Solid Waste Management

Solid waste refers here to all non-liquid wastes. In general this does not include
excreta, although sometimes nappies and the faeces of young children may be mixed
with solid waste. Solid waste can create significant health problems and a very
unpleasant living environment if not disposed of safely and appropriately. If not
correctly disposed of, waste may provide breeding sites for insect-vectors, pests,
snakes and vermin (rats) that increase the likelihood of disease transmission. It may
also pollute water sources and the environ- ment.

Associated risks

Disease transmission
Decomposing organic waste attracts animals, vermin and flies. Flies may play a major
role in the transmission of faecal-oral diseases, particularly where domestic waste
contains faeces (often those of children). Rodents may increase the transmission of
diseases such as leptospirosis and salmonella, and attract snakes to waste heaps.

Solid waste may also provide breeding sites for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes of the Aedes
genus lay eggs in water stored in discarded items such as tins and drums; these are
responsible for the spread of dengue and yellow fevers. Such conditions may also
attract mosquitoes of the Anopheles genus, which transmit malaria. Mosquitoes of
the Culex genus breed in stagnant water with high organic content and transmit
microfilariases (Médecins Sans Frontières, 1994), appropriate conditions are likely
to arise where leachate from waste enters pooling water.

In times of famine or food scarcity, members of the affected population may be

attracted to waste heaps to scavenge for food; this is likely to increase the risk of
gastro-enteritis, dysentery and other illnesses.

Pollution
Poor management of the collection and disposal of solid waste may lead to leachate
pollution of surface water or groundwater. This may cause significant problems if
the waste contains toxic substances, or if nearby water sources are used for water
supplies.

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 Where large quantities of dry waste are stored in hot climates this may create a fire
hazard. Related hazards include smoke pollution and fire threat to buildings and
people.

Effect on morale
The effect of living in an unhygienic and untidy environment may lead people to
become demoralised and less motivated to improve conditions around them. Waste
attracts more waste and leads to less hygienic behaviour in general.

Solid waste management is the complete process of collecting, treating and disposing of solid
wastes. In the waste management process, the wastes are collected from different sources and are
disposed of. This process includes collection, transportation, treatment, analysis and disposal of
waste.

Classification of Solid Waste: Solid Waste can be classified on the basis of its source, methods
available for the treatment and their environmental effects.

Classification based on source:

This classification is based on the area or place from where the waste are being generated like
residential, commercial, industrial, biomedical, agricultural etc.

Classification based on methods available for the treatment:

a. Biodegradable / Non-Biodegradable: Biodegradable wastes mainly refer to substances

consisting of organic matter such as leftover food, vegetable and fruit peels, paper, textile, wood,
etc., generated from various household and industrial activities. Because of the action of micro-
organisms, these wastes are degraded from complex to simpler compounds. Non- biodegradable
wastes consist of inorganic and recyclable materials such as plastic, glass, cans, metals, etc.

b. Combustible / Non - Combustible: These consist of wastes generated from households,

institutions, commercial activities, etc., excluding food wastes and other highly putrescible
material. Typically, while combustible material consists of paper, cardboard, textile, rubber,
garden trimmings, etc., non-combustible material consists of such items as glass, crockery, tin and
aluminium cans, ferrous and non-ferrous material and dirt.

c. Recyclable / Non - recyclable: These consists of waste which can be recycled with use of
existing waste recycling practices. Waste like plastic, glass, metal and paper are recyclables
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 materials.

Classification based on their environmental effects:

a. Inert / Reactive: Inert waste are those which does not react at normal condition and remains as
it is for a longer duration like construction and demolition waste. Biomedical waste which are
generated from hospitals are highly infectious in comparison to other waste.
b. Hazardous/ Non-Hazardous: Hazardous wastes are those defined as wastes of industrial,
institutional or consumer origin that are potentially dangerous either immediately or over a period
of time to human beings and the environment. This is due to their physical, chemical and
biological or radioactive characteristics like ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity and toxicity. Note
that in some cases, the active agents may be liquid or gaseous hazardous wastes.

Categories of Waste

1. Organic waste: Kitchen waste, waste from food preparation, vegetables, flowers, leaves,
fruits, and market places.
2. Combustibles: Paper, wood, dried leaves, packaging for relief items etc. that are highly
organic and having low moisture content.
3. Non-combustibles: Metal, Tins, Cans, bottles, stones, etc.

4. Toxic waste: Old medicines, paints, chemicals, bulbs, spray cans, fertilizer and pesticide
containers, batteries, shoe polish.
5. Recyclables: Paper, glass, metals, plastics.

6. Ashes or Dust: Residue from fires that are used for cooking.

7. Construction waste: Rubble, roofing, broken concrete etc.

8. Hazardous waste: Oil, battery acid, medical waste, industrial waste, hospital waste.
9. Dead animals: Carcasses of dead livestock or other animals.

10. Bulky waste: Tree branches, tires etc.

11. Soiled waste: Hospital waste such as cloth soiled with blood and other body fluids.
12. Agricultural Waste: Various wastes produced in the agricultural field are known as
agricultural wastes. Example: cattle waste, weed, husk, etc.
13. Industrial Waste: These are the wastes created in factories and industries. Most industries dump
their wastes in rivers and seas which cause a lot of pollution.
14. Commercial Waste: Commercial wastes are produced in schools, colleges, shops, and
offices. Example: plastic, paper, etc.
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Various Sources of Solid Waste
Residential
Residences and homes where people live are some of the major sources of solid waste. The
garbage from these places includes food wastes, plastics, paper, glass, leather, cardboard, metals,
yard wastes, ashes and special wastes like bulky household items such as electronics, tires,
batteries, old mattresses and used oil.

Industrial
Industries are known to be one of the biggest contributors to solid waste. They include light and
heavy manufacturing industries, construction sites, fabrication plants, canning plants, power and
chemical plants.
These industries produce solid waste in the form of housekeeping wastes, food wastes, packaging
wastes, ashes, construction and demolition materials, special wastes, medical wastes as well as
other hazardous wastes.

Commercial
Commercial facilities and buildings are yet another source of solid waste today. Commercial
buildings and facilities, in this case, refer to hotels, markets, restaurants, go downs, stores and
office buildings.
Some of the solid wastes generated from these places include plastics, food wastes, metals, paper,
glass, wood, cardboard materials, special wastes and other hazardous wastes.

Institutional
The institutional centers like schools, colleges, military barracks and other government centers also
produce solid waste. Some of the common solid wastes obtained from these places include glass,
rubber waste, plastics, food wastes, wood, paper, metals, cardboard materials, electronics.
Construction and demolition sites also contribute to the solid waste problem. Construction sites
include new construction sites for buildings and roads, road repair sites, building renovation sites
and building demolition sites.
Some of the solid wastes produced in these places include steel materials, concrete, wood, plastics,
rubber, copper wires, dirt and glass.

Municipal Services
The urban centers also contribute immensely to the solid waste crisis in most countries today.
Some of the solid waste brought about by the municipal services include street cleaning, wastes from
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parks and beaches, wastewater treatment plants, landscaping wastes and wastes from recreational
areas, including sludge.

Treatment Plants and Sites

Heavy and light manufacturing plants also produce solid waste. They include refineries, power
plants, processing plants, mineral extraction plants and chemical plants. Among the wastes
produced by these plants, there are industrial process wastes, unwanted specification products,
plastics, metal parts, just to mention a few.

Agriculture
Crop farms, orchards, dairies, vineyards and feedlots are also sources of solid wastes. Among the
wastes they produce are agricultural wastes, spoiled food, pesticide containers and other hazardous
materials.

Biomedical
This refers to hospitals and biomedical equipment and chemical manufacturing firms. In hospitals,
there are different types of solid wastes produced.

Some of these solid wastes include syringes, bandages, used gloves, drugs, paper, plastics, food
wastes and chemicals. All these require proper disposal or else they will cause a huge problem for
the environment and the people in these facilities.

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Effects of Poor Solid Waste Management

Litter Surroundings
Due to improper waste disposal systems, particularly by municipal waste management teams,
wastes heap up and become a menace. While people clean their homes and places of work, they
litter their surroundings, which affect the environment and the community.

The most commonly littered items include:

 cigarette butts.

 drinks bottles and fast-food packaging.

 food scraps like apple cores.

Various Causes of Littering

 Presence of Litter in an Area

Research has proven a correlation between the presence of litter in a given area and the intentional
throwing of litter at that particular spot.
The research points out that when someone sees litter already accumulated somewhere, it gives him
the impression it’s the right place to discard items. In most cases, it’s either accidental or
intentional.

 Construction Projects

Some percentage of litter also comes from construction projects. The worker’s lunchtime waste,
together with the uncontrolled generation of building waste, is the culprit of litter produced from
construction projects.
Pieces of wood, metals, plastics, concrete debris, cardboard, and paper are some of the common
waste materials generated.

 Laziness and Carelessness

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Laziness and carelessness have bred a culture of habitual littering. Typically, people have become
too lazy and unwilling to throw away trash appropriately.
It is common to see people discard trash out of their kitchen windows or balconies, probably
because they are too lazy to put it in the rightful places. Carelessness has also made people just
throw rubbish anywhere without even thinking about it.

 The belief that there is no consequence for littering

Since people perceive there is no consequence for their action when they throw items anyhow and
anywhere, it has created the “I don’t care attitude.”
The act of pedestrians getting rid of chewing gum wrappers and other wastes on the roadways and
streets or motorists throwing garbage from their cars clearly reveals this kind of attitude. The
majority of people believe there are others who will pick or clean it up.

 Improper Environmental Education

Many people do not know that their various acts of littering negatively impact the environment. As a
result, people continue to throw litter anywhere without thinking of their environmental
consequences.
Smokers, for example, are unaware of how the aimless throwing of cigarette butt affects the
environment. The case is similar for passengers, pedestrians and people who aimlessly throw
wrappers or other used items in remote or public areas.

 Low Fines

The fines for littering in many countries are quite low, or even there is no provision for fines at all.
Since people do not expect to get fined, they usually stick to their littering behaviour.
For example, it is quite common that people just throw their cigarette butts and do not care about
this behaviour as they are never fined at all.

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Effects of improper waste disposal Impact
on
Human Health
Improper waste disposal can affect the health of the population living nearby the polluted area

or landfills. The health of waste disposal workers and other employees involved with these landfill
facilities are also at a greater risk. Exposure to wastes that handled improperly can cause skin
irritations, respiratory problems, blood infections, growth problems, and even reproductive issues.

Disease-causing Pests
This type of dumping of waste materials forces biodegradable materials to rot and decompose
under improper, unhygienic and uncontrolled conditions. After a few days of decomposition, a foul
smell is produced, and it becomes a breeding ground for different types of disease- causing insects
as well as infectious organisms. On top of that, it also spoils the aesthetic value of the area.

Environmental Problems
Solid wastes from industries are a source of toxic metals, hazardous wastes, and chemicals. When
released to the environment, the solid wastes can cause biological and physicochemical problems
to the environment that may affect or alter the productivity of the soils in that particular area.

Soil and Groundwater Pollution

Toxic materials and chemicals may seep into the soil and pollute the groundwater. During the
process of collecting solid waste, hazardous wastes usually mix with ordinary garbage and other
flammable wastes making the disposal process even harder and risky.

Emission of Toxic Gases

When hazardous wastes like pesticides, batteries containing lead, mercury or zinc, cleaning
solvents, radioactive materials, e-waste and plastics mixed up with paper and other non-toxic
scraps are burned they produce dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls, and other gases. These
toxic gases have the potential of causing various diseases, including cancer.

