The challenge of waste management in urban areas

At source:A plant to treat biodegradable waste in Kozhikode. Such decentralised facilities have become imperative now.

The accumulation of solid waste in cities and towns offers a scary prospect. Authorities face the unpleasant task of finding a way to dispose of garbage safely.

Studies reveal that the increase in urban population hastens waste generation by over seven per cent every year. Most of it is biodegradable waste from households, hotels, vegetable markets and slaughter houses. Waste generated from construction sites; recyclable waste such as plastic bottles, cans and glasses, bottles and hazardous materials from hospitals; e-waste; and chemicals and pesticides pose a huge challenge to the civic system.

Government officials say that under the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, the local bodies are primarily responsible for collection, segregation, storage, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid waste. However, lately, the Corporations and the municipalities are firm on a decentralised policy to reduce waste reaching the trenching grounds for treatment and later on at the filling sites.

A major provision in the rules is that the municipalities should develop infrastructure for municipal waste management right from collection to safe disposal. The civic body has to make its own facility for setting up a waste-processing and disposal facility, including landfills, to comply with the rules. Kozhikode city has a site for treating garbage but has not acquired a proper site for land-filling. There is a proposal for establishing a properly engineered landfill site away from the city. But the availability of land for the purpose is one of the factors, officials say.
On the other hand, a majority of local bodies do have proper waste disposal facilities. Some of them have not even thought of setting up waste-processing plants within their limits. The rules state that all self-government bodies need to establish their own facilities for waste disposal and landfill sites. The functioning of the entire system should be monitored once in six months and a report produced to the District Collector.

The collection of waste has to done in a systematic manner employing volunteers to collect garbage from house to house. It can be done through various levels in a locality, slums and squatter areas, restaurants and commercial areas.
The waste from slaughterhouses and meat and fish and fruit and vegetable markets should be considered similar to household biodegradable waste. Biomedical, industrial, horticultural, construction or demolition waste or debris should be separately collected and disposed of. Stray animals should not be allowed to move around waste storage facilities or at any other place in the city.
Storage facilities should be established by taking into account the quantity of waste generated in a given area and the population density.
These should be set up by local bodies.
The rules prohibit manual handling of waste. If inevitable, it has to be carried out with due care for the safety of workers. The vehicles used for transportation of waste should be covered. Waste should not be visible to the public and should not be exposed to the open environment. But many of these rules are flouted.
The civic bodies have the option to adopt a suitable technology or a combination of technologies to process waste and reduce untreatable waste. The technologically better Aerated Static Pile (ASP) system has been suggested at Njeliyamparamba in Kozhikode to avoid odour at the dumping grounds. Vermicomposting and windrow composting are considered appropriate for the State.

Now several government agencies are attempting to bring in technologies for conversion of solid waste to gaseous fuel, including the Rotary Kiln Gasification System, and processing of municipal waste in cement kilns.

Importance has to be given to selection of landfill sites. These should be identified on the basis of an examination of environmental issues. They should be away from habitation clusters, forest areas, waterbodies, monuments, national parks, wetlands and places of important cultural, historical or religious interest. Also, they should be away from airports and airbases by at least by 20 km. They should be large enough to last 25 years.

The Hindu 5-3-2011