Vol2iss1 p1 7 Patel at Al

Patel, U.D., Sinha, R.K. and Patel, M.U.
(2014) Sustainable development through effective waste management in India:

opportunities at community level.
International Journal of Sustainable Human Development, 2(1), 1-7.
Sustainable development through effective waste

management in India: opportunities at community level
Upendra D. Patel*, Rajiv K. Sinha#, Margi U. Patel$
*
Professor, Faculty of Technology &Engineering, The M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara-390001, India, #Charotar
University of Science & Technology, PO. Changa, Dist. Anand 388421, India, $Dy. Environmental Engineer, Gujarat
Pollution Control Board, Vadodara, India
This paper discusses municipal solid waste (MSW) generation scenario in India, its disposal
methods, conventional sewage treatment and its limitation, loss of nutrients (N & P) due to
unsustainable methods of disposal, and proposes promotion of low-cost, earthworm based
treatment systems for MSW and domestic sewage and their advantages in terms of nutrient
recycling and water reuse. Average MSW generated in India contains ~0.65% nitrogen (as N) and
~0.7% phosphorus (as P2O5), mainly contained in compostable organic matter. On a conservative
basis, considering generation of 200000 Mg of MSW per day (average generation of 0.167
kg/person/day), India is losing ~510 Gg of P2O5 and ~470 Gg of nitrogenous fertilizer per year
since most of the MSW ends up in open dumps. Thus, if a simple system such as vermicomposting
can be promoted at household level, most of the nutrients wasted with MSW can be recovered
giving dual advantages of: (1) reduced amount of waste to be disposed, and (2) nutrient recycling.
Out of about 38000 million litre per day of sewage generated in India, centralized sewage treatment
capacity exists for only about 12000 million liters per day. Discharge of untreated or partially
treated sewage laden with nutrients leads to severe water pollution. Even if nutrients released by
50% of Indias population are trapped for effective use, it will amount to 2700 Gg of N, 360 Gg of
P, and 720 Gg of K every year considering current population of 1.2 billion. A low-cost,
decentralized sanitation system such as vermifiltration, can be promoted at community level that
can treat sewage to a satisfactory level with minimal energy input and preserve all the nutrients.
Such treated water from decentralized system can be used for irrigation thereby greatly reducing
the demand of fresh water and fertilizers.
KEYWORDS
MSW, Conventional sewage treatment, vermicomposting, vermifiltration, Decentralized Sewage Treatment
Introduction
Waste may be defined as an item/material that has been considered by its intended user to be of no further
use. Depending upon the use and standard of living, we generate different types of wastes. It must be noted
that we derive all of our resources from the nature or environment. Some of these resources are naturally
renewable; such as, solar radiation, water, trees, agricultural crops, etc. However, many resources that we
derive from the nature are not renewable; such as, fossil fuels, minerals, soil, etc. The rate at which we draw
both renewable and non-renewable resources from the nature, decides the rate at which we degrade the
environment and make our survival more and more difficult. Even in case of renewable resources, the rate of
use greater than the rate of natural regeneration damages the delicate balance of nature. Unfortunately, rapid
industrialization coupled with huge population growth is exerting greater pressure on the nature for
resources. Thus, natural resources which are limited are depleted at much faster rate than ever before.
The use of any resource also results into generation of some wastes. The nature has capacity to assimilate
these wastes and convert them into a resource again. However, here too, the rate of generation of waste is
much higher than the natural assimilating capacity of the earth, leading to pollution/contamination of natural
resources by wastes.
Unlike humans, natural eco-systems are very efficient. Resources are utilized to the fullest extent leaving
behind less amount of waste. Moreover, the waste from one trophic level becomes food for the other trophic
level. Maintaining such a balance, natural eco-systems have been preserving our natural resources in pristine
2014 Copyright remains with authors. First published by Eduserv Group Publishing Division, UK, 2014
Patel, U.D., Sinha, R.K. and Patel, M.U. (2014) Sustainable development through effective waste management in India:
form for thousands of years. Thus, we need to learn these aspects from natural eco-systems, viz. (1) utilizing
the resources to maximum possible extent before discarding, and (2) consider the waste as a resource for
reuse/recycle at some other place and/or time and/or process.
The municipal solid waste (msw) generation scenario in India