Impact on land and aquatic animals

Our carelessness with our waste and garbage also affects animals, and they suffer the effects of
pollution caused by improperly disposed of wastes and rubbish.

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 Solid Waste Characteristics
Physical and chemical composition of solid wastes vary depending on sources and types of solid
wastes.

• The nature of the deposited waste in a landfill will affect gas and leachate production and
composition by virtue of relative proportions of degradable and non-degradable components, the
moisture content and the specific nature of the bio-degradable element.

Physical Characteristics

Information and data on the physical characteristics of solid wastes are important for the selection
and operation of equipment and for the analysis and design of disposal facilities. The major
physical characteristics measured in waste are: (1) density (2) size distribution of components and
(3) moisture content. Other characteristics which may be used in making decision about solid
waste management are: (1) colour (2) voids (3) shape of components (4) optical property (5)
magnetic properties and (6) electric properties.

1. Density or Specific weight:

Density of waste, i.e., its mass per unit volume (kg/m 3) is a critical factor in the design of a SWM
system e.g., the design of sanitary landfills, storage, types of collection and transport vehicles etc.
To explain, an efficient operation of a landfill demands compaction of wastes to optimum density.
Any normal compaction equipment can achieve reduction in volume of wastes by 75%, which
increases an initial density of 100 kg/m3 to 400 kg/m3. Physical Characteristics Because the
densities of solid wastes vary markedly with geographic location, season of the year, the length of
time in storage, great care should be used in selecting typical values. Municipal solid wastes as
delivered in compaction vehicles have been found to have a typical value about 300 kg/m3. In
other words, a waste collection vehicle can haul four times the weight of waste in its compacted
state than when it is uncompacted. A high initial density of waste precludes the achievement of a
high compaction ratio and the compaction ratio achieved is no greater than 1.5:1. Significant
changes in density occur spontaneously as the waste moves from source to disposal, due to
scavenging, handling, wetting and drying by the weather, vibration in the collection vehicle and
decomposition. Note that: • the effect of increasing the moisture content of the waste is detrimental
in the sense that dry density decreases at higher moisture levels • soil-cover plays an important role
in containing the waste
• there is an upper limit to the density, and the conservative estimate of in place density for waste
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in a sanitary landfill is about 600 kg/m3.

2. Moisture content:
Moisture content is defined as the ratio of the weight of water (wet weight - dry weight) to the total
weight of the wet waste. Note: Dry weight is the weight of sample after drying at 105 oC. Moisture
increases the weight of solid wastes and thereby, the cost of collection and transport. In addition,
moisture content is a critical determinant in the economic feasibility of waste treatment by
incineration because wet waste consumes energy for evaporation of water and in raising the
temperature of water vapour. In the main, wastes should be insulated from rainfall or other
extraneous water.

We can calculate the moisture percentage, using the formula given below:
Moisture content = {(Wet Weight-Dry weight)/wet weight}x100
A typical range of moisture content is 20 to 40%, representing the extremes of wastes in an arid
climate and in the wet season of a region of high precipitation. However, values greater than 40%
are not uncommon.

3. Size:
The size and size distribution of the component materials in solid wastes are an important
consideration in the recovery of materials especially with mechanical means such as trammel
screens and magnetic separators. Measurement of size distribution of particles in waste stream is
important because of its significance in the design of mechanical separators and shredders.
Generally, the results of size distribution analysis are expressed in the manner used for soil particle
analysis. That is to say, they are expressed as a plot of particle size (mm) against percentage, less
than a given value.

Size: The size of waste component may be defined by one or more of the following measures: Size
= L = (L+W)/2 = (L+W+H)/3 = (L x W)1/2 = (L x W X H)1/3
The major means of controlling particle size is through shredding. • Shredding increases
homogeneity, increases the surface area/volume ratio and reduces the potential for preferential
liquid flow paths through the waste. • Particle size will also influence waste packing densities and
particle size reduction (by shredding) could increase biogas production through the increased
surface area available to degradation by bacteria. • But the smaller particles allow higher packing
density which decrease water movement, bacterial movement and the bacterial access to substrate

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4. Optical property

Optical property can be used to segregate opaque materials (plastic, wood, stone, ceramic) from
transparent substances which would predominately contain glass and plastic.
• Magnetic separators are designed based on the magnetic characteristics of the waste.
The physical properties that are essential to analyse wastes disposed at landfills are:

Field capacity:
The field capacity of MSW is the total amount of moisture which can be retained in a waste
sample subject to gravitational pull. It is used to determine the formation of leachate in landfills. It is
a critical measure because water in excess of field capacity will form leachate and leachate can be a
major problem in landfills. Field capacity varies with the degree of applied pressure and the state
of decomposition of the wastes.

5. Permeability of compacted wastes:

The hydraulic conductivity of compacted wastes is an important physical property because it
governs the movement of liquids and gases in a landfill. Permeability depends on the other
properties of the solid material include pore size distribution, surface area and porosity.

The coefficient of permeability is normally written as

Where K = coefficient of permeability
C = dimensionless constant or shape factor

d = average size of pores γ = specific weight of water

µ = dynamic viscosity of water k = intrinsic permeability K= c

d2 (γ / µ) = k (γ / µ)
The term cd2 is known as the intrinsic permeability. The intrinsic permeability depends solely on
the properties of the solid material including pore size distribution, tortuosity, specific surface and
porosity. The reported range of permeability of refuse is 10-1 to 10-5 cm/sec.

6. Porosity:
It represents the amount of voids per unit overall volume of material. The porosity of MSW varies
typically from 0.40 to 0.67 depending on the compaction and composition of the waste. Porosity of
solid waste n= e/ (1+e) Where e is void ratio of solid11waste
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Chemical characteristics

 Lipids

 Carbohydrates

 Proteins

 Natural fibres

 Synthetic organic material (Plastics)

 Non-combustibles

 Heating value

 Ultimate analysis

 Proximate analysis

Lipids:
This class of compounds includes fats, oils and grease and the principal sources of lipids are
garbage, cooking oils and fats. Lipids have high heating values, about 38,000 kJ/kg (kilojoules per
kilogram), which makes waste with high lipid content suitable for energy recovery. Though they are
biodegradable, the rate of biodegradation is relatively slow because lipids have a low solubility in
water.

Carbohydrates:
These are found primarily in food wastes, which encompass sugar and polymer of sugars (e.g.,
starch, cellulose, etc.) with general formula (CH2O)x. Carbohydrates are readily biodegraded to
products such as carbon dioxide, water and methane. Decomposing carbohydrates attract flies and
rats and therefore, should not be left exposed for long duration.

Proteins:
These are compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen and consist of an organic
acid with a substituted amine group (NH2). They are mainly found in food and garden wastes. The
partial decomposition of these compounds can result in the production of amines that have
unpleasant odours.

Natural fibres:
These are found in paper products, food and yard wastes and include the natural compounds,
cellulose and lignin that are resistant to biodegradation. (Note that paper is almost 100% cellulose,
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2
cotton over 95% and wood products over 40%.) Because they are a highly combustible solid
waste, having a high proportion of paper and wood products, they are suitable for incineration.
Calorific values of oven-dried paper products are in the range of 12,000 - 18,000 kJ/kg and of
wood about 20,000 kJ/kg, i.e., about half that for fuel oil, which is 44,200 kJ/kg.

Synthetic organic material (Plastics):

Accounting for 1 – 10%, plastics have become a significant component of solid waste in recent
years. They are highly resistant to biodegradation and therefore, are objectionable and of special
concern in SWM. Hence the increasing attention being paid to the recycling of plastics to reduce
the proportion of this waste component at disposal sites. Plastics have a high heating value, about
32,000 kJ/kg, which makes them very suitable for incineration. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), when
burnt, produces dioxin and acid gas. The latter increases corrosion in the combustion system and is
responsible for acid rain.

Non-combustibles:
This class includes glass, ceramics, metals, dust and ashes, and accounts for 12 – 25% of dry
solids.

Heating value:
An evaluation of the potential of waste material for use as fuel for incineration requires a
determination of its heating value expressed as kilojoules per kilogram (kJ/kg). The heating value
is determined experimentally using the bomb calorimeter test, in which the heat generated, at a
constant temperature of 25 oC from the combustion of a dry sample is measured. Since the test
temperature is below the boiling point of water (100 oC), the combustion water remains in the
liquid state. However, during combustion, the temperature of the combustion gases reaches above
100 oC, and the resultant water is in the vapour form.

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Ultimate analysis:

• This refers to an analysis of waste to determine the proportion of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
nitrogen and sulphur and the analysis is done to make mass balance calculation for a chemical or
thermal process.

• Besides, it is necessary to determine ash fraction because of its potentially harmful

environmental effects, brought about by the presence of toxic metals such as cadmium, chromium,
mercury, nickel, lead, tin and zinc.

• Note that other metals (e.g., iron, magnesium, etc.) may also be present but they are non- toxic.

• The results are used to characterize the chemical composition of the organic matter in MSW.

• Used to define proper mix of waste material to achieve suitable C/N ratios for biological
conversion processes.

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Proximate analysis:

Proximate analysis of waste aims to determine moisture, volatile matter, ash and fixed carbon. This
is important in evaluating the combustion properties of wastes or refuse derived fuel.

The fractions of interest are:

• moisture content which adds weight to the waste without increasing its heating value, and the
evaporation of water reduces the heat released from the fuel

• ash which adds weight without generating any heat during combustion

• volatile matter i.e., that portion of the waste that is converted to gases before and during
combustion

• fixed carbon which represents the carbon remaining on the surface grates as charcoal. A waste or
fuel with a high proportion of fixed carbon requires a longer retention time on the furnace grates to
achieve complete combustion than a waste or fuel with a low proportion of fixed carbon.

Proximate analysis for the combustible components of MSW includes the following tests

• Loss of moisture (loss at 105 oC for 1 h)

• Volatile Combustible Matter (VCM) (additional loss of weight on ignition at 950 oC in a closed
crucible i.e., additional loss on ignition at 950 oC)

• Fixed Carbon (combustible residue left after volatile matter is recovered i.e., residue after
burning)

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• Ash (weight of residue after combustion in an open crucible.

Biological Properties

The most important biological characteristic of the organic fraction of MSW is that almost all of
the organic components can be converted biologically to gases and relatively inert organic and
inorganic solids. The production of odours and the generation of flies are also related to the
putrescible nature of the organic materials found in MSW (e.g., food wastes).

Excluding plastic, rubber and leather components, the organic fraction of most MSW can be
classified as follows:

• Water-soluble constituents such as sugars, starches, amino acids, and various organic acids.

• Cellulose, a condensation product of the six-carbon sugar glucose

• Fats, oils, and waxes which are esters of alcohols and long-chain fatty acids

• Lignin, a polymeric material containing aromatic rings with methoxyl groups (-OCH 3), the exact
chemical nature of which is still not known (present in some paper products such as newsprint and
fibreboard)

• Lignocelluloses, a combination of lignin and cellulose

• Proteins, which are composed of chains of amino acids

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Biodegradability of Organic Waste Components

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Volatile solids (VS) content, determined by ignition at 550 oC, is often used as a
measure of the biodegradability of the organic fraction of MSW.

The use of VS in describing the biodegradability of the organic fraction of

MSW is misleading, as some of the organic constituents of MSW are highly
volatile but low in biodegradability (e.g., newsprint and certain plant
trimmings).

