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Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman
Country Report
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Accepted 17 January 2008
Available online 22 April 2008
a b s t r a c t
This paper presents an overview of current solid waste management (SWM) practices in Kolkata, India
and suggests solutions to some of the major problems. More than 2920 ton/d of solid waste are generated
in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area and the budget allocation for 20072008 was Rs. 1590
million (US$40 million), which amounts to Rs. 265/cap-y (US$6.7/cap-d) on SWM. This expenditure is
insufcient to provide adequate SWM services. Major deciencies were found in all elements of SWM.
Despite 70% of the SWM budget being allocated for collection, collection efciency is around 6070%
for the registered residents and less than 20% for unregistered residents (slum dwellers). The collection
process is decient in terms of manpower and vehicle availability. Bin capacity provided is adequate but
locations were found to be inappropriate, thus contributing to the inefciency of the system. At this time,
no treatment is provided to the waste and waste is dumped on open land at Dhapa after collection. Lack
of suitable facilities (equipment and infrastructure) and underestimates of waste generation rates, inadequate management and technical skills, improper bin collection, and route planning are responsible for
poor collection and transportation of municipal solid wastes.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
471
House to House
Collection
Hand
Carts
Tipper
Trucks
Small Bins
Community
Bins
Pay
Loaders
Street
Sweeping
Disposal
Site
Dumper
Placer
present level of service in many urban areas is so low as to be a potential threat to public health and environmental quality.
2.1. Sources and quantities of MSW
Major sources of MSW in the KMC area are residential areas,
commercial/market areas, ofces and institutions. Field surveys
were carried out by CEIP in 2000 and by KEIP in 2003 to assess
the status of MSW generation in the KMC area. Kolkata city generates approximately 2920 ton/d i.e., 0.632 kg/cap-d of MSW daily.
KMC has estimated the amount of MSW generated from various
sources in the city, shown in Table 1.
2.2. Collection and storage of solid waste
Due to climatic factors like high temperature and humidity
along with high organic matter content, MSW decomposes rapidly
resulting in unhygienic conditions. Hence in most areas, collection
has to be done on a daily basis. Currently, different collection
methods are being used in KMC and include: house-to-house collection (primary collection), and collection from roadside storage
areas (3-sided enclosures). The remaining waste is disposed on vacant land and in canals. The percent distribution of areas covered
by different collection and disposal methods in the KMC area is
shown in Table 2: 5771% of wastes from registered houses which
include standard residential areas, refugee colony and registered
slums are covered by door-to-door service provided by KMC, while
Table 1
Percent distribution of municipal solid waste from different sources in KMC
Sources of waste
Percentage (%)
Household waste
Street sweeping
Institutional waste
Commercial and market waste
34.20
22.80
6.32
36.37
Table 2
Distribution of collection methods in different dwellings types in KMC
Collection method
57.3
3.9
29.4
8.6
0.8
100.0
70.9
1.8
12.7
12.7
1.8
100.0
67.1
12.6
14.4
3.6
2.4
100.0
13.3
6.1
40.8
39.8
0.0
100.0
61.2
6.8
22.4
8.2
0.1
100.0
472
Fig. 2. Road Sweeping (a), regular handcarts (b) and containerized handcarts (c).
The density of wastes in Indian cities varies from 280 to 660 kg/
m3 while the KEIP estimate is 600 kg/m3. The available capacity of
the storage areas in KMC is around 23,400 m3. If the density of the
waste at the collection point is assumed to be 450 kg/m3, then the
available capacity is more than adequate for a daily collection frequency, which requires a minimum container capacity of 7300 m3.
KMC aims to provide daily collection, but overowing bins are common features throughout the city, despite the excess storage capacity. A major factor responsible for this problem is the frequency of
collection. In practice, the collection frequency is less than the design requirement (daily); in many cases collection is on a weekly basis. Another major factor is the location of the bins. These locations
are decided without considering vehicle accessibility, population
density or rate of waste generation in the local service area.
2.2.3. Secondary collection of MSW
Presently, mixed waste (biodegradable and recyclable) is collected from residential, commercial and market areas and brought
to collection points, which may be small bins or large bulk containers (dumpers) that are painted yellow (42%) or open storage enclosures (58%) (Fig. 3). Waste is directly loaded from these containers
into trucks or trailers manually or using pay loaders (Fig. 4). This
step is known as secondary collection. Pay loaders cannot collect
all the waste from the storage enclosures, since some manual
cleaning is required. They tend to break the edge of the storage
enclosures and that spills waste when loading. Pay loaders also often nd it difcult to operate in the narrow cramped streets of
KMCs area (Fig. 4). Currently, pay loaders are used to collect waste
from only 5% of the total collection points, while the remaining collection is done either manually or by private agencies (mostly
manual operations).
