Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/growth-vs-garbage-can-we-have-efficient-disposal-mechanism-neeraj-kaushal-14767.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Growth vs garbage: Can we have efficient disposal mechanism?-Neeraj Kaushal | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Growth vs garbage: Can we have efficient disposal mechanism?-Neeraj Kaushal

-The Economic Times

Economic growth produces prosperity as well as garbage. The faster the economy grows, the more its people consume, and the more garbage they generate. When economic growth is sustained over a long period of time, garbage starts to pile up at a faster pace.

Garbage just cannot be wished away even as some of us can move around it with eyes wide shut. It needs to be collected, managed - recycled and processed - and disposed. Efficient disposal is a costly, but essential for public safety, health, quality life and the environment. The cost of garbage management and disposal therefore has to be compared to its social benefits.

One of the biggest problems that municipalities in developing countries face is insufficient and inefficient garbage collection, management and disposal. Estimates indicate that municipal solid waste in urban Indian has increased 50% over the past decade. The increase would have been even more had it not been for the extensive networks of kabadiwallahs or raddiwalahs, who make door to door visits to collect and buy recyclable items and rag pickers who collect and sell recyclable material from municipal waste.

True, economic growth is not the only culprit to the growing piles of garbage we see in big cities. Urbanisation and population growth are the other major partners in this crime. Clearly, efforts at collection, management and disposal of municipal waste have not picked up at the same pace as the three main contributors to the humongous piles of garbage amidst us.

In many big cities in India, a substantial - often close to a third and sometimes as high as two thirds - of the garbage is not collected, just thrown in streets, making the task of waste management even more complex.

Waste management, however, is not as impossible a task as the mountains of garbage collected in many cities indicate. According to a study by Da Zhu and colleagues at the World Bank, the composition of Indian waste is such that close to 55% is organic and can be converted into compost and another 15 percent is recyclable.

Thus, if properly managed less than a third of the waste needs to be disposed of. However, an efficient disposal of this garbage would require creation of an extensive and efficient infrastructure catering to collection, storage, transport, treatment and disposal of the waste.

In most cities, most of the garbage gets dumped in areas closer to slums or areas where the poor live. Ironically, the poor generate the least amount of garbage - they reuse and recycle - almost all of their recyclable waste. But they suffer the most from garbage dumping. The middle and high income families generate more waste and do the least amount of recycling.

In middle and high income neighborhoods, there is little effort to separate the recyclable and non recyclable waste. Note that if segregation is at the household level, it is most cost effective. Similarly, recycling is most efficient at the household level.

Since middle and high income neighborhoods create most of the garbage, they should also bear the cost of its management and disposal, and any additional costs of dumping in poor neighborhoods. They should willingly participate in waste management and pay for waste management services.

Municipalities should create an extensive system of garbage collection. Following the practice of many western countries, households should be charged a fee if they do not segregate and dispose of the garbage as required.

One key to efficient waste disposal is the public attitude towards waste. A campaign to educate middle and high income neighborhoods of the benefits of effective and efficient waste management is essential for the success of any good effort at waste management.

Often people ask: is waste management worth it? Is recycling cost effective? And the answer to both questions is yes. Most western countries create far more waste than India, but they also do a better job at waste management and disposal. Low income countries also have a larger proportion of their waste that can be recovered and put to good use.

Currently, in big cities, most household garbage is dumped into landfills. Given the pace at which the waste is expected to grow, landfills may not be the most optimum option. Recent reports, for instance, suggest that Delhi may be running out of land for dumping solid waste. This makes it essential to explore other options for disposal.

In Delhi, there is considerable opposition from environmentalists to the construction of waste-to-energy plants. Modern waste-to-energy plants in other countries have been providing sustainable means of waste management, with minimum side effects on the environment.

SEMASS, a waste-to-energy facility in Massachusetts, in the US, uses 1 million tonnes of municipal solid waste to generate 600 million kilowatt-hours of electricity every year and recycles 40,000 tonnes of metals. The annual toxic emission is less than half a gram annually. Now, that looks like a win-win situation for everyone.

Most countries are moving towards replacing landfills by waste-to-energy facilities. The European Union aims to reduce use of landfills by two-thirds and replace them with waste-to-energy facilities.

Many European countries use a very substantial proportion of their waste to generate clean energy.

What is needed is tough environmental regulations to ensure positive environmental effects of such plants rather than imposing a blanket moratorium on waste-to-energy plants. Such plants are emerging as a very viable option in the west. They should be tried out in India as well.