Alternatively, the lignin content of a waste can be used to estimate the

biodegradable fraction, using the following relationship:

BF = 0.83 – 0.028 LC

where BF= biodegradable fraction expressed on a volatile solids (VS) basis

0.83 = empirical constant

0.028 = empirical constant

LC = lignin content of VS expressed as a percent of dry weight

Wastes with high lignin contents, such as newsprint, are significantly less
biodegradable than the other organic wastes found in MSW.
Potential of diseases, nuisances and other problems due to solid wastes

Air emissions
Air emissions are mainly produced by fumes from the burning of waste and
also landfill gases. Fumes from open waste burning practices release hazardous
components into the air. While waste incineration (controlled burning in
special plants) is nowadays rather advanced and modern incinerators produce
considerably less or almost no toxic emissions and pollution, problems may
still arise in cases of incinerators that are old or based on insufficient technology.
These can be a source of hazardous emissions such as heavy metals and
dioxins. A significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions related to waste
is released into the air during the degradation of organic matter in landfills.
While methane typically constitutes 55% of emissions from landfills, carbon
dioxide represents around 35%. Several other gases are released in smaller
amounts.

Health impact
Air pollution may cause health effects such as respiratory problems, as
contaminants are absorbed into the lungs and human tissue. Some air
contaminants may also harm animals and humans when they come into contact
with the skin.

Toxic components such as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) pose

particularly significant risks to human health and the environment as they
bioaccumulate through the food chain. Animals eating contaminated plants
have higher doses of contaminants than if they were directly exposed. For
humans, contaminants they are exposed to via food chain or air emissions may
have effects on the nervous system, damage the kidneys and cause mental
disorders and cancers.
Waste that is not properly managed – especially excreta and other liquid and
solid waste from households and the community – is a serious health hazard and
leads to the spread of infectious diseases. For example, skin and blood
infections result from direct contact with waste and from infected wounds; eye
and respiratory infections result from exposure to infected dust, especially
during landfill operations; different diseases result from the bites of animals
feeding on waste; intestinal infections are transmitted by flies feeding on waste;
and certain chemicals, if released untreated (e.g. cyanides, mercury and
polychlorinated biphenyls), are highly toxic and exposure to them can lead to
disease or death.

Ecosystem services in danger

Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits that humans freely gain
from the natural environment and from properly functioning ecosystems
including e.g. forest, grassland, aquatic and agro-ecosystems. Collectively,
these benefits are becoming known as 'ecosystem services' and are integral to
the provisioning of clean drinking water, clean air and the natural pollination of
crops and other plants, among many other services. We can even think of the
decomposition of waste, especially organic waste, as an ecosystem service.

Human and ecosystem health can be adversely affected by all forms of waste,
from its generation to its disposal. Over the years, waste and waste
management responses have impacted on ecosystem health and human well-
being. For example, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have been affected by
nutrient pollution and chemical toxins and irrigation with wastewater has
damaged the soil and health of local populations .

Soil contamination
Hazardous substances may enter the soil as water trickles from contaminated
sites leaching chemicals, fertilisers or pesticides. Contaminated soil can
damage flora and fauna directly and also indirectly by releasing toxic
components into the food chain. Ingesting, inhaling or touching contaminated
soil may have a serious adverse impact on humans and animals.

Surface and groundwater

Precipitation or surface water seeping through waste will absorb hazardous
components from landfills, agricultural areas, feedlots, etc. and carry them into
surface and groundwater. Industrial and household discharges (including also
for example private medical waste) are also a major factor affecting the quality
of water. This all may lead to changes in the chemistry of water, with major
effects on the ecosystem and the food chain. The contamination of surface and
groundwater may cause damage to wetlands and their ability to support healthy
ecosystems and control flooding. Contaminants may also enter the food chain
through fish and shellfish and accumulate when eaten by other animals.
Contaminated groundwater also poses a great health risk, as it is often used for
drinking, bathing and recreation, as well as in agricultural and industrial
activities.

Marine pollution
Marine pollution constitutes a significant threat to marine life, fisheries,
mangroves, coral reefs and costal zones. Approximately 80% of this pollution
derives from land-based sources, such as pesticides, persistent organic
pollutants, heavy metals from mining and electronic waste, radioactive
substances, wastewater, industrial discharges and marine litter. In regard to the
latter, plastic waste is a growing concern as it spreads across the world’s
oceans. As plastic materials degrade slowly, they can remain drifting in oceans
for years, even decades, and form entire islands of debris. Plastic may also
transport other hazardous waste, such as POPs, with long-term effects on the
environment. Marine pollution also includes oil spills, discharges of oily waste
from ships and untreated sewage.

The marine plastic issue is an important challenge for mankind to address

(Figure 8). Plastic pollution is severely affecting the marine population, with
the number of species known to have been affected having doubled since 1997,
from 267 to 557 species. This includes 100% of the 7 marine turtle species,
66% of marine mammal species, 50% of seabird species and strong increases
for fish and invertebrate species

Odour and littering

Waste left in streets or at landfill sites can also be a source of odour and
littering problems. Landfill can cause the loss of amenities and a nuisance
several kilometres away from where it is located. While littering is often an
aesthetic problem, it may also constitute an environmental risk. Marine plastic
litter may carry POPs, while littering on land may lead to the blocking of
drainage pipes and cause secondary environmental problems such as flooding.

Pests
Landfills and waste transfer stations can attract various pests (insects, rodents,
gulls, etc.) that look for food from waste. These pests can spread diseases
through viruses and bacteria (i.e. salmonella and e-coli), which are a risk to
human health. Pests can also be a nuisance by making noise and carrying
garbage or simply because of their huge numbers.

The main reason why waste management sites attract pests is the presence of
food waste and packages contaminated by food. Separating food waste from
the municipal solid waste stream at the source and composting food waste
alleviates problems with odour and pests at landfills.
 Module II

Key Components of Solid Waste Management/ Solid waste management grouped

into 6 functional elements:

1. Waste generation

2. On-site handling, storage, processing

3. Collection

4. Transfer and transport

5. Processing and recovery

6. Disposal

1. Waste generation

Those activities in which materials are identified as no longer being of value

and are either thrown away or gathered together for disposal.

Source Unit rate, kg/capita.d

Range Typical
Municipal 0.75-2.50 1.6
Industrial 0.4-1.60 0.9
Demolition 0.056-0.4 0.3
Other municipal 0.05-0.3 0.2

Generation of solid waste is the stage at which materials become valueless to the owner
and since they have no use for them and require them no longer, they wish to get rid of
them. Items which may be valueless to one individual may not necessarily be valueless to
another. For example, waste items such as tins and cans may be highly sought after by
young children.

Factors affecting the generation rate of solid waste.

Population growth, rural and urban development, lifestyle changes and the consequent
change in household consumption patterns have created problems in modern societies.
The change of household consumption pattern has changed the waste volume and the
waste characteristics or composition.

Factors that influence the quantity of municipal wastes generated include:

1. Geographic location

2. Season of the year

3. Collection frequency

4. Use of kitchen waste grinders

5. Characteristics of populace
6. Extent of salvaging and recycling

7. Public attitudes

2. On-site handling, storage, processing

Storage is a system for keeping materials after they have been discarded and prior to
collection and final disposal. Where on-site disposal systems are implemented, such as
where people discard items directly into family pits, storage may not be necessary. In
emergency situations, especially in the early stages, it is likely that the affected
population will discard domestic waste in poorly defined heaps close to dwelling areas.
If this is the case, improved disposal or storage facilities should be provided fairly
quickly and these should be located where people are able to use them easily. Improved
storage facilities include:

 Small containers: household containers, plastic bins, etc.

 Large containers: communal bins, oil drums, etc.
 Shallow pits
 Communal depots: walled or fenced-in areas

In determining the size, quantity and distribution of storage

facilities the number of users, type of waste and maximum
walking distance must be considered. The frequency of emptying
must also be determined, and it should be ensured that all
facilities are reasonably safe from theft or vandalism.

Onsite means these functions are concerned with solid waste at the place
where the waste is generated. For residential waste this means at home in the
household. Onsite handling is the very first step in waste management. It
involves individual family members, households and communities, all of
whom need to know how to handle waste properly at this level. ‘Handling’
means the separation of wastes into their different types so they can be dealt
with in the most appropriate way, for example, separating putrescible waste for
composting. The benefits of appropriate onsite handling include reducing the
volume of waste for final disposal and recovering usable materials.

Onsite storage means the temporary collection of waste at the household level.
It is important that waste is stored in proper containers. These could be baskets,
preferably made from locally available materials, plastic buckets or metal
containers (Figure 22.2). Larger containers or dustbins, especially those used
for food waste, should be leakproof, have tight lids and be long- lasting. The
 size of the container should be sufficient to hold at least the amount of solid
waste that is generated per day at household level. Institutions and businesses
should consider having onsite storage facilities with greater capacity. The
proper location of storage containers and the frequency and time of emptying
are important factors to be considered for efficient onsite storage.

Some wastes will need some sort of onsite processing before the next steps, for
example, in areas where false banana is used as a staple crop, the by-products
should be chopped into pieces before composting to speed up the rate of
decomposition.

3. Collection

Collection simply refers to how waste is collected for transportation to the final disposal
site. Any collection system should be carefully planned to ensure that storage facilities
do not become overloaded. Collection intervals and volumes of collected waste must be
estimated carefully.

In urban centres, collection is a function that has its own process and services. Waste
is collected and held at central transfer stations where waste is stored before it is
transported to a final disposal site. In rural areas, waste is not normally collected in
this way and disposal is limited to onsite processing options, although sometimes there
may be communal collection of solid waste using animal carts.Types of collection
systems:
 Hauled-container systems (HCS)

 Stationery-container system (SCS)

Hauled-container systems (HCS)

1. Collection systems in which the containers used for the storage of
wastes are hauled to the processing, transfer or disposal site, emptied
and returned to either their original location or some other location are
defined as hauled container systems.

2. There are two main types of hauled container systems:

1) tilt frame container,

2) trash-trailer.

3. The collector is responsible for driving the vehicle, loading full

containers and unloading empty containers and emptying the contents
of the container at the disposal site. In some cases, for safety reasons,
both a driver and helper are used.
4. Systems that use tilt frame loaded vehicles and large containers, often
called drop boxes are ideally suited for the collection of all types of solid
waste and rubbish from locations where the generation rate warrants the
use of large containers.
5. The application of trash-trailers is similar to that of frame container
systems. Trash trailers are better for the collection of especially heavy
rubbish and often are used for the collection of demolition wastes at
construction sites.
Stationery-container system (SCS)

1. Container systems in which the containers used for the storage of

wastes remain at the point of waste generation, except when moved for
collection are defined as stationary container system
2. Labour requirements for mechanically loaded stationary container
systems are essentially the same as for hauled container system.
3. There are two main types of stationary container systems:

i) those in which self-loading compactors are used.

ii) those in which manually loaded vehicles are used.

4. Container size and utilization are not as critical in stationary container

systems using self-loading collection vehicles equipped with a
compaction mechanism as they are in hauled container system.
5. Trips to the disposal site, transfer station or processing station are
made after the contents of number of containers have been collected and
 compacted and the collection vehicle is full. This system is used for the
collection of all types of wastes.

