come out:

• Scheduled collection, transportation and treatment of packaged industrial waste, liquid or dry, hazardous or non hazardous, large or small.
• Documentation and labeling of waste in accordance with all Local, State and Federal laws.
• Our fully licensed trucks, disposal facilities and recycling facility ensure all waste is recovered or treated under environmental guidelines.
• Full service and maintenance of Resolve Gun Wash Machines and our Waterborne Paint Cleaning Units. Fully manufactured in Melbourne for the Australian auto industry, our machines are an ideal way to increase productivity and reduce cost. These machines are now successfully used by over 280 customers.
• Complete range of workshop cleaning products, protective equipment, spill kits and absorbent products.

The key to efficient waste management is to ensure proper segregation of waste at source and to ensure that the waste goes through different streams of recycling and resource recovery. Then reduced final residue is then deposited scientifically in sanitary landfills. Sanitary landfills are the ultimate means of disposal for unutilised municipal solid waste from waste processing facilities and other types of inorganic waste that cannot be reused or recycled. Major limitation of this method is the costly transportation of MSW to far away landfill sites.

In addition,Installation of waste-to-compost and bio-methanation plants would reduce the load of landfill sites. The biodegradable component of India’s solid waste is currently estimated at a little over 50 per cent. Bio-methanation is a solution for processing biodegradable waste which is also remains underexploited. It is believed that if we segregate biodegradable waste from the rest, it could reduce the challenges by half. E-waste components contain toxic materials and are non-biodegradable which present both occupational and environmental health threats including toxic smoke from recycling processes and leaching from e-waste in landfill into local water tables.

QUESTION ARISING FROM THIS TOPIC:

Q1)What do you understand by Urban Waste Management ? Examine their resolution of waste management in Indian cities.