473
Fig. 4. Collection of solid waste from bins into trucks by manual loading and a pay loader with tipper truck.
474
Fig. 5. Transfer and transport of collected waste from bins to disposal site.
More than 95% of the total waste generated in the KMC area is
disposed at the Dhapa disposal site, and the rest is disposed at the
Garden Reach disposal site. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) survey showed that about 21.5 ha of land under zone-III is developed
up to 17 m height from its original level (13 m above road level)
(Fig. 6), and only a very small area is now available for waste disposal (CEIP, 2000). The remaining areas are occupied by shallow
water bodies or man-made channels (used for cultivation and
pisciculture), vegetable cultivation (Fig. 7), composting, slum clusters, etc. Currently, waste is disposed by dumping on open land.
Layers of silt from street sweepings and drainage cleanings are laid
over the garbage daily. These layers of silt do not provide enough
compressive strength for movement of heavy vehicles over the
dumps. At the Dhapa disposal site, all garbage-loaded vehicles
are weighed in computerized weighbridges with capacities of
20 ton and 30 ton, before the garbage is disposed. An Hourly Report on disposal is maintained. Two bulldozers are employed at
the disposal ground for spreading and compacting the garbage
(KEIP, 2003).
At present, no treatment is provided for solid waste. A 700 ton/
day compost plant was set up by M/S. Eastern Organic Fertilizer
Ltd. with technical backup of Excel Industry, Mumbai in the year
Fig. 6. Dhapa Dumping Site, waste piles are 17 m high from ground level.
475
Sweeping in the core city area is done regularly and fairly well
whereas in the adjacent areas, it is neither daily nor regular. Cleaning and waste collection from residences in the core area is done
regularly, but householders, particularly from slums, low-income
and middle-income groups and shopkeepers frequently throw
waste onto streets and roads, and into open spaces and open drains
after collection hours causing excessive littering as well as clogging
of drainage systems.
To avoid this problem, KMC should notify residents of the time
of waste collection to avoid littering and introduce nes for throwing waste on roads or streets, or in open drains. If dwellers and
shopkeepers are given waste storage containers of a standard size
and collection is done regularly, then throwing waste on the roadsides is likely to decrease. KMC should also campaign aggressively
for more awareness and education about cleanliness in public
areas.
5.2. Poor conditions of containers and areas around them
476
Garbage, 16.05,
16%
Vegetable Matter,
13.05, 13%
Earthen Ware,
6.65, 7%
Coconut Shell,
4.96, 5%
Glass, 0.58, 1%
Plastics, 0.65,
1%
Stone, 1.36, 1%
Leathers, 0.86,
1%
Bones, 0.42, 0%
Bones, 4, 4%
Leathers, 1.07, 1%
Stone, 0.39, 0%
Plastics, 1.67, 2%
Glass, 1.5, 2%
Vegetable Matter,
11.76, 12%
Rags, 5.73, 6%
Paper, 6.25, 6%
Fig. 8. Physical composition of MSW of KMC area in 1970 and 1993. (Source: A Handbook of Municipal Administration, West Bengal, 1996.)
1000 people, and 1.73.8 staff allocated per 1000 people for all boroughs except VIII. The current norm in the country is 2.83.5 workers/1000 population, which is likely to be a gross underestimate of
requirements. Allocation of workers and handcarts is based on data
for population, commercial activities, road length, etc. Borough
VIII, which is the Central Business District, has an extremely high
allocation of handcarts and staff for handling the much higher
requirements for waste collection.
Another option for improving collection may be to appoint
ragpickers or NGOs as waste collectors to collect both recyclable
and biodegradable waste in separate containers, free of cost. Ragpickers can sell recyclable waste and generate some income for
themselves. Not only would this improve the efciency of urban
solid waste collection and recovery, but it would also provide job
opportunities for the informal waste collectors as well as protect
their health and welfare.
will reduce multiple handling, as well as poor productivity. Awareness among people should be generated so that they do segregate
their wastes in different containers and collectors do not have to
segregate the wastes.
5.5. Inadequate maintenance and replacement of worn-out collection
vehicles
Most of the vehicles used for transportation of wastes are very
old. This increases operations and maintenance costs, reduces
transfer efciency and causes excessive noise and air pollution.
The entire eet of vehicles should be well maintained, and 15%
standby vehicles should be kept for emergency requirements. Further, the vehicles should be able to meet Bharat Stage III standards,
which are currently applicable to all vehicles in India and are
equivalent to Euro III regulations. It may be noted that Europe is
currently using Euro IV standards for its four-wheeler vehicles.