4. Transfer and transport

It refers to the means, facilities, and appurtenances used to affect the transfer of waste
from relatively small collection vehicles to larger vehicles and to transport them over
extended distances to either processing centers or disposal sites.
This is the stage when solid waste is transported to the final disposal site (see 7.6 for
more details). There are various modes of transport which may be adopted and the
chosen method depends upon local availability and the volume of waste to be
transported. Types of transportation can be divided into three categories:

 Human-powered: open hand-cart, hand-cart with bins, wheelbarrow,

tricycle
 Animal-powered: donkey-drawn cart
 Motorised: tractor and trailer, standard truck, tipper-truck

Key Benefits

The transfer station is a key component of cost-effective solid waste

 transportation. By transferring waste from local collection vehicles onto larger
trailers or other transport modes such as barge and rail, the cost of
transportation to distant disposal sites can be significantly reduced, freeing
collection-specific vehicles and crews to devote their time to actual collection
activities. Here are some of the main benefits:

 Provides fuel savings, reduction in road wear and less air polution
due to fewer vehicles being on the road

 Provides a trash and recyclable material drop-off location for citizens

 Reduces total traffic congestion in the community by transferring

it onto larger vehicles

 Reduces total truck traffic and improves safety at the landfill or

waste-to-energy facility

 Provides the opportunity to screen incoming trash for such

purposes as removing hazardous waste or recovering recyclables

5. Processing and recovery

Sorting, Processing and Transformation of Solid Waste: The sorting, processing and
transformation of solid waste materials is the fourth of the functional elements. The
recovery of sorted materials, processing of solid waste and transformation of solid waste
that occurs primarily in locations away from the source of waste generation are
encompassed by this functional element. Sorting of commingled (mixed) wastes usually
occurs at a materials recovery facility, transfer stations, combustion facilities, and
disposal sites. Sorting often includes the separation of bulky items, separation of waste
components by size using screens, manual separation of waste components, and
separation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Waste processing is undertaken to recover
conversion products and energy. The organic fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
can be transformed by a variety of biological and thermal processes. The most
commonly used biological transformation process is aerobic composting. The most
 commonly used thermal transformation process is incineration. Waste transformation is
undertaken to reduce the volume, weight, size or toxicity of waste without resource
recovery. Transformation may be done by a variety of mechanical (eg shredding),
thermal (e.g. incineration without energy recovery) or chemical (e.g. encapsulation)
techniques.

6. Disposal

The final functional element in the solid waste management system is disposal.
Today the disposal of wastes by landfilling or uncontrolled dumping is the
ultimate fate of all solid wastes, whether they are residential wastes collected
and transported directly to a landfill site, residual materials from Materials
Recovery Facilities (MRFs), residue from the combustion of solid waste,
rejects of composting, or other substances from various solid waste-processing
facilities. A municipal solid waste landfill plant is an engineered facility used
for disposing of solid wastes on land or within the earth’s mantle without
creating nuisance or hazard to public health or safety, such as breeding of
rodents and insects and contamination of groundwater

The final stage of solid waste management is safe disposal where associated risks
are minimised. There are four main methods for the disposal of solid waste:

 Land application: burial or landfilling

 Composting
 Burning or incineration


ecycling (resource recovery)

The most common of these is undoubtedly land application, although all four
are commonly applied in emergency situations. Details of disposal on-site
and off-site can be found in Sections 7.5 and 7.7 respectively.

On-site disposal options

The technology choices outlined below are general guidelines
for disposal and storage of waste on-site, these may be adapted
for the particular site and situation in question.

Communal pit disposal

Perhaps the simplest solid waste management system is where
consumers dispose of waste directly into a communal pit. The
size of this pit will depend on the number of people it serves.
The long-term recommended objective is six cubic metres per
fifty people. The pit should be fenced off to prevent small
children falling in and should generally not be more than 100m
from the dwellings to be served. Ideally, waste should be covered
at least weekly with a thin layer of soil to minimise flies and
other pests. Figure 7.2 illustrates a simple communal pit.

Advantages: It is rapid to implement; and requires little operation and

maintenance.

Constraints: The distance to communal pit may cause

indiscriminate disposal; and waste workers required to manage
pits.
 Manual

0.1
Family pit disposal
Family pits may provide a better long-term option where there is adequate space.
These should be fairly shallow (up to 1m deep) and families should be encouraged to
regularly cover waste with soil from sweeping or ash from fires used for cooking.
This method is best suited where families have large plots and where organic food
wastes are the main compo- nent of domestic refuse.

Advantages: Families are responsible for managing their own waste; no external waste
workers are required; and community mobilisation can be incorporated into hygiene
promo- tion programme.
Constraints: Involves considerable community mobilisation for construction, operation
and
maintenance of pits; and considerable space is needed.

Communal bins
Communal bins or containers are designed to collect waste where it will not be dispersed
by wind or animals, and where it can easily be removed for transportation and disposal.
Plastic containers are generally inappropriate since these may be blown over by the wind,
can easily be removed and may be desirable for alternative uses. A popular solution is to
provide oil drums cut in half (Figure 7.3). The bases of these should be perforated to
allow liquid to pass out and to prevent their use for other purposes. A lid and handles can
be provided if necessary.
In general, a single 100-litre bin should be provided for every fifty people in domestic
areas, every one hundred people at feeding centres and every ten market stalls. In
general, bins should be emptied daily.

Advantages: Bins are potentially a highly hygienic and sanitary management method;
and final disposal of waste well away from dwelling areas.

Constraints: Significant collection, transportation and human resources are required;

sys- tem takes time to implement; and efficient management is essential.

Family bins

Family bins are rarely used in emergency situations since they require an intensive
collection and transportation system and the number of containers or bins required is
likely to be huge.
In the later stages of an emergency, however, community members can be encouraged to
make their own refuse baskets or pots and to take responsibility to empty these at
communal pits or depots.

Advantages: Families are responsible for maintaining collection containers; and

potentially a highly sanitary management method.

Constraints: In general, the number of bins required is too large; significant collection,
transportation and human resources are required; takes time to implement; and efficient
management essential.

Communal disposal without bins

For some public institutions, such as markets or distribution centres, solid waste
manage- ment systems without bins can be implemented, whereby users dispose of waste
directly onto the ground. This can only work if cleaners are employed to regularly sweep
around market stalls, gather waste together and transport it to a designated off-site
disposal site. This is likely to be appropriate for vegetable waste but slaughterhouse
waste should be disposed of in liquid-tight containers and buried separately.

Advantages: System rapid to implement; there is minimal reliance on actions of users;

and it may be in line with traditional/usual practice.

Constraints: Requires efficient and effective management; and full-time waste workers
must be employed.

Transportation options
Where bins or collection containers require emptying, transportation to the final disposal
point is required. As described, waste transportation methods may be human-powered,
animal-powered or motorised.

Human-powered
Wheelbarrows are ideal for the transportation of waste around small sites such as markets
but are rarely appropriate where waste must be transported considerable distances off-
site. Handcarts provide a better solution for longer distances since these can carry
significantly more waste and can be pushed by more than one person. Carts may be open
or can be fitted with several containers or bins.

Animal-powered
Animal-powered transportation means such as a horse or donkey with cart are likely to
be appropriate where they are commonly used locally. This may be ideal for
transportation to middle distance sites

Motorised
Where the distance to the final disposal site is great, or where the volume of waste to be
transported is high, the use of a motorised vehicle may be the only appropriate option.
Options include tractor and trailer, a standard truck, or a tipper-truck, the final choice

depending largely on availability and speed of procurement.

For large volumes of waste it may sometimes be appropriate to have a two-stage
transporta- tion system requiring a transfer station. For example, waste is transported by
handcart to a transfer station where it is loaded into a truck to be taken to an off-site
disposal site several kilometres away (Figure 7.5).

Off-site disposal options

The technology choices outlined below are general options for the final disposal of waste
off- site.

Landfilling
Once solid waste is transported off-site it is normally taken to a landfill site. Here the
waste is placed in a large excavation (pit or trench) in the ground, which is back-filled
with excavated soil each day waste is tipped. Ideally, about 0.5m of soil should cover the
deposited refuse at the end of each day to prevent animals from digging up the waste and
flies from breeding (Figure 7.6).

New refuse
Ground level

1.5m
to
2.0m

Stage 1

Backfill with excavated soil

Ground level
after each day of waste tipped

0.5m

Stage 2

Old refuse Ground level

0.5m

Stage 3
0.5m 0.5m
Previous days refuse
The location of landfill sites should be decided upon through consultation with the local
authorities and the affected population. Sites should preferably be fenced, and at least
one kilometre downwind of the nearest dwellings.

Advantages: A sanitary disposal method if managed effectively.

Constraints: A reasonably large area is required.

Incineration
Although burning or incineration is often used for the disposal of
combustible waste, this should generally only take place off-site
or a considerable distance downwind of dwellings. Burning
refuse within dwelling areas may create a significant smoke or
fire hazard, espe- cially if several fires are lit simultaneously.
Burning may be used to reduce the volume of waste and may be
appropriate where there is limited space for burial or landfill.
Waste should be ignited within pits and covered with soil once
incinerated, in the same manner as landfilling. The same
constraints for siting landfill sites should be applied here also.

Advantages: Burning reduces volume of combustible waste

considerably; and it is appropri- ate in off-site pits to reduce
scavenging.

Constraints: There can be smoke or fire hazards.

Composting
Simple composting of vegetables and other organic waste can be
applied in many situations. Where people have their own gardens
or vegetable plots, organic waste can be dug into the soil to add
humus and fibre. This makes the waste perfectly safe and also
assists the growing process. This should be encouraged wherever
possible, particularly in the later stages of an emergency
 programme. Properly managed composting requires careful
monitoring of decomposing waste to control
moisture and chemical levels and promote microbial activity.
This is designed to produce compost which is safe to handle and
which acts as a good fertilizer. Such systems require
considerable knowledge and experience and are best managed
centrally. In general, they are unlikely to be appropriate in
emergencies.

Advantages: Composting is environmentally friendly; and beneficial for

crops.

Constraints: Intensive management and experienced personnel

are required for large-scale operations.

Recycling
Complex recycling systems are unlikely to be appropriate but the
recycling of some waste items may be possible on occasions.
Plastic bags, containers, tins and glass will often be
automatically recycled since they are likely to be scarce
commodities in many situations. In most developing country
contexts there exists a strong tradition of recycling leading to
lower volumes of waste than in many more developed societies.

Advantages: Recycling is environmentally friendly.

Constraints: There is limited potential in most emergency

situations; and it is expensive to set up.

Intervention levels

Table 7.1 indicates general intervention strategies for the storage

and disposal of solid waste in different emergency scenarios.
 Protective measures
In order to minimise disease transmission there are several
protective measures that can be undertaken. These concern
equipment for staff and the siting and management of disposal
sites.

Staff
It is important that workers employed to collect and transport
solid waste are provided with appropriate clothing and
equipment. Gloves, boots and overalls should be provided
wherever possible. Where waste is burned, or is very dusty,
workers should have protective masks. Water and soap should be
available for hand and face washing, and changing facilities
should be provided where appropriate.

Siting of disposal sites

The location of all disposal sites should be determined through
consultation with key stakeholders including local government
officials, representatives of local and displaced populations, and
other agencies working in the area. Appropriate siting should
minimise the effects of odour, smoke, water pollution, insect
vectors and animals.
On-site disposal is generally preferred since this requires no transportation and staff
needs are low. This is appropriate where volumes of waste are relatively small,
plenty of space is available and waste is largely organic or recyclable.