Range of MSW generated per head in India, varies from 0.2 kg/d in small cities to as high as 0.6 kg/d in
metropolitan cities (CPCB, 2007; Chatterjee, 2010; Kaushal et al., 2012). With increase in per capita income,
average waste generation is expected to reach 0.5 kg/d to 1.0 kg/d of MSW per person by year 2030 (Kaushal
et al., 2012). Considering the current population of 120 crores, our country produces about 200 Gg of waste
every day. With future increase in per capita waste generation or even at the current rate, waste management
in coming years will be a burning issue in India.
Type and relative proportion of various waste components of MSW are dependent on many factors such
as: (1) size of city, (2) average life style and income of residents, (3) cultural practices, etc. Figure 1 and table
1 show, respectively, physical composition and chemical characteristics of MSW generated in various cities
of India based on population.
Table 1: Chemical characteristics of MSW in India (values in %) (Chatterjee, 2010)
Population
range (in
million)
0.1-0.5
0.5-1.0
1.0-2.0
2.0-5.0
>5.0
Moisture
Organic
matter
25.81
19.52
26.98
21.03
38.72
37.1
25.1
26.9
25.6
39.2
Nitrogen
as Total
Nitrogen
0.71
0.66
0.64
0.56
0.56
Phosphorous as P2O5
C/N
ratio
0.63
0.56
0.82
0.69
0.52
30.9
21.1
23.7
22.5
30.1
Calorific
value
kcal/kg
1010
901
980
907
801
Figure 1 shows average composition of MSW generated in India. It may be noted from table 1 and figure
1 that many components of MSW may be recycled directly or processed to produce a valuable product.
Figure 1: Average composition of MSW in India (source of data: Chatterjee, 2010)
Current Practices of Handling MSW

In many metropolitan cities, open, uncontrolled and poorly managed dumping is commonly practiced, giving
rise to serious environmental degradation. More than 90% of MSW in cities and towns are directly disposed
of on land in an unsatisfactory manner. In the majority of urban centers, MSW is disposed of by depositing it
in low-lying areas outside the city without following the principles of sanitary landfilling. Compaction and
leveling of waste and final covering by earth are rarely observed practices at most disposal sites, and these
low-lying disposal sites are devoid of a leachate collection system or landfill gas monitoring and collection
equipment (Kaushal et al., 2012; Sharholy et al., 2008). Thus, current waste management practices as
mentioned above are not sustainable due to the following reasons:
1. Leachate generated from open dumps and landfills contaminates groundwater
2. Incineration of MSW produces obnoxious air pollutants
3. Dumping and landfilling both requires huge land area which is a very precious resource in large
cities.
4. Operations like dumping, landfilling, or incineration requires waste to be collected and hauled to
a long distance which contributes significantly to overall cost of waste management and air
pollution.
5. Decomposition of organic waste in dumps/landfills generates potent greenhouse gases like
methane and nitrous oxide. Uncontrolled burning of MSW (especially plastics) generates very
toxic pollutants like dioxene.
Thus, we need to revisit the MSW management and deal with each component of MSW individually to
recover as much value as possible.
The phosphorus crisis

Phosphorus (P) is an element necessary for all life. Phosphorus is one of the three major nutrients required
for plant growth: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Phosphorus is often a limiting nutrient in
natural ecosystems, in which the supply of available phosphorus limits the size of the population possible in a
given ecosystem (Morrigan, 2010). Nitrogen is obtained from the air, but phosphorus and potassium must be
mined. The world has enough potassium to last several centuries. However, readily available global supplies
of phosphorus may start running out by the end of this century. By then our population may have reached a
peak which is believed to be more than what the earth can sustainably feed (Vacari, 2009). It may be noted
that there is no substitute for phosphorus in agriculture. Thus, once the existing phosphorous reserves are
depleted, the growing global population, the increasing demand for phosphorus, the decreasing phosphorus
supply, and rising fertilizer prices will lead to a massive global food security crisis (Vacari, 2009).
Global Phosphorus Cycle

