Open Forum
New
Delhi, 22 April 2016
Solid
Waste Management
GOVT
STERN ON NEW RULES
By Dhurjati
Mukherjee
Human activities are generating
increasing quantity of wastes as these are considered useless. These wastes are
normally solid and the meaning of the word waste suggests that the material is
useless and unwanted. Such solid waste may be defined as garbage from homes,
materials resulting from industrial and commercial activities, including construction/demolition,
bio-medical waste and waste substance created by agriculture, mining etc. There
are different types of solid waste and the World Health Organization (WHO)
indicated that 22 types of diseases are directly linked with improper municipal
solid waste management practices.
It is heartening to know that the Government
has become quite serious, specially after the Paris meeting about an all-round approach to
check pollution in different ways. The recent rules regarding solid waste
management, issued by the Ministry of Environment & Forests on April 5, have
rightly been revised after a gap of 16 years and will replace SWM rules 2000.
It has proposed ‘user charges’ to be paid by waste generators to local
authorities. Apart from the big generators, street vendors, housing societies,
political rallies and wedding organizers would also be required to take steps
for appropriate disposal of the waste they generate.
There are some municipal areas in
the country which already charge people for waste management. The new rules as
per Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar “give powers to local bodies across India to decide
the user fees”. However, the fee is mandatory for bulk waste generators such as
hotels, industry and others, who would also have to focus on waste segregation.
It is interesting to note that the
SWM rules 2016 has expanded the ambit of the rule beyond municipal areas to
include urban agglomerations, notified industrial townships, areas under Indian
Railways, airports, ports and harbours, defence establishments, special
economic zones, State and Central organization’s places of pilgrimage,
religious and historical importance.
Javadekar acknowledged that civic
and rural bodies have to take an active role in utilizing the user charges and
ensure that waste is not allowed to pollute the environment – whether roads or
waterways. Thus, along with strict enforcement of rules, there is need to
generate awareness among the people so that cleanliness could be ensured.
India generates around 62
million tonnes of waste each year of which only 43 million tonnes is collected.
Of the collected waste, only 12 million tonnes is treated and 31 million tonnes
dumped in landfill sites. It is understood that 80 to 90 per cent of earmarked
funds are currently being used for managing networks for collection and
transportation of waste.
This is dangerous and also gives
rise to health hazards. The way the population is increasing, it is projected
that by 2030, the solid waste generated would be 165 million tonnes and by
2050, it is expected to increase to 437 million tonnes. Thus, proper management
of solid waste has been given due emphasis at an appropriate time.
Unfortunately Javadekar said there
are at present only 553 compost plants, 56 bio-mechanization plants, 22 plants
which generate fuel from such wastes and 13 plants which produce electricity
through it, but didn’t mention the plans of the Government to set up more
recycling plants
The Centre has also notified
collection, revision and dismantling of electronic waste by expanding its
ambit, extending incentives to consumers and introducing financial penalty for
violators. The new rules have brought under ambit CFL and other mercury
containing lamps. India
generated 17 lakh tonnes e-waste in 2014 which is increasing at the rate of
around 5 per cent per annum. In this connection, it may be mentioned that 100
crore mobiles are used in the country out of which around 25 crores become
waste. As three-fourths of e-waste is handled in an unorganized and
unscientific manner, it is expected that the rules would tighten the monitoring
system.
Delving into history, it may be said
that waste management has been a socio-engineering function. It is related to
the evolution of a technological society which, along with the benefits of mass
production, has also created problems that require the disposal of the wastes.
Wastes are generated during the mining and production processes of raw
materials, such as the tailings from a mine or the discarded husks from
cornfield/rice field. After the materials have been mined, harvested or
otherwise procured, more wastes are generated during subsequent steps of the
process which generates goods for consumption by society for these raw
materials.
Apart from strict implementation of
the new rules, it is also necessary to reduce the generation and waste toxicity.
But, as people search for a better life and higher standard of living, they
tend to consume more goods and generate more waste. Consequently, there is need
for searching for improved methods of waste management from collection to its
final disposal.
In recent times, the problem of
waste management has assumed a complex dimension more so because it involves
many disciplines. These include technologies associated with storage,
collection, transfer and transportation, processing, incineration and disposal.
All of these processes have to be carried out within existing legal and
environmental guidelines that protect public health and the environment and are
aesthetically and environmentally acceptable.
Besides, these must be responsive to
public attitudes and the disciplines included in the disposal process include
administrative, financial, planning and engineering functions. For a successful
solid waste management plan, it is necessary that all these disciplines
communicate and interact with each other in a positive inter-disciplinary
manner.
Trees must be grown on or around the
site to create a green belt to control dust and improve the environmental
condition. Apart from awareness campaigns to reduce the quantum and toxicity of
waste at source, other measures include recycling, reuse or composting as much
as is economically feasible, burning the waste that cannot be economically
recycled and finally, land filling the rest in an environmentally acceptable
manner.
Methods of reducing waste at source
range from home composting to improving the efficiency of industrial processes.
Some industries have found they can profitably reduce their waste by good
housekeeping methods such as improved levels of maintenance and by recycling
by-products within the factory. Waste minimization can also be achieved by
installing less polluting technology. Another consideration is reducing the
harmful nature of the waste. An industry may change its raw materials or
processes so that the waste produced is less damaging to the environment, for
example, the reduction of CFC refrigerants.
The most widely used strategy
throughout the world is disposal through land filling and incineration. In Ireland, for instance, 100 per cent of all
garbage is land filled, while Australia
and Canada
trail behind with rates of 98 per cent and 93 per cent respectively. England landfills 90 per cent and France is way
behind at 54 per cent. Sanitary landfills should be encouraged as these are
natural or human made depression into which solid wastes are dumped, compressed
and daily covered with a layer of dirt.
Thus an integrated waste management
is imperative. The processing and disposal of waste is obviously the most
important aspects of integrated waste management as unscientific disposal of
waste can cause serious damage to environment. However, accordingly waste
processing and disposal sites should preferably be around 7-8 km from the city
limit and a km away from habitation clusters. Small steps can make a big
difference. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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