The cost of transportation by manual loading and house-tohouse collection is Rs. 450/ton (US$11.4/ton) and Rs. 1300/ton
(US$32.9/ton), respectively, which is high in comparison to Mumbai where it was found to be Rs. 1533/ton (US$38.8/ton) for total
waste management (Rathi, 2007) and in Chennai where it was
Rs. 699/ton or US$17.69/ton (Visvanathan and Trankler, 2006).
In containerized collection systems, biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes are stored in separate containers and the possi-
477
ium-scale treatment plants, biogas generation suffers from problems like uctuations in the quality and quantity of gas.
Municipal corporations have to accept these facts and understand
that SWM costs can only be minimized, and it is highly unlikely
that waste can ever yield a prot. Also, SWM is and should remain
an essential service to be provided to citizens and not treated as a
prot-making endeavor.
5.10. Unscientic disposal method
The present method of waste disposal cannot be called sanitary or controlled landlling because the waste is neither placed
systematically nor is it covered with earth and compacted in
thin layers of 200400 mm as required for sanitary landlls.
There is no control on the entry of ragpickers who carryout
ragpicking in a haphazard and hazardous way. The lling operation becomes critical during monsoons when most of the ll site
is inaccessible to heavy hauling and spreading equipment. Also,
the leachate generated is not collected properly or treated before
being discharged into water bodies. Recent analysis carried out
on samples of aged/old waste collected from the Dhapa site
shows the presence of coliform bacteria and heavy metals (lead,
cadmium, chromium, copper, zinc and nickel) (KEIP, 2003). It is
evident that leachate has to be treated to minimize toxic metals
concentrations before it is discharged to inland surface waters,
public sewers or on land. Presently, no care is taken to stop
leachate percolation and related groundwater contamination.
This problem has been aggravated by reversal in the direction
of ow of groundwater from southwards (until 1956) to northwards (in 1996), due to unplanned pumping of groundwater
from the subsoil (Asnani, 2004).
Engineered landlls with proper leachate collection and extraction systems and odorous gas collection and extraction systems
will minimize the groundwater contamination problem. Silt collected during road sweeping and debris from construction places
should not be mixed with household and market waste and should
be stacked, collected and transported separately to the disposal
site for using as cover material. Proper security has to be maintained at the landll site for minimizing entry of ragpickers.
6. Conclusions
Data regarding SWM in the KMC area were collected, and deciencies in the system were identied. Feasible solutions to some
of the existing problems have also been proposed.
More than 2920 ton/d of solid waste are generated in the KMC
area and around Rs. 1590 million (US$40.35 million), or Rs. 265/
cap-y (US$6.7/cap-y), have been allocated for SWM in 2007
2008. This expenditure remains insufcient for providing adequate
SWM services. Deciencies in each of the elements of an integrated
SWM system are summarized here.
More than 70% of the KMC budget goes for collection of waste
and yet requirements are not met adequately. Collection efciency
is around 6070% for the registered residents and less than 20% for
unregistered residents (slum dwellers). While total container or
storage capacity is adequate, their locations are inappropriate,
resulting in bins that frequently overow with waste. Vehicles
owned by KMC are inadequate in number, and less than 50% of
the current eet is operational at any point in time. Another major
issue is shortage of manpower for collection. These gaps in the system point to the need for upgrading current equipment and using
more rational management methods for locating bins and routing
vehicles. Optimization methods have been used successfully for
478
solving the last two problems and can be employed for developing
a better solid waste collection system. Public-private partnerships
have also proven to be successful, with private agencies providing
waste collection services at lower cost and greater efciency compared to KMC.
6.2. Treatment and disposal
At present, no treatment is provided for collected solid waste.
More than 90% of the total collected waste is directly disposed in
Dhapa in an unsatisfactory manner without providing earth cover.
This method of dumping has led to heavy metal pollution in
groundwater, since no leachate collection and treatment option
is available. Sanitary landlling with leachate and gas collection
is the recommended method for disposal of MSW.
Although a huge portion of KMCs budget goes for MSWM, poor
collection and inadequate transportation of wastes continue and
result in the accumulation of waste throughout the city. A lack of
suitable facilities (equipment and infrastructure) and underestimates of waste generation rates, shortages of labor, management
deciency, and improper route planning are responsible for poor
collection and inadequate transportation. Further, unscientic disposal methods not only cause adverse effects on the environment
and on human health, but also decrease land availability for disposal and other uses.
References
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States Agency for International Development, Centre for Environmental
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