Like nitrogen, phosphorus cannot be recycled endlessly. The phosphorus cycle is much simpler than the
nitrogen cycle because phosphorus lacks an atmospheric connection and is less subject to biological
transformation. Land-applied phosphorus in form of fertilizer is much less mobile than nitrogen since the
mineralized form (inorganic Phosphate) is easily adsorbed to soil particles. However, soils do not have
infinite phosphate adsorption capacity and with long-term over-application, inorganic phosphates can
eventually enter waterways even if soil erosion is controlled (Phosphorus, 2012). Soluble and absorbed
phosphorus transferred to rivers and eventually to oceans, settles in the sediments. These settled sediments
can only be mined after millions of years when the ocean beds are lifted due to tectonic uplift. What is more
important is that input of phosphorus to oceans due to anthropogenic activities has increased at alarming rates
in last 100 years and going to increase further for next 100 years (Filippelli, 2008).
Geo-political Phosphorus Crisis for India

Just four countries, Morocco, China, South Africa and Jordan, control 80 percent of the world's reserves of
usable phosphate. India and Europe, on the other hand, has almost no reserves of their own, and they depend
on imports to satisfy 90 percent of its demand. The soils in India and Brazil have either low phosphorus
content or they release plant-usable phosphorus at a much slower rate than required (Smit et al., 2009). Thus,
we need to supplement soils with phosphorus fertilizers. Situation is going to be worse for India since its
fertilizer consumption (see figure 2) and hence import bill is going to increase due to burgeoning population
with global increase in prices of phosphorus bearing compounds. This will substantially increase the food
prices.
Figure 2: Consumption of chemical fertilizers in India [Source: State of Indian Agriculture, 2011-12]
The foregoing discussion reveals that:

1. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient and non-renewable mineral which is going to be depleted by
the end of this century leading to a catastrophic food crisis all over the world.
2. To provide food to increasing population and knowing that soil is deficient in available
phosphorus, India is going to need increasing quantities of fertilizers as time passes.
3. Since India does not have substantial reserves of phosphorus, it has to meet its demand of
fertilizers through import. With increasing prices of phosphorus fertilizers, this import will take
away huge foreign exchange reserve.
The centralized sewage treatment system (csts) and its current status in
India
In a CSTS, domestic sewage is collected from each house through a huge network of sewers and eventually
conveyed to a central sewage treatment plant (STP). CSTS are normally provided in cities and a very small
number of villages (where 70% population of the country lives) may have sewered system for sewage
collection. Moreover, CSTS are costly and difficult to operate and maintain.
Out of about 38000 million liter per day of sewage generated, treatment capacity exists for only about
12000 million liter per day. Thus, there is a large gap between generation and treatment of wastewater in
India. Even the treatment capacity existing is also not effectively utilized due to operation and maintenance
problem. Operation and maintenance of existing treatment plants and sewage pumping stations is not
satisfactory, as nearly 39% plants are not conforming to the general standards prescribed by Pollution
Control Boards (CPCB, 2009-2010). In a number of cities, the existing treatment capacity remains
underutilized while a huge flow of sewage is discharged without treatment in the same city due to poor sewer
networking. Discharge of untreated sewage to a water body leads to sever water pollution rendering the water
body unfit for other beneficial uses such as drinking. Moreover, nutrients contained in treated or untreated
sewage (since most of the CSTS in India do not have nutrient removal system in place) lead to eutrophication
of receiving water body and gradually destroy its aquatic ecosystem.
Opportunities at community level

