What are the Issues around Municipal Solid Waste Management in India?

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Municipal solid waste management, or a lack of it, is a major issue in India. Whilst there are known administrative issues such as securing land for such facilities and lack of political will, can you advise on the OTHER issues this sector faces? Any experience from developed and developing countries is welcome.

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  3. Hello,Good topic.Plastic bags conservation also big hitting.Peoples are misuse plastic bags to drainage and effects blockage of drainage system.

    *We have to implement composting and solid wastes and waste to energy projects should be implemented more in India.

    Now entire world they are dumping all waste  to sea and effecting marine lives are dying in several countries.

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    1. Excellent point sir. I totally agree that composting must be part of any solution.  In regards to what is the # one problem in India?  Education, education, education.  All composting uses microbes. But almost no one knows which group do what type of breakdown.  1. what is the difference between RNA and DNA microbial groups. 2. Which group allows for cleaning all water which will be potable insitu with zero pathogens. 3. Finally the really big one. INTERFERENCE. Banks, international help groups, NGO's, every level of government that has all the authority but no education at all.  India could feed all of its people, have an abundance of potable water, produce their energy needs locally, and restore fertility to all soils sufficient to build an agricultural market for exporting your goods.  Of course someone would actually want any of this is the very first step.

  4. Reference of my experienced the solids waste from municipal is very useful for development organic fertilizers, but must be added with some bacteria and must be sterilized through thermophilic and mesophilic in aerated systems. 

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    1. good thinking sir. You can skip the sterilization process by using the Archaea RNA microbes. They will break down All organic compounds into their elemental form. Zero chance of pathogens or toxic substances.

  6. Dear Dr. Kharat, we have designed separating devuce, that can be small for small cities or big for the big ones.It is simple and help to use the orgaic matter for as compost, or energy. Another device is using sun energy to sludge  of any kind to dry it and reuse. Prf. Gedalyahu Manor

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  7. The landfills must be away from the Municipal Limits. The fills must have some sort of Plastic/PE sheet at the bottom of each fills so that when garbage is biodegraded it is not mixed with the underground water reservoirs. 

    In my opinion, the best is 1) Grading/Separation of the Garbage collected.

    2) Generate Electricity from the Garbage which is the best solution to avoid any pollution.

    3) If U have sea U may Desalinate water from the Electricity produced by the inceration of collected Garbage. U get three benefits in one go.

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    1. Sir, thanks for your comment. We see quite a comprehensive landfill engineering and operations guides and enforcing legislation in the UK and EU. How about that in Pakistan? Any idea of such policies in India?

       

      You are prioritising landfilling. Can all of the MSW be recycled? If recycled materials are recycled and energy from residual waste is generated, is there still a need for landfilling? How do we deal with hazardous waste?

  8. Dr Kharat, 

    The selected strategy is depended to project conditions like as characteristics of MSW, project budget, other related infrastructure in the area, ect. 

    Reuse, reduction and recycling as a first step, then construction a mechanical separation plant, transfer the organic fraction of MSW to a composting or digestion plant (or transfer to existing digester in wastewater treatment plant) and finally burning RDF in cement or power plant is a roughly strategy for solid waste management in your area.

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    1. first step is by far the best.  One item that is traditional yet no longer needed is the separation of waste. Using modern microbiology grind all, mix, add seasalts, windrows. when finished more than a compost. It is a super rich natural fertilizer. Chemical fertilizers will be a footnote ijn a history book.  

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  9. All items mentioned are very well thought out given our current level of social technology and administrators educational level.   Perhaps a point made in reality. (a long time ago virgins were dropped into active volcanoes to ensure a prosperous agricultural season. Now we know of course no matter how many were sacrificed it did not do anything to the crops. ). Now we have a problem of too much waste in one centralized place. No matter how many designs, public programs, and tax dollars allocated there is still not a workable solution. The old saying is "when you do something over and over again expecting a different result that is call insanity.

    We know centralizing does not work. The modern technology for decentralized processing is here now and working. water, waste, food, energy.  All are free without question. Look. learn, share. All are processes of nature. Business is business. Basics of life are not.

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    1. Please can you elaborate on what is meant by 'decentralised processing'? Do you mean to implement it at the waste generation points (household/business) or multiple units in a city?

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      1. Household/business.  There are several common sense techniques to accomplish decentralization. Combine these with modern microbiology and you can achieve a very high level of Zero Waste, be self sufficient, sustainable, and very healthy. These systems have already been tested and do work in the most extreme places. Space! To name one.  Ready to restore soils and good health in India whenever you are.

  10. There are multiple issues  in Municipal Waste Management but basically they all relate to projects not being thought out from end-to-end before implementation begins  and an over reliance in 'latest technology' as being the magic bullet.

    A list of some of the issues I have seen:

    1. Excluding the largest cities most places have waste tonnage ranging from 40-100 MT. This is considered small by many solution providers with the 'latest technology' especially in the Waste to Energy segment. It is on the other hand too large for the smaller household or block solutions. End result High Tipping Fees and projects are no longer viable.

    2. Land for dumps - most good land is agricultural so not usable and the rest has terrain issues or is not near waste generation sources.

    3. Not in my neighborhood opposition as they have seen older waste dumps that have hopelessly contaminated the landscape and water table. Smell is also a major issue.

    4. Recycling: Many areas only send small plastics, construction debris and organics all with low calorific values for waste to energy plants and too much non-organics for organic composting. Stopping local recycling is not an option as it is a major source of income for rag-pickers and other locals.

    5. Fear of the latest and foreign technology for two reasons: lack of understanding of ground realities and O&M issues especially a fear that company will leave India making parts and expertise sourcing difficult.

    Sanjay

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  12. Dr Kharat, I am involved with a company that is offering an advanced anaerobic digestion technology into India at present, this technology will reduce organic waste streams to landfill, thereby reducing landfill footprint, while also converting the organic waste into something of value as the process will pasteurise and stabilise the waste to a degree that it can be applied to agriculture as a fertiliser. Additional waste streams like sewage sludge, animal and food processing waste, can be co-treated. The technology is a step upstream of conventional mesothermic digestion and when processed and fed to the digesters, can reduce the retention time in the digesters significantly, thereby increasing throughput through digesters, without increasing their size. 

    Further benefit is additional biogas generation and improved dewaterability

    This technology is also very well established in the UK

    You can contact me directly if you require additional information

    Regards

    Gary

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