If the volumes of waste generated are large, or space within the site is severely limited,
it may be necessary to dispose of waste off-site. Where off-site disposal is to be used
the following measures should be taken in selecting and developing an appropriate
site:

 Locate sites at least 500m (ideally 1 kilometre) downwind of nearest settlement.

 Locate sites downhill from groundwater sources.
 Locate sites at least 50m from surface water sources.
 Provide a drainage ditch downhill of landfill site on sloping land.
 Fence and secure access to site.

Careful assessment should be made to determine who owns the proposed site and to
ensure that apparently unused areas are not in fact someone’s farm or back yard.

24
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 Module III

Collection routes

Once the equipment & labour requirements have been determined, collection routes must be laid
out so both the work force & equipment are used effectively. In general, the layout of collection
routes is a trial and-error process. There are no fixed rules that can be applied to all situations.

Some of the factors that should be taken into consideration when laying out routes are as follows:

(1) existing company policies and regulations related to such items as the point of collection and
frequency of collection must be identified

(2) existing system conditions such as crew size and vehicle types must be coordinated

(3) wastes generated at traffic-congested locations should be collected as early in the day as
possible

(4) sources at which extremely large quantities of wastes are generated should be serviced
during the first part of the day

Layout of routes

The layout of collection routes is a four-step process.

First, prepare location maps. On a relatively large-scale map of the area to be serviced, the
following data should be plotted for each solid-waste pickup point: location, number of containers,
collection frequency, and, if a stationary-container system with self-loading compactors is used,
the estimated quantity of wastes to be collected at each pickup location.

Second, prepare data summaries. Estimate the quantity of wastes to be collected from pickup
location serviced each day that the collection operation is to be conducted. Where a stationary
container system is used, the number of locations that will be serviced during each pickup cycle must
also be determined.

Third, lay out preliminary collection routes starting from the dispatch station or where the
collection vehicles are parked. A route should be laid out that connects all the pickup locations to be
serviced during each collection day. The route should be laid out so that the last location is nearest
the disposal site.
Fourth, develop balanced routes. After the preliminary collection routes have been laid out, the
34
4
haul distance for each route should be determined. Next, determine the labour requirements per day
and check against the available work times per day. In some cases, it may be necessary to readjust
the collection routes to balance the work load and the distance travelled. After the balanced routes
have been established, they should be drawn on the master map.

Processing technique

Various processing techniques are available to improve the efficiency of solid waste management
systems. For example, to reduce storage requirements at medium- and high-rise apartment
buildings, both incineration and baling are used. In some cases, wastes are baled to reduce haul
costs to the disposal site. At the disposal site, solid wastes are compacted to use the available land
effectively. Shredding is also used to improve the efficiency of disposal sites. The selection of
processing techniques for these purposes depends on the components of the overall waste
management system and, in most cases, is situation-specific.

Transfer stations

Factors considered for the design of transfer stations:

 Type of transfer operation to be used

 Capacity requirement

 Equipment and accessory requirement

 Environmental requirement

Depending upon the method used to load the transport vehicles, transfer stations classified into three
types:

 Direct discharge

 Storage discharge

 Combined direct and storage discharge

Direct discharge:

In a direct-discharge transfer station, wastes from the collection vehicles usually are emptied
directly into the vehicle to be used to transport them to a place of final disposition. To accomplish
this, these transfer stations usually are constructed in a two-level arrangement. The unloading dock
34
5
or platform from which wastes from collection vehicles are discharged into the transport trailers is
elevated, or the transport trailers are located in a depressed ramp.

Storage discharge

In the storage-discharge transfer station, wastes are emptied either into a storage pit or onto a
platform from which they are loaded into transport vehicles by various types of auxiliary
equipment. In a storage-discharge transfer station, the storage volume varies from about one- half
to two days volume of wastes.

Combined direct and storage discharge

In some transfer stations, both direct-discharge and storage-discharge methods are used. Usually,
these are multipurpose facilities designed to service a broader range of users than a single-purpose
facility.

Purposes of Processing:

There are three main purposes of processing solid wastes:

 To improve the efficiency of solid waste management systems.

 To recover useful materials.

 To recover conversion products and energy.

A. Mechanical Volume Reduction:

Volume reduction is an important factor in the development and operation of most of solid waste
management systems. In most cities, vehicle equipped with compaction mechanisms are used for
the collection of solid wastes. To increase the useful life of landfills, wastes usually are compacted
before being covered. Recently, high-pressure compaction systems have been developed to reduce
landfill requirements.

B. Low-Pressure Compaction Typically, low-pressure compactors include those used at

apartments and commercial establishments used for waste paper and cardboard, and
stationary compactors used at transfer stations.
C. High-Pressure Compaction Recently, a number of high-pressure (up to 5,000 lb/in2 )
34
6
 compaction systems have been developed. In most of these systems, specialized
compaction equipment is used to produce compressed solid wastes in blocks or bales of
various sizes. When wastes are compressed, their volume is reduced. The reduction in
volume expressed in percent.

D. Chemical Volume Reduction

Chemical volume reduction is a method, wherein volume reduction occurs through

chemical changes brought within the waste either through an addition of chemicals or
changes in temperature. Incineration is the most common method used to reduce the
volume of waste chemically, and is used both for volume reduction and power production.
These other chemical methods used to reduce volume of waste chemically include
pyrolysis, hydrolysis.
E. Incineration of Municipal Wastes

One of the most attractive features of the incineration process is that it can be used to
reduce the original volume of combustible solid wastes by 80 to 90 percent. In some of the
newer incinerators designed to operate at temperatures high enough to produce a molten
material. Although the technology of incineration has advanced in the past two decades, air
pollution control remains a major problem in implementation. In addition to the use of
large municipal incinerators, onsite incineration is also used at individual residences,
apartments, stores, industries, and hospitals.
F. Mechanical Size Reduction

Size reduction is the term applied to the conversion of solid wastes as they are collected into
smaller pieces. The objective of size reduction is to obtain final product that is reasonably
uniform and considerably reduced in size in comparison to its original form. It is important
to note that size reduction does not necessarily imply volume reduction. In some situations,
the total volume of the material after size reduction may be greater than that of the original
volume. In practice, the terms shredding, grinding, and milling are used interchangeably to
describe mechanical size-reduction operations. Wastes are shredded before they are baled.
The disposal of shredded wastes in landfills without the use of daily cover is another
important application of size reduction
G. Component Separation

Component separation is a necessary operation in which the waste components are

identified and sorted either manually or mechanically to aid further processing. - recovery
of valuable materials for recycling; - preparation of solid wastes by removing certain
components prior to incineration, energy recovery, composting and biogas production. The
most effective way of separation is manual Hand Sorting:
34
7
  At the source where solid wastes are generated

 At a transfer station

 At a centralized processing station

 At the disposal site. The number and type of components salvaged or sorted
depend on the location and the resale market.

Air Separation

This technique has been in use for a number of years in industrial operations for segregating
various components from dry mixture. Air separation is primarily used to separate lighter materials
(usually organic) from heavier (usually inorganic) ones. The lighter material may include plastics,
paper and paper products and other organic materials. Generally, there is also a need to separate the
light fraction of organic material from the conveying air streams, which is usually done in a
cyclone separator. In this technique, the heavy fraction is removed from the air classifier (i.e.,
equipment used for air separation) to the recycling stage or to land disposal, as appropriate. The
light fraction may be used, with or without further size reduction, as fuel for incinerators or as
compost material.

Magnetic separation

The most common method of recovering ferrous scrap from shredded solid wastes involves the use
of magnetic recovery systems. Ferrous materials are usually recovered either after shredding or
before air classification. When wastes are mass-fired in incinerators, the magnetic separator is used
to remove the ferrous material from the incinerator residue. Magnetic recovery systems have also
been used at landfill disposal sites.

Screening

Screening is the most common form of separating solid wastes, depending on their size by the use
of one or more screening surfaces. Screening has a number of applications in solid waste resource
and energy recovery systems. Screens can be used before or after shredding and after air separation
of wastes in various applications dealing with both light and heavy fraction materials. The most
commonly used screens are rotary drum screens and various forms of vibrating screens. Figures 6
shows a typical rotary drum screen. Note that rotating wire screens with relatively large openings
are used for separation of cardboard and paper products, while vibrating screens and rotating drum
screens are typically used for the removal of glass and related materials from the shredded solid
wastes.
34
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 Transfer and Transport
It refers to the means, facilities, and appurtenances used to effect the transfer of waste from
relatively small collection vehicles to larger vehicles and to transport them over extended distances
to either processing centers or disposal sites.

Waste hierarchy:

Hauled–container system:

Ideally suited for the removal of wastes from sources where the rate of generation is high. The
container is picked up and hauled off to the disposal area where the container is emptied and
returned to the original location (conventional mode). The container is carried by the truck. A
variation (exchange container mode) is start with an empty container.

Advantages:

Useful when generation rate is high and containers are large  May eliminate spillage associated
with multiple smaller containers  Flexible. Need more capacity, use a larger container

Disadvantage:

If the containers are not filled, low utilization rate.

34
9
Flow chart for the recovery of waste components from solid waste

35
0
Sanitary landfill

 Sanitary Landfilling is a waste management method that involves the disposal of solid
waste into specially designed areas known as the sanitary landfills. It is a process where
waste materials, such as household garbage, construction debris, and industrial waste, are
carefully deposited and compacted in designated locations. Landfills are engineered sites
with measures in place to minimize the impact on the environment and public health.
 The process of landfilling begins with selecting suitable land for the landfill site,
considering factors such as distance from residential areas, water sources, and geological
stability. The waste is then transported to the landfill and systematically placed in layers or
cells. As the waste accumulates, it is compacted to reduce its volume and create more space
for additional waste.
 To minimise the environmental impact, various measures are implemented in modern
sanitary landfills. These include liners at the bottom of the landfill to prevent the leakage of
contaminants into the soil and groundwater. The waste is also covered daily with a layer of
soil or other materials to control odours, reduce the spread of litter, and deter pests.
Additionally, landfills are equipped with monitoring systems to detect and manage any
potential issues, such as gas emissions or leachate (liquid runoff from waste).
 While landfilling is an established method of waste disposal, there is an increasing
emphasis on waste reduction, recycling, and resource recovery to minimise the amount of
waste sent to landfills. Nonetheless, landfills remain an important component of waste
management systems, ensuring the proper containment and disposal of solid waste in a
controlled manner.

Sanitary Landfilling Objectives

The main objective of landfilling is to provide a safe and efficient means of managing and disposing of
solid waste. The specific objectives include:

 Waste containment: Landfills aim to confine and isolate waste materials in a controlled
manner. By depositing waste in designated areas and constructing engineered barriers,

45
1
 such as liners and caps, landfills help prevent the spread of contaminants into the
surrounding environment, including soil and groundwater.
 Environmental protection: Landfills are designed to minimize the potential negative
impacts on the environment. By implementing proper waste management practices, such as
leachate collection and treatment systems, gas capture and control mechanisms, and erosion
prevention measures, landfills work to safeguard the ecosystem, quality of water, and air
quality.
 Public health and safety: Landfills prioritize protecting public health and safety by
containing waste materials that may pose risks, such as hazardous substances or disease-
causing agents. By controlling and managing waste disposal in a controlled manner, landfills
reduce the potential for exposure to harmful substances and help maintain a clean and
healthy living environment for nearby communities.
 Land use optimisation: Landfills are designed to make the most efficient use of available
land resources. By compacting waste and utilizing proper site planning, landfills can
maximize their capacity and lifespan. This helps minimize the need for new land acquisition
for waste disposal purposes and promotes sustainable land use practices.
 Compliance with regulations: Landfills must adhere to local, regional, and national
regulations and standards governing waste management and disposal. Compliance ensures
that the landfill operates within acceptable limits for pollution control, public health, and
environmental protection.

