TERI, Darbari Seth Block Shaleen Singhal and Suneel Pandey
Habitat Place, Lodhi Road
New Delhi – 110 003
India Solid waste management in India:
status and future directions
TERI Information Monitor on Environmental Science 6(1): 1–4
Introduction
There has been a significant increase in MSW
(municipal solid waste) generation in India in
the last few decades. This is largely because of
rapid population growth and economic develop-
ment in the country. Solid waste management
has become a major environmental issue in In-
dia. The per capita of MSW generated daily, in
India ranges from about 100 g in small towns to
500 g in large towns. Although, there is no na-
tional level data for MSW generation, collection
and disposal, and increase in solid waste genera-
tion, over the years, can be studied for a few
urban centres. For example, the population of
Mumbai grew from around 8.2 million in 1981
to 12.3 million in 1991, registering a growth of
around 49%. On the other hand, MSW gener-
ated in the city increased from 3 200 tonnes per
day to 5 355 tonnes per day in the same period
registering a growth of around 67% (CPCB
2000). This clearly indicates that the growth in
MSW in our urban centres has outpaced the
population growth in recent years. This trend
can be ascribed to our changing lifestyles, food
habits, and change in living standards. MSW in
cities is collected by respective municipalities
and transported to designated disposal sites,
which are normally low lying areas on the out-
skirts of the city. The limited revenues ear-
marked for the municipalities make them
ill-equipped to provide for high costs involved in
the collection, storage, treatment, and proper
disposal of MSW. As a result, a substantial part
of the MSW generated remains unattended and
grows in the heaps at poorly maintained collec-
tion centres. The choice of a disposal site also is
more a matter of what is available than what is
suitable. The average collection efficiency for
MSW in Indian cities is about 72.5% and
around 70% of the cities lack adequate waste
transport capacities (TERI 1998). The insanitary
methods adopted for disposal of solid wastes is,
therefore, a serious health concern. The poorly
maintained landfill sites are prone to
groundwater contamination because of leachate
production. Open dumping of garbage facilitates
the breeding for disease vectors such as flies,
mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats, and other pests
(CPCB 2000).
The municipalities in India therefore face the
challenge of reinforcing their available infrastruc-
ture for efficient MSW management and ensur-
ing the scientific disposal of MSW by generating
enough revenues either from the generators or by
identifying activities that generate resources from
waste management.
This paper discusses various future projec-
tions for estimating the growth of MSW and the
impacts of such growth, and discusses possible
intervention(s) to mitigate such adverse impacts.
The projections have been made under the BAU
(business as usual) scenario for the year 2047
taking 1997 as the base year.
Future scenario
Waste generation and its impacts
In India, the amount of waste generated per
capita is estimated to increase at a rate of 1%–
1.33% annually (Shekdar 1999). Figure 1 de-
picts the rising quantities of municipal solid
waste from 1997 to 2047 under the BAU sce-
nario assuming the daily per capita waste genera-
tion in 1995 as 0.456 kg (EPTRI 1995) and the
per capita increase in waste generation as 1.33%.
The calculated value of daily per capita waste
generation in 1997 is 0.468 kg.
From Figure 1 it is evident that the total waste
quantity generated in 2047 would be approxi-
mately above 260 million tonnes—more than five
times the present level. This enormous increase
MSW disposal persist, the waste would have to be car-
(million tonnes/year) ried over long distances, which would require the
300 creation of a great deal of transport facilities and
infrastructure. This would involve enormous
additional finances.
200
Methane emissions
Indiscriminate landfilling leads to deterioration
100 of water quality in neighbourhood areas of
landfill sites due to contamination by leachates
from the landfills. This has adverse health im-
0 pacts on people living nearby, causes bad
1997 2001 2011 2021 2031 2041 2047 odours, and the people living nearby live in the
constant fear of explosion of methane gas that
.ECKHA Projected trends in the generation of municipal solid can accumulate at the landfill sites. Landfill gas,
waste (million tonnes/year) according to BAU scenario which is 50%–60% methane, contributes signifi-
cantly to global warming. It is estimated that in
in solid waste generation will have significant 1997, the landfills released about 7 million
impacts in terms of the land required for dispos- tonnes of methane into the atmosphere, which
ing this waste as well as on methane emissions. would increase to 39 million tonnes by 2047
under BAU scenario (Figure 3). Emissions have
Land requirement been calculated using Bingemer and Crutzen’s
(1987) approach, which assumes that 50% of the
The burden that the increase in solid waste gen- carbon emissions in the landfills is transformed
eration would impose is evident from the fact into methane.