Foregoing discussions reveal that with increasing population, changing lifestyle, and inadequate resources for
safe disposal of waste, MSW handling in India is going to be a daunting problem. Similarly, creating CSTS
in rural parts of India and operating and maintaining them to desired effluent quality levels seem extremely
difficult, economically. On the other hand, for almost similar reasons, India will be very adversely affected
due to global phosphorous crisis in coming decades. Government machinery alone does not seem to be
capable of handling these situations and hence authors see a huge opportunity for participation by community
to solve these problems. The opportunities at community level are: 1. Reduction in waste quantity by
recycling and/or reusing and/or processing waste to produce a valuable product, and 2. Treating domestic
sewage using low-cost, decentralized, simple treatment methods preserving nutrients in treated wastewater.
The treated wastewater may be used for irrigation thereby reducing fresh water and fertilizer demands.
Recycling Options for MSW in India

Table 2 shows various handling options for various components of MSW in India. It may be noted that at
community level, almost everything that can be recycled such as glass, paper, metal, etc., are sold to scrape
traders who in turn sell the waste to recyclers. As shown in figure 1; however, recyclable material represents
only about 5% of total waste. Inert material such as construction and demolition waste is dumped in lowlying areas at community level. However, about 42% of MSW consisting of compostable material is not
managed well at individual levels. Compostable material is the most important component of MSW that is
collected by door-to-door collection system in India and disposed in form of an open dump. A careful
observation of table 1 shows that MSW contains some concentration of nitrogen (~0.65%) and phosphorus
(~0.7%) which may be presumed to be contained in compostable material of MSW. Considering generation
of 200000 tonnes of MSW per day, we are losing 0.7%x200000=1.4 Gg of P 2O5 and 0.65%x200000=1.3 Gg
of nitrogen every day. This amounts to ~500 Gg of P 2O5 and ~470 Gg of nitrogen per year.
Table 2: Various handling options for components of MSW
MSW
component
All possible handling option/s
Paper
Recycling to make paper, landfilling,

incineration, sell to scrap traders
Recycled to prepare metals objects,
utensils, etc., landfilling, incineration,
sell to scrap traders
Recycling/reuse, landfilling, sell to scrap
traders
Reuse in construction of roads,
preparation of low-cost building
materials, landfilling
Metals
Glass
Inerts
(Construction &
demolition
waste)
Biodegradable
material
Bacterial composting, vermi-composting,

biomethanation, incineration, landfilling
Possible handling
option/s at community
level
selling to scrap traders

--
Vermi-composting
Vermi-composting
Vermi-composting (VC) is a simple system that can convert organic biodegradable solid waste into a
valuable fertilizer preserving nutrients contained in the waste. It improves soil conditions such as moistureholding and cation-exchange capacities, and improves fertility of soil. A house-hold VC unit may be made up
of two buckets each capable of accommodating biodegradable solid waste produced in a period of ~2-3
months. The bucket must have holes of 10-12 mm diameter in its walls and one at bottom, respectively, to
facilitate aeration and drainage. The waste is deposited in the bucket layer-by-layer with thin layers of soil
and cow-dung (if any). It is allowed to decay for 15-20 days and then earthworms are released into the
bucket. Moisture is maintained by covering the bucket top with a moistened jute bag which also prevents
direct exposure of VC unit to the sunlight. After about 1.5-2 months, all the waste may be found converted in
to granular, dark brown material without any foul odour. Moisture addition may be stopped for few days
which will drive earthworms in lower layers of the bucket. The vermi-compost can be harvested from top and
sold to farmers or used within a house for gardening. Detailed procedure for a VC process may be found at
(Nagavallemma et al., 2006; Krishi Vigyan Kendra, 2011). A treatment system such as VC employed at
community level will reduce the quantity of MSW to be disposed to about half. Moreover, it will produce a
valuable product that can be used as a fertilizer and thus reduce requirement of chemical fertilizers.
Decentralized Sewage Treatment System (DSTS)