Types of Sanitary Landfill

Trench Method
 This sanitary landfill method works best on flat soil where excavation is simple, and the
groundwater table is appropriately low.
 A 2 m deep by 2 to 5 m broad trench is cut, allowing for simple transportation over the trench
(i.e., 1 to 2.5 times the width of a tractor). The length of the trench is determined by the site
conditions, the number of trucks that are anticipated to arrive at once, and the amount of waste
generated in one day.
 After the waste has been stacked, compacted, and the trench filled, the excavated soil is added
to the sidewalls of the trench and used to cover the earth.

 These sanitary landfilling procedures and strategies work to save the environment, safeguard
public health, and manage garbage effectively. To reduce the quantity of garbage sent to
landfills and to promote a more sustainable method of waste management, it is crucial to
recognise that waste reduction, recycling, and resource recovery initiatives are becoming more
and more significant. 45
2
Area method

The Area method of sanitary landfilling works best in locations with existing natural depressions,
such as quarries, ravines, and valleys. The garbage is compacted after being placed in the natural
depressions. On top, the Earth is spread out and compacted. Until the depression is filled, the
operation is repeated. The earth cover needs to be imported or excavated from borrow pits on the
site itself.

Ramp Method

 This is a modified version of the area method and trench method that can be used for flat or
gently sloping terrains.
 It is made of a ramp that is of a reasonable height, 30 meters long, and around 15 meters
width. A shallow cut is made at the bottom of the ramp using a bull clam or other
comparable equipment. To make the tractor more manoeuvrable, a ditch that resembles a
valley is carved across its breadth. Trucks approach the ramp's top and empty their loads into
the ditch.
 Numerous vehicles can concurrently dump their payload inside the ditch with the help of the
ramp. The tractor compacts the waste at the conclusion of the process while simultaneously
pushing the earth over it. As a result, it becomes a portion of the ramp that vehicles can drive
on the following day.

Advantages of Sanitary Landfill

The various advantages of Sanitary Landfills are:

 Effective waste disposal method: Sanitary landfills provide an efficient and organized way
to dispose of municipal solid waste.

 Environmental protection: Sanitary landfills are designed with protective liners and
systems to prevent contamination of soil and groundwater, minimizing the impact on the
environment.
 Odor and pest control: Properly operated sanitary landfills have measures in place to
control odors and prevent the attraction of pests, reducing nuisance factors.
 Methane capture: Landfills can capture and utilize methane gas, a byproduct of
45
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 decomposing waste, as a renewable energy source, contributing to the reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions.
 Land conservation: Sanitary landfills make efficient use of land by compacting and
layering waste, allowing for more waste to be stored in a smaller area compared to open
dumping methods.
 Compliance with regulations: Well-managed sanitary landfills adhere to strict regulations
and guidelines set by environmental agencies, ensuring that waste disposal is carried out in
a controlled and responsible manner.

Disadvantages of Sanitary Landfill

The various disadvantages include:

 Land requirement: Sanitary landfills require a significant amount of land, which can be a
challenge in densely populated areas where suitable land is limited.
 Potential groundwater contamination: Despite protective liners, there is a risk of
leachate, a liquid formed from decomposing waste, seeping into groundwater and
potentially contaminating water sources if not managed properly.
 Air pollution: Landfills can emit various gases, including methane and volatile organic
compounds, which contribute to air pollution and can have negative health effects.
 Visual impact: The presence of a landfill in the vicinity can be aesthetically unappealing
and diminish the scenic value of the surrounding area.
 Odor and noise concerns: Despite efforts to control odors, landfills can still produce
unpleasant smells, and the operation of heavy machinery and waste disposal activities can
generate noise that can disturb nearby residents.
 Long-term monitoring and maintenance: Proper closure and post-closure care of
landfills require long-term monitoring and maintenance to ensure ongoing environmental
protection, which can be costly and time-consuming.
Industrial solid waste management

The waste produced by the industrial activities is called industrial waste. Industries, mills, mining
operations, power plants etc. produce a huge amount of waste. It produces three kinds of wastes -
solid, liquid and gas such as chemicals, ashes, industrial effluent, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide
etc. Which should be decomposed or managed efficiently to keep ourselves and our environment
safe. In this article we will discuss what is industrial waste, types of industrial wastes, management
and effects of industrial wastes.
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What is Industrial Waste?

The waste materials generated by industries or industrial processes, is called industrial waste. It
includes chemicals, trash, oils, solvents, dirt and gravel, many harmful gases etc. These are
dumped in seas, rivers or land without adequate treatment. Thus, it has become a large source of
environmental pollution.

Types of industrial wastes

Industrial waste can be divided into following two types –

 Biodegradable industrial waste

 Non – biodegradable industrial waste

Biodegradable Wastes – Those waste materials which can be decomposed into simpler unharmful
substances by the action of microorganisms are called biodegradable wastes. Some industries such
as the paper industry, food industry, sugar industry, wool industry etc. mostly produce
biodegradable industrial wastes. Management of these wastes can be done at low cost and easily.

Non-biodegradable Wastes – Non-biodegradable waste cannot be further decomposed via the

action of the microorganisms. Such waste is the major source of toxins in the landfills. Chemicals,
metals, plastics, paints, rubber etc. are examples of non-biodegradable wastes. These materials can
remain as landfills for thousands of years without any damage. Toxins from metals and plastics get
soaked into the earth and pollute the soil and water sources. Cleaning materials such detergent,
phenols etc. producing industries, coal industries, dying industries etc. produce a large amount of
non-biodegradable industrial waste. These types of wastes are difficult to manage and very toxic in
nature.

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Effects of Industrial Waste

Industrial waste is very harmful for us and our environment. Few impacts are stated below –

 Liquid industrial waste which is thrown into the sea is at an alarmingly dangerous level for
marine ecosystems.
 Industries release many harmful gases such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen
oxides etc. which cause air pollution.
 In industrial wastewater nitrates and phosphates are there which often cause eutrophication.
 Generally, air around industries is highly polluted and causes skin, eyes, throat, nose and
lungs diseases.
 Industries use large quantities of water and also release a huge quantity of wastewater
which contain many harmful chemicals and heavy metals. This wastewater pollutes natural
sources of water and ultimately our health and environment.
 It is one of the main causes of global warming.

 Industrial wastewater destroys useful bacteria and other microorganisms present in soil.
 Some industries cause sound pollution as well.

 Industrial wastes and industries are destroying the natural habitat of many species and are
responsiblefor wildlife extinction.

Proper disposal and treatment is the only solution of prevention from effects of industrial wastes.

Modern environmental management methods: Such

methods emphasize:
• low-waste production processes;

• the use of safer processing chemicals;

• maximum recovery of residues;

• cost effective treatment of residues;

• preventive maintenance; • good housekeeping; and

• competent operation.
Industrial solid wastes can be managed either on site − at the facility where it is generated, or
transported off-site to other commercial facilities. A51set of priorities for effective management of
industrial solid wastes, whether nonhazardous or hazardous, in decreasing order of preference are
as follows:

1. Reduction at source;

2. Recycle and reuse;

3. Neutralization and destroying hazardous characteristics;

4. Burning;

5. Disposal on land.

Reduction at Source

Source reduction,which means reducing the amount of any hazardous or non-hazardous substance entering
any waste stream or released into the environment prior to recycling, treatment and/or disposal. b) Waste
minimization, which means a practice that reduces the environmental or health hazards associated with
hazardous waste, pollutants or contaminants. Processes like, recycling, neutralization, detoxification, and
reuse are employed to achieve this objective.

c) Source separation, requires keeping hazardous waste separately from non-hazardous waste,
thereby preventing all the waste from being managed as hazardous waste. It does not necessarily
reduce the total volume of waste, but only segregates its hazardous components.

d) Recycling and reuse, which is the process of removing a substance from a waste and returning
it to productive use. Recycling can happen at a plant, where the waste is re-used within the
production process itself. Waste can also be recovered from off-site.

e) Substitution of raw materials, which involves replacing a raw material that results in hazardous
waste with the one that results in less hazardous waste or none at all.

f) Manufacturing process changes, which either eliminates a process that produces waste or
changes the process so that waste is no longer produced.

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g) Substitution of products, which means eliminating the use of a hazardous material. For
example, by substituting creosote-preserved wood posts with concrete posts, the problem of
hazardous waste leaching from the posts can be overcome.

Recycle and Reuse

A variety of industrial wastes can be recycled for use as different products.

There are three ways in which industrial waste recycling occurs:
• at the facility itself (on-site recycling),

• at commercial facilities which gather waste streams from several companies (offsite
recycling), and

• when the waste products from one company are used as inputs in the production process of
another company. Benefits of recycling include:

• Less hazards to human health due to less generation of toxic wastes.

• Prevention of environmental degradation by enormous cut down on the waste materials;

• Promotion of efficient use of scarce natural resources.

• Reduced need for waste disposal facilities and reduction in waste disposal costs.

• Cost savings to industries by adoption of processes with reduced waste disposal and raw
material costs.

Neutralization and Destroying Hazardous Characteristics

A variety of new and emerging technologies can neutralize and destroy the hazardous
characteristics of industrial wastes. One new encouraging technology is known as supercritical
water oxidation. The process is simple, but expensive. Water is heated, pressurized and mixed with
organic compounds, which get dissolved. Later, oxygen gas is added to the mix and the harmful
substances are burned away. What is left is harmless. This gigantic pressure cooker, unfortunately,
is very expensive, and work is in progress to cut down the costs.

Burning

In wastes management hierarchy, burning or combustion or incineration is preferred over the land
53
disposal and underground injection methods as it reduces or sometimes eliminates hazardous
characteristics of wastes. The other benefits of incineration include: • reduction of weight and
volume of wastes, which can then be land-filled in a smaller space, and thus increase the life of the
landfill site. • practically all the modern incineration facilities are designed to generate electricity
to be sold to offset some of the costs of disposal. • in the case of energy generation from wastes,
the facility also provides energy for the generation process.

Disposal on Land

Landfills are disposal facilities where hazardous and other solid wastes are placed into the land.
Landfills designed according to the laid down rules whereby they must contain systems to collect
contaminated surface water run-off as well as have synthetic liners below and around the landfill.

Surface impoundments are depressions or digged areas where solid wastes can be stored,
disposed of or treated. Pits, ponds, lagoons and basins are all forms of surface impoundments.
Waste piles are accumulations of solid wastes, sometimes used as disposal sites and sometimes as
storage facilities.

Land treatment is a disposal process in which solid wastes are placed on top of or mixed into the
soil. Land application or lands farming facilities, are examples of land treatment. These are
increasingly becoming popular especially with the researchers searching for effective and
environmentally safe ways of wastes disposal.

Hazardous solid waste management

The collection, treatment, and disposal of waste material that, when improperly handled, can
cause substantial harm to human health and safety or to the environment. Hazardous wastes can
take the form of solids, liquids, sludges, or contained gases, and they are generated primarily by
chemical production, manufacturing, and other industrial activities. They may cause damage
during inadequate storage, transportation, treatment, or disposal operations. Improper hazardous-
waste storage or disposal frequently contaminates surface water and groundwater supplies as
harmful water pollution and can also be a source of dangerous land pollution. People living in
homes built near old and abandoned waste disposal sites may be in a particularly vulnerable
position. In an effort to remedy existing problems and to prevent future harm from hazardous
wastes, governments closely regulate the practice of hazardous-waste management.
Hazardous-waste characteristics

Hazardous wastes are classified on the basis of their biological, chemical, and physical properties.
54
These properties generate materials that are either toxic, reactive, ignitable, corrosive, infectious,
or radioactive.

