Solid Waste Management

Waste- Definition & Classification

Any material which is not needed by the owner, producer or processor.

Classification

• Domestic waste

• Factory waste

• Waste from oil factory

• E-waste

• Construction waste

• Agricultural waste

• Food processing waste

• Bio-medical waste

• Nuclear waste

Solid Waste

Classification of Wastes

• Solid waste- vegetable waste, kitchen waste, household waste etc.

• E-waste- discarded electronic devices like computer, TV, music systems etc.

• Liquid waste- water used for different industries eg tanneries, distillaries, thermal power plants

• Plastic waste- plastic bags, bottles, buckets etc.

• Metal waste- unused metal sheet, metal scraps etc.

• Nuclear waste- unused materials from nuclear power plants

Solid Waste in India

• 7.2 million tonnes of hazardous waste

• One Sq km of additional landfill area every-year

• Rs 1600 crore for treatment & disposal of these wastes

• In addition to this industries discharge about 150 million

tonnes of high volume low hazard waste every year,

which is mostly dumped on open low lying land areas.

Source: Estimate of Ministry of Environment & Forest

Growth of Solid Waste In India

• Waste is growing by leaps & bounds

• In 1981-91, population of Mumbai increased from 8.2 million to 12.3 million

• During the same period, municipal solid waste has grown from 3200 tonnes to 5355 tonne, an increase of 67%

• Waste collection is very low for all Indian cities

• City like Bangalore produces 2000 tonnes of waste per annum, the ever increasing waste has put pressure on hygienic condition of the city

Source: The Energy & Resources Institute, New Delhi

Waste Collection in India

• Primarily by the city municipality

-No gradation of waste product eg bio-degradable, glasses, polybags, paper shreds etc

-Dumps these wastes to the city outskirts

• Local raddiwala / kabadiwala (Rag pickers)

-Collecting small iron pieces by magnets

-Collecting glass bottles

-Collecting paper for recycling

• MCD- Sophisticated DWM (Delhi Waste Management) vehicle

How solid waste affected us in recent years?

• Cloudburst in Mumbai (2005) clogged the sewage line due to large no. of plastic bags

• Blast in the Bhusan Steel factory at Noida, caused due to imported scrap from Iran

• Reduction in the number of migratory birds due to consumption of contaminated foods

• Stray animals dying on streets and farmland due to consumption of plastic bags, which blocks the food movement in their stomach

Hazardous / Toxic Waste & Dumping Site

• Industrialised countries have waste

management problems

• Developed countries have strict

environment regulation norms

• Most attractive option for them- to dump

into developing countries

Philadelphia’s Municipal Waste

• 16 years journey for the cargo ship to

eleven countries and four continents

• 25,000 tonnes of flyash came back to

Philadelphia’s garbage dump

• Several government refused cargo ships

• In 2002, Cargo ship returned back to US

Major Polluting Industries in India

• Around 2500 tanneries discharge 24 million cu m of waste water containing high level of dissolved solids and 4,00,000 tonnes of hazardous solid waste

• 300 distilleries discharge 26 million kilo-litres of spend wash per year containing several pollutants

• Thermal power plants discharge huge waste materials

Collection & Recycling of Waste Materials

Managing Waste

Recycling: Processing of a waste item into usable forms.

Benefits of recycling:

-Reduce environmental degradation

-Making money out of waste

-Save energy that would have gone into waste handling & product manufacture

Saving through recycling:

-When Al is resmelted- considerable saving in cost

-Making paper from waste saves 50% energy

-Every tonne of recycled glass saves energy equivalent to 100 litres of oil

Recycling not a solution to all problems!

Recycling is not a solution to managing every

kind of waste material

For many items recycling technologies are

unavailable or unsafe

In some cases, cost of recycling is too high.

Solution: More Profit With Zero Waste

• Exchanging output that are considered

waste

• Waste of one could be input or raw material

for others

• Evolving a closed system- matter & energy

circulate within

• System was not designed to be so

• The system of exchange evolved in 10

years

Problems in Dealing With Solid Waste

• Education & voluntary compliance

• Collection of waste

• Technological interventions

• Institutions & regulatory framework

• Absence of mandatory standards for waste reduction

• Market action for waste reduction

Source: The Energy & Resources Institute

TERI Projections on Waste Generation In India

French aircraft carrier Clemenceau

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/ghost-ship-121205

French aircraft carrier Clemenceau

• December 12, 2005, Clemenceau, Ghost ship nobody wants

• 27,000-ton warship full of asbestos, PCBs, lead, mercury, and other toxic chemicals

• Indian scrapyard of Alang (Bhavnagar district, Gujarat) , a place where environmental regulations are lax and workers' rights are practically nonexistant

• In most shipbreaking nations proper waste management is absent. There are no rules and regulations. And where rules exist, they're unlikely to be enforced.

• Basel Convention (1989) is an international treaty which prohibits the export of hazardous waste from rich to poor countries

• Greenpeace raised awareness campaigned against the ship in India as well as in France

• French President Chirac has announced a dramatic recall of the asbestos-laden warship Clemenceau

References

• Environmental Studies -R Rajagopalan

• www.greenpeace.org

• www.teri.res.in

Presentation By Group 13

• Praful Ranjan Roll No.-28

• Rajat Kumar Roll No.-33

• Rakesh Panda Roll No.-34

• Rohit Arya Roll No.-40