The most important contaminants in domestic wastewater are human excreta and urine which are also
sources of nutrients, organic matter, and pathogens. As mentioned earlier, rural parts of India hardly have any
piped systems to collect and convey sewage. Also, most of the agricultural produce comes from rural parts
that requires huge amount of water for irrigation and fertilizers. Thus, if domestic sewage in rural parts can
be treated by decentralized low-cost sewage treatment systems, it will serve two purposes: 1) providing
treated sewage for irrigation, and 2) providing nutrients in treated water thereby reducing requirement of
chemical fertilizers. Table 3 shows concentration of nutrients contained in human excreta and urine and the
nutrients required to grow 250 kg of cereals. It may be seen that most of the nutrients required growing 250
kg cereals can be sourced from excreta and urine excreted by a human being in a year.
Table 3: The fertilizer equivalent of Human Excreta (Drangert, 1998)
Nutrient, kg
In urine
(500 L/year)
In faeces
(50 L/year)
Total,
kg
Nitrogen (N)
Phosphorus (P)
Potassium (K)
4.0
0.4
0.9
0.5
0.2
0.3
4.5
0.6
1.2
Required for
250 kg of
cereals
5.6
0.7
1.2
Vermi-filtration
Vermi-filtration (VFT) system for sewage treatment consists of a tank filled with layers of different sizes of
pebbles (larger at bottom, smaller at top) placed at the bottom of the tank to serve as a water collection and
natural aeration system (Sinha et al., 2008). At the top of pebbles, a sand layer followed by a layer of vermincompost and garden soil (mixed in 35:65 proportions) is provided. Earthworms @ 1 kg/cu.m of the top layer
are released. The domestic sewage without any pre-treatment is sprinkled over the bed. While the wastewater
percolates down, its organic matter is sorbed onto soil particles and bacteria present in the soil. Any insoluble
organic particles and excess of bacteria are ingested by earthworms. Earthworms also maintain the porosity
by their burrowing effect and keep the top soil layer aerated. Earthworms double in number in about 4-6
months time. Excess earthworms can be harvested and used as a cattle/poultry feed. Except some
atmospheric loss of nitrogen due to bacterial actions, almost all the important nutrients are preserved in the
treated water. Earthworms are also found to selectively thrive on pathogenic microorganisms and thus,
treated effluent contains much less number of pathogens that too can be easily killed by a simple system such
as chlorination. Following advantages make VFT a unique DSTS.
1. Efficient, low-cost, and easy-to-operate treatment system as compared to conventional systems
(Activated sludge, Trickling filter, Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket, etc.)
2. No sludge formation no follow up treatment required
3. No foul odour since putrefying organic matter is ingested by worms
Conclusions
Both MSW and domestic sewage contain significant concentrations of important nutrients like N, P, & K.
Their currently employed methods of treatment/disposal (such as open dumping, filling low-lying areas,
disposal of untreated sewage to rivers or other water bodies) lead to severe and irrecoverable environmental
pollution.
Simple and inexpensive methods such as vermi-composting for household biodegradable solid waste and
vermifiltration of sewage treatment must be propagated to handle these wastes in a sustainable way and
recover their nutrient values. Earthworms based treatment systems are best suited for decentralized
applications incurring much less installation and operational costs.
References
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Delhi.
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and Future Challenges: A Review, International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, Vol. 4, pp. 1473-1489.
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Future, ELEMENTS, Vol . 4, p. 89-95.
Morrigan T. (2010) Peak Phosphorus: A Potential Food Security Crisis, Global & International Studies, University of
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pp.1-16.
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A review, Waste Management, Vol. 28, pp 459467.
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sludge by earthworms: a low-cost sustainable technology over conventional systems with potential for decentralization,
Environmentalist Vol. 28, pp. 409420.
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Agriculture, Nature & Food quality, The Netherlands.
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Patel, U.D., Sinha, R.K. and Patel, M.U.

(2014) Sustainable development through effective waste management in India:

Sustainable development through effective waste

The municipal solid waste (msw) generation scenario in India

Figure 1: Average composition of MSW in India (source of data: Chatterjee, 2010)

Current Practices of Handling MSW

The phosphorus crisis

Global Phosphorus Cycle

Geo-political Phosphorus Crisis for India

The foregoing discussion reveals that:

Opportunities at community level

Recycling Options for MSW in India

All possible handling option/s

Recycling to make paper, landfilling,

Bacterial composting, vermi-composting,

selling to scrap traders

Decentralized Sewage Treatment System (DSTS)

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