Toxic wastes are poisons, even in very small or trace amounts. They may have acute effects,
causing death or violent illness, or they may have chronic effects, slowly causing irreparable harm.
Some are carcinogenic, causing cancer after many years of exposure. Others are
mutagenic, causing major biological changes in the offspring of exposed humans and wildlife.

Reactive wastes are chemically unstable and react violently with air or water. They cause
explosions or form toxic vapours. Ignitable wastes burn at relatively low temperatures and may
cause an immediate fire hazard. Corrosive wastes include strong acidic or alkaline substances.
They destroy solid material and living tissue upon contact, by chemical reaction.

Infectious wastes include used bandages, hypodermic needles, and other materials from hospitals
or biological research facilities.

Radioactive wastes emit ionizing energy that can harm living organisms. Because some
radioactive materials can persist in the environment for many thousands of years before fully
decaying, there is much concern over the control of these wastes. However, the handling and
disposal of radioactive material is not a responsibility of local municipal government. Because of
the scope and complexity of the problem, the management of radioactive waste— particularly
nuclear fission waste—is usually considered an engineering task separate from other forms of
hazardous-waste management and is discussed in the article nuclear reactor.

Treatment

Hazardous waste can be treated by chemical, thermal, biological, and physical methods. Chemical
methods include ion exchange, precipitation, oxidation and reduction, and neutralization. Among
thermal methods is high-temperature incineration, which not only can detoxify certain organic
wastes but also can destroy them. Special types of thermal equipment are used for burning waste in
either solid, liquid, or sludge form. These include the fluidized- bed incinerator, multiple-hearth
furnace, rotary kiln, and liquid-injection incinerator. One problem posed by hazardous-waste
incineration is the potential for air pollution.
Biological treatment of certain organic wastes, such54as those from the petroleum industry, is also
an option. One method used to treat hazardous waste biologically is called landfarming. In this
technique the waste is carefully mixed with surface soil on a suitable tract of land. Microbes that
can metabolize the waste may be added, along with nutrients. In some cases a genetically
engineered species of bacteria is used. Food or forage
55 crops are not grown on the same site.
Microbes can also be used for stabilizing hazardous wastes on previously contaminated sites; in
that case the process is called bioremediation.

The chemical, thermal, and biological treatment methods outlined above change the molecular form
of the waste material. Physical treatment, on the other hand, concentrates, solidifies, or reduces
the volume of the waste. Physical processes include evaporation, sedimentation, flotation,
and filtration. Yet another process is solidification, which is achieved by encapsulating the waste in
concrete, asphalt, or plastic. Encapsulation produces a solid mass of material that is resistant to
leaching. Waste can also be mixed with lime, fly ash, and water to form a solid, cementlike
product.

Surface storage and land disposal

Hazardous wastes that are not destroyed by incineration or other chemical processes need to be
disposed of properly. For most such wastes, land disposal is the ultimate destination, although it is
not an attractive practice, because of the inherent environmental risks involved. Two basic methods
of land disposal include landfilling and underground injection. Prior to land disposal, surface storage
or containment systems are often employed as a temporary method.

Temporary on-site waste storage facilities include open waste piles and ponds or lagoons. New
waste piles must be carefully constructed over an impervious base and must comply with
regulatory requirements similar to those for landfills. The piles must be protected from wind
dispersion or erosion. If leachate is generated, monitoring and control systems must be provided.
Only noncontainerized solid, nonflowing waste material can be stored in a new waste pile, and the
material must be landfilled when the size of the pile becomes unmanageable.

A common type of temporary storage impoundment for hazardous liquid waste is an open pit or
holding pond, called a lagoon. New lagoons must be lined with impervious clay soils and flexible
membrane liners in order to protect groundwater. Leachate collection systems must be installed
between the liners, and groundwater monitoring wells are required. Except for some
sedimentation, evaporation of volatile organics, and possibly some surface aeration, open lagoons
provide no treatment of the waste. Accumulated sludge must be removed periodically and
subjected to further handling as a hazardous waste.

Many older, unlined waste piles and lagoons are located above aquifers used for public water
supply, thus posing significant risks to public health and environmental quality. A large number of
56
these old sites have been identified and scheduled for clean-up, or remediation, around the world.
Secure landfills

Landfilling of hazardous solid or containerized waste is regulated more stringently than landfilling
of municipal solid waste. Hazardous wastes must be deposited in so-called secure landfills, which
provide at least 3 metres (10 feet) of separation between the bottom of the landfill and the
underlying bedrock or groundwater table. A secure hazardous-waste landfill must have two
impermeable liners and leachate collection systems. The double leachate collection system consists
of a network of perforated pipes placed above each liner. The upper system prevents the
accumulation of leachate trapped in the fill, and the lower serves as a backup. Collected leachate is
pumped to a treatment plant. In order to reduce the amount of leachate in the fill and minimize the
potential for environmental damage, an impermeable cap or cover is placed over a finished
landfill.

A groundwater monitoring system that includes a series of deep wells drilled in and around the site
is also required. The wells allow a routine program of sampling and testing to detect any leaks or
groundwater contamination. If a leak does occur, the wells can be pumped to intercept the polluted
water and bring it to the surface for treatment.

One option for the disposal of liquid hazardous waste is deep-well injection, a procedure that
involves pumping liquid waste through a steel casing into a porous layer of limestone or sandstone.
High pressures are applied to force the liquid into the pores and fissures of the rock, where it is to be
permanently stored. The injection zone must lie below a layer of impervious rock or clay, and it
may extend more than 0.8 km (0.5 mile) below the surface. Deep-well injection is relatively
inexpensive and requires little or no pre-treatment of the waste, but it poses a danger of leaking
hazardous waste and eventually polluting subsurface water supplies.

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Managing solid waste in urban areas

Solid waste management is the process of collecting and treating solid waste for further reuse or
proper disposal.

Various methods of solid waste management in urban areas are as follows:

• Sanitary landfill

Garbage is spread out in thin layers, compressed and further covered with soil or plastic foam.
They are designed in such a way that the bottom of the landfill is layered with several layers of
plastic and sand to prevent groundwater contamination due to leaching or percolation. Similarly,
when complete, it is covered with layers of sand, clay and gravel to prevent seepage of water.

• Incineration: It involves burning of the solid waste at high temperatures until the wastes are
turned into ashes. Incinerators are specially designed to recycle heat energy known as waste- to-
energy plants which are much more expensive. The volume of the waste is largely reduced;
however, it emits gaseous pollutants.

• Recycling: This process utilizes waste like plastics, bags, glass etc. for further use. It aims at
reducing energy loss, consumption of new material and reduction of landfill area. Although
expensive, it’s an eco-friendly process.

• Composting: Only biodegradable waste is filled in yard compost pits for microorganisms to
decompose the waste leading to manure production. This manure is very beneficial for plant
growth as it is rich in carbon and nitrogen. Although laborious, it is an eco-friendly process.

• Pyrolysis: Solid waste is chemically decomposed in the absence of oxygen. It takes place at high
temperature conditions and leaves carbon, ash and gases as residue.

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 Life cycle assessment
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool to evaluate the environmental effects of a
product or process throughout its entire life cycle. An LCA entails examining the
product from the extraction of raw materials for the manufacturing process, through
the production and use of the item, to its final disposal, and thus encompassing the
entire product system

The assessment process includes identifying and quantifying energy and materials
used and wastes released to the environment, assessing their environmental impact
and evaluating opportunities for improvement as illustrated in Figure

Purpose of LCA:
59
 Government and customers who purchase products from different sectored
companies are keen on environmental properties of all the products. EMAS and ISO
14000 are demanding continual improvement in the process of production and in the
environmental management system. At this stage there is a need for a tool like LCA
that helps organisations meet the demand to improvise process/product.

STAGES IN PRODUCT LCA

LCA is split into five stages that include:

1. Planning : Includes Statement of objectives, Definition of the product and its alternatives, Choice of
system boundaries, Choice of environmental parameters, Choice of aggregation and evaluation method and
Strategy for data collection

2. Screening: Includes preliminary execution of LCA and adjustment of plan

3. Data collection and treatment: Includes measurements, interviews, literature search, theoretical
calculations, database search, qualified guessing and also computation of the inventory table

4. Evaluation: Includes classification of inventory table into impact categories, aggregation within category,
normalisation and weighting of different categories

5. Improvement assessment: Includes sensitivity analysis and improvement priority and feasibility
assessment

There are a number of issues associated with the life cycle stages, and we will touch upon some of these,
next.
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Extraction of raw materials
This stage in the life cycle includes the extraction of all materials involved in the entire life cycle of the
product. Typical examples of activities included in this stage are forest logging and crop harvesting, fishing
and mining of ores and minerals. The inventory for the extraction of raw materials should include raw
materials for the production of the machinery (i.e., capital equipment) involved in manufacturing the product
and other stages of the product life cycle. Raw materials used in the production of electricity and energy
used in the different life stages of the product should also be considered. Collecting data for the raw
materials extraction stage may prove to be a complex task. It may also lead into iterative processes such as
assessing the inputs and outputs related to extraction of the raw materials that is used in the production of
end products. Often, the most serious environmental problems of the product life cycle associated with this
first stage. It is a common error to leave out parts of the raw materials stage from the LCA. Essentially, the
decision of what to include or exclude in the LCA should be based on a sensitivity analysis.

Manufacture of a product
The manufacturing stage encompasses all the processes involved in the conversion of raw materials into the
products considered in the LCA. Apart from the manufacturing processes at the plant where the product is
made, this stage takes into account production of ancillary materials, chemicals and specific or general
components at other plants, no matter where they are.

Transportation
As is indicated in Figure 6.3, transportation is really not a single life stage in itself. Rather, it is an integral
part of all stages of the life cycle. Transportation could be characterised as conveyance of materials or
energy between different operations at various locations. Included in this stage, apart from the transport
process itself, is the production of packaging materials for the transportation of the product. The transport
stage would possibly also include an appropriate share of the environmental loadings and consumptions
associated with the construction and maintenance of the transport system, whether this is road, rail, water or
air transportation.

Use of product
The use-stage of the product occurs when it is put in service and operated over its useful life. This begins
after the distribution of the product and ends when the product is used up or discarded to the waste
management system. Included in the use-stage are releases and resource consumptions created by the use or
maintenance of the product.

Waste management
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Wastes are generated in each phase of the life cycle, and they need to be properly managed to protect the
environment. The management of wastes may involve alternative processes such as the following:
(i) Reuse: This means the use of the product or parts thereof in new units of the same product or in different
products.
(ii) Recycling: This means the use of materials in the product for manufacture of the same or other products.
(iii) Incineration: This refers to the combustion of the product, generating heat that may be used for
electricity production or heating.
(iv) Composting: This refers to the microbial degradation of biological materials yielding compost for
improvement of agricultural soils.
(v) Waste water treatment: This refers to the organic matter degradation and nutrients removal from
sewage water, creating sludge that is deposited on agricultural land.
(vi) Land filling: This means the deposition of the product in landfills.