that the cumulative requirement of land (base
year 1997), for disposal of MSW, would amount Methane emissions
to around 1400 km 2 by 2047 (Figure 2). (million tonnes/year)
The estimates under the BAU scenario are 45
made considering the average collection effi- 40
ciency of waste as 72.5%, average depth of 35
landfill site as 4 m, and average waste density as 30
0.9 tonne/m 3 (NIUA 1989). Diversion of land
25
for waste disposal would be physically impossible
since areas with the largest concentration of solid 20
waste would also be the areas with serious scar- 15
city of vacant land. The implication, therefore, 10
is that if the current methods of solid waste 5
0
1997 2001 2011 2021 2031 2041 2047
Land required (Km ) .ECKHA! Emission of methane from landfills
1400
1200
Proposed interventions
1000
In order to have a satisfactory, efficient, and a
800 sustainable system of solid waste management,
600 the following aspects need consideration.
n Targeting waste reduction at source
400 n Technological interventions
n Efforts towards institutional and regulatory
200
reforms.
0
1997 2001 2011 2021 2031 2041 2047 Targeting waste reduction at source
.ECKHA Cumulative land requirement for disposal of Waste reduction at source can be accomplished
municipal solid waste (Km2) in three ways: (1) fees and tax incentives to

TIMES (TERI Information Monitor on Environmental Science) • Volume 6, Number 1 (June 2001)

promote market-mechanisms to effect source
reduction, (2) mandatory standards and regula-
tions, and (3) education and voluntary compli-
ance with policies by business and consumers
(Marcin, Durbak, and Ince 1994).
Market actions for waste reduction
By charging for the environmental and economic
costs of production and disposal of waste up-
front, market forces can be employed to improve
the efficiency of waste management. By incorpo-
rating the cost of disposal also in the production
cost, tendency to use less packaging or adoption
of the recyclable/reusable packaging material
would be promoted. At the consumer end also
the tendency to reuse the material would be pro-
moted.
Mandatory standards for waste reduction
Setting mandatory standards could make busi-
ness responsible for the waste it generates. For
instance, Germany has implemented a manda-
tory recycling programme in which, theoretically,
the seller of consumer goods must take back all
the package waste that is produced. In India the
regulatory agencies should take the lead in set-
ting up rules prescribing targets for waste reduc-
tion in various manufacturing sectors.
Education and voluntary compliance
The alternative policy consists of a voluntary
programme of consumer education and business
initiatives. One of the tools to achieve this could
be adoption of EMS (Environmental Manage-
ment System) which is necessarily a voluntary
initiative. The industries adopting EMS have
achieved economic benefits also while achieving
better environmental performance.
Technological interventions
India has lagged behind in terms of adopting
technologies for solid waste management. In
particular, collection, treatment and disposal of
waste require urgent consideration.
Collection of waste
The preferred option would be to revamp the
existing collection service structure to provide
community with waste bins, conveniently placed
for the people to deposit domestic waste, and
door to door collection of waste. This along with
separation of waste, at source, into biodegrad-
able and non-biodegradable components would
not only reduce the cost of transportation for
TIMES (TERI Information Monitor on Environmental Science)
!
final disposal but also provide segregated organic
waste stock for waste to energy activities.
Treatment and disposal
Proper segregation of waste would lead to better
options and opportunities for its scientific dis-
posal. Recyclables for example, could be
straightaway transported to recycling units,
which, in turn, would pay the corporations for it,
thereby increasing their income. Finally, the
inert material that will be required to be sent to
landfill would be of much lower quantity com-
pared to un-segregated waste, consequently in-
creasing the life of our existing disposal facilities.
Institutional and regulatory reforms
The financial constraints, institutional problems
within the departments, fragile links with other
concerned agencies, lack of suitable staff, and
other allied problems prevent the urban local
bodies from delivering and maintaining an effi-
cient waste management system. In this context,
it is also necessary to harness and integrate the
role of three other emerging actors in this field—
the private sector, NGO’s, and ragpickers—into
the overall institutional framework.
The private sector is now becoming a key
player in a number of industrialized nations.
Private sector participation can help upgrade
technical and managerial expertise, increase effi-
ciency in operation and maintenance, improve
customer services, apart from bringing in the
capital to support the government in its efforts at
waste management. There is a strong case for
comprehensively involving the private sector and
encouraging it to invest in waste management in
India. Private entrepreneurs in India are entering
into activities like the collection and transporta-
tion of waste, and lately into treatment proc-
esses. Private companies can, along with
door-to-door collection, take on such tasks as
secondary collection and transportation includ-
ing vehicle-maintenance.
Non-governmental organizations can play an
important role in effectively projecting the com-
munity’s problems and highlighting its basic
requirements for urban services. They could help
in organizing the ragpickers into waste-manage-
ment associations/groups under the supervision
of the urban local body and the relevant resi-
dents’ associations or market associations.
The strategies discussed above show the broad
path that India needs to follow for efficient man-
agement of the solid waste, which is being in-
creasingly generated in large quantities.
• Volume 6, Number 1 (June 2001)
 "
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• Volume 6, Number 1 (June 2001)