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 Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 8th April, 2016

These rules may be called the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
Application.- These rules shall apply to every urban local body, outgrowths in urban agglomerations,
census towns as declared by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, notified areas,
notified industrial townships, areas under the control of Indian Railways, airports, airbases, Ports and
harbours, defence establishments, special economic zones, State and Central government organizations,
places of pilgrims, religious and historical importance as may be notified by respective State government
from time to time and to every domestic, institutional, commercial and any other non-residential solid waste
generator situated in the areas except industrial waste, hazardous waste, hazardous chemicals, bio medical
wastes, e-waste, lead acid batteries and radio-active waste, that are covered under separate rules framed under
the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Duties of waste generators.-

(1) Every waste generator shall,-
(a) segregate and store the waste generated by them in three separate streams namely bio-degradable, non
biodegradable and domestic hazardous wastes in suitable bins and handover segregated wastes to authorised
waste pickers or waste collectors as per the direction or notification by the local authorities from time to
time;
(b) wrap securely the used sanitary waste like diapers, sanitary pads etc., in the pouches provided by the
manufacturers or brand owners of these products or in a suitable wrapping material as instructed by the local
authorities and shall place the same in the bin meant for dry waste or non- bio-degradable waste;
(c) store separately construction and demolition waste, as and when generated, in his own premises and shall
dispose off as per the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016; and
(d) store horticulture waste and garden waste generated from his premises separately in his own premises
and dispose of as per the directions of the local body from time to time.
(2) No waste generator shall throw, burn or burry the solid waste generated by him, on streets, open public
spaces outside his premises or in the drain or water bodies.
(3) All waste generators shall pay such user fee for solid waste management, as specified in the bye-laws of
the local bodies.
(4) No person shall organize an event or gathering of more than one hundred persons at any unlicensed place

51
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without intimating the local body, at least three working days in advance and such person or the organiser of
such event shall ensure segregation of waste at source and handing over of segregated waste to waste
collector or agency as specified by the local body.
(5) Every street vendor shall keep suitable containers for storage of waste generated during the course of his
activity such as food waste, disposable plates, cups, cans, wrappers, coconut shells, leftover food,
vegetables, fruits, etc., and shall deposit such waste at waste storage depot or container or vehicle as notified
by the local body.
(6) All resident welfare and market associations shall, within one year from the date of notification of these
rules and in partnership with the local body ensure segregation of waste at source by the generators as
prescribed in these rules, facilitate collection of segregated waste in separate streams, handover recyclable
material to either the authorized waste pickers or the authorised recyclers. The bio-degradable waste shall be
processed, treated and disposed off through composting or bio-methanation within the premises as far as
possible. The residual waste shall be given to the waste collectors or agency as directed by the local body.
(7) All gated communities and institutions with more than 5,000 sqm area shall, within one year from the
date of notification of these rules and in partnership with the local body, ensure segregation of waste at
source by the generators as prescribed in these rules, facilitate collection of segregated waste in separate
streams, handover recyclable material to either the authorised waste pickers or the authorizsd recyclers. The
bio-degradable waste shall be processed, treated and disposed off through composting or bio-methanation
within the premises as far as possible. The residual waste shall be given to the waste collectors or agency as
directed by the local body.
(8) All hotels and restaurants shall, within one year from the date of notification of these rules and in
partnership with the local body ensure segregation of waste at source as prescribed in these rules, facilitate
collection of segregated waste in separate streams, handover recyclable material to either the authorised
waste pickers or the authorized recyclers.

The bio-degradable waste shall be processed, treated and disposed off through composting or bio-
methanation within the premises as far as possible. The residual waste shall be given to the waste collectors
or agency as directed by the local body.

Duties of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.-

(1) The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change shall be responsible for over all monitoring
the implementation of these rules in the country. It shall constitute a Central Monitoring Committee under
the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change comprising officer not
below the rank of Joint Secretary or Advisor from the following namely,-

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1) Ministry of Urban Development
2) Ministry of Rural Development
3) Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
4) Ministry of Agriculture
5) Central Pollution Control Board
6) Three State Pollution Control Boards or Pollution Control Committees by rotation
7) Urban Development Departments of three State Governments by rotation
8) Rural Development Departments from two State Governments by rotation
9) Three Urban Local bodies by rotation
10) Two census towns by rotation
11) FICCI, CII
12) Two subject experts

2. This Central Monitoring Committee shall meet at least once in a year to monitor and review the
implementation of these rules. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change may co-opt other
experts, if needed. The Committee shall be renewed every three years.

Duties of Ministry of Urban Development.-

(1) The Ministry of Urban Development shall coordinate with State Governments and Union territory
Administrations to,-
(a) take periodic review of the measures taken by the states and local bodies for improving solid waste
management practices and execution of solid waste management projects funded by the Ministry and
external agencies at least once in a year and give advice on taking corrective measures;
(b) formulate national policy and strategy on solid waste management including policy on waste to energy in
consultation with stakeholders within six months from the date of notification of these rules;
(c) facilitate States and Union Territories in formulation of state policy and strategy on solid management
based on national solid waste management policy and national urban sanitation policy;
(d) promote research and development in solid waste management sector and disseminate information to
States and local bodies;
(e) undertake training and capacity building of local bodies and other stakeholders; and
(f) provide technical guidelines and project finance to states, Union territories and local bodies on solid
waste management to facilitate meeting timelines and standards.

Duties of Department of Fertilisers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.-

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 (1) The Department of Fertilisers through appropriate mechanisms shall,-

(a) provide market development assistance on city compost; and

(b) ensure promotion of co-marketing of compost with chemical fertilisers in the ratio of 3 to 4 bags: 6 to 7
bags by the fertiliser companies to the extent compost is made availablefor marketing to the companies.

Duties of Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.-

The Ministry of Agriculture through appropriate mechanisms shall,-

(a) provide flexibility in Fertiliser Control Order for manufacturing and sale of compost;
(b) propagate utlisation of compost on farm land;
(c) set up laboratories to test quality of compost produced by local authorities or their authorised agencies;
and
(d) issue suitable guidelines for maintaining the quality of compost and ratio of use of compost visa-a-vis
chemical fertilizers while applying compost to farmland.

Duties of the Ministry of Power.-

The Ministry of Power through appropriate mechanisms shall,-

(a) decide tariff or charges for the power generated from the waste to energy plants based on solid waste.
(b) compulsory purchase power generated from such waste to energy plants by distribution company.

Duties of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Sources-

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Sources through appropriate mechanisms shall,-
(a) facilitate infrastructure creation for waste to energy plants; and
(b) provide appropriate subsidy or incentives for such waste to energy plants.
Duties of the Secretary–in-charge, Urban Development in the States and Union territories.-

(1) The Secretary, Urban Development Department in the State or Union territory through the
Commissioner or Director of Municipal Administration or Director of local bodies shall,-
(a) prepare a state policy and solid waste management strategy for the state or the union territory in
consultation with stakeholders including representative of waste pickers, self help group and similar groups
working in the field of waste management consistent with these rules, national policy on solid waste

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management and national urban sanitation policy of the ministry of urban development, in a period not later
than one year from the date of notification of these rules;
(b) while preparing State policy and strategy on solid waste management, lay emphasis on waste reduction,
reuse, recycling, recovery and optimum utilisation of various components of solid waste to ensure
minimisation of waste going to the landfill and minimise impact of solid waste on human health and
environment;
(c) state policies and strategies should acknowledge the primary role played by the informal sector of waste
pickers, waste collectors and recycling industry in reducing waste and provide broad guidelines regarding
integration of waste picker or informal waste collectors in the waste management system.
(d) ensure implementation of provisions of these rules by all local authorities;
(e) direct the town planning department of the State to ensure that master plan of every city in the State or
Union territory provisions for setting up of solid waste processing and disposal facilities except for the cities
who are members of common waste processing facility or regional sanitary landfill for a group of cities; and
(f) ensure identification and allocation of suitable land to the local bodies within one year for setting up of
processing and disposal facilities for solid wastes and incorporate them in the master plans (land use plan) of
the State or as the case may be, cities through metropolitan and district planning committees or town and
country planning department;
(h) direct the town planning department of the State and local bodies to ensure that a separate space for
segregation, storage, decentralised processing of solid waste is demarcated in the development plan for
group housing or commercial, institutional or any other non-residential complex exceeding 200 dwelling or
having a plot area exceeding 5,000 square meters;
(i) direct the developers of Special Economic Zone, Industrial Estate, Industrial Park to earmark at least five
percent of the total area of the plot or minimum five plots or sheds for recovery and recycling facility.
(j) facilitate establishment of common regional sanitary land fill for a group of cities and towns falling
within a distance of 50 km (or more) from the regional facility on a cost sharing basis and ensure
professional management of such sanitary landfills;
(k) arrange for capacity building of local bodies in managing solid waste, segregation and transportation or
processing of such waste at source;
(l) notify buffer zone for the solid waste processing and disposal facilities of more than five tons per day in
consultation with the State Pollution Control Board; and
(m) start a scheme on registration of waste pickers and waste dealers.

Duties of District Magistrate or District Collector or Deputy Commissioner.-

The District Magistrate or District Collector or as the case may be , the Deputy Commissioner shall, -

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(a) facilitate identification and allocation of suitable land as per clause (f) of rules 11 for setting up solid
waste processing and disposal facilities to local authorities in his district in close coordination with the
Secretary-in-charge of State Urban Development Department within one year from the date of notification
of these rules;
(b) review the performance of local bodies, at least once in a quarter on waste segregation, processing,
treatment and disposal and take corrective measures in consultation with the Commissioner or Director of
Municipal Administration or Director of local bodies and secretary-in-charge of the State Urban
Development.
Duties of the Secretary–in-charge of Village Panchayats or Rural Development Department in the
State and Union territory.-

(1) The Secretary–in-charge of Village Panchayats or Rural Development Department in the State and
Union territory shall have the same duties as the Secretary–in-charge, Urban Development in the States and
Union territories, for the areas which are covered under these rules and are under their jurisdictions.

Duties of Central Pollution Control Board.-

The Central Pollution Control Board shall, -

(a) co-ordinate with the State Pollution Control Boards and the Pollution Control Committees for
implementation of these rules and adherence to the prescribed standards by local authorities;
(b) formulate the standards for ground water, ambient air, noise pollution, leachate in respect of all solid
waste processing and disposal facilities;
(c) review environmental standards and norms prescribed for solid waste processing facilities or treatment
technologies and update them as and when required;
(d) review through State Pollution Control Boards or Pollution Control Committees, at least once in a year,
the implementation of prescribed environmental standards for solid waste processing facilities or treatment
technologies and compile the data monitored by them;
(e) review the proposals of State Pollution Control Boards or Pollution Control Committees on use of any
new technologies for processing, recycling and treatment of solid waste and prescribe performance
standards, emission norms for the same within 6 months;
(f) monitor through State Pollution Control Boards or Pollution Control Committees the implementation of
these rules by local bodies;
(g) prepare an annual report on implementation of these rules on the basis of reports received from State
Pollution Control Boards and Committees and submit to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change and the report shall also be put in public domain;

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(h) publish guidelines for maintaining buffer zone restricting any residential, commercial or any other
construction activity from the outer boundary of the waste processing and disposal facilities for different
sizes of facilities handling more than five tons per day of solid waste;
(i) publish guidelines, from time to time, on environmental aspects of processing and disposal of solid waste
to enable local bodies to comply with the provisions of these rules; and
(j) provide guidance to States or Union territories on inter-state movement of waste.

Duties and responsibilities of local authorities and village Panchayats of census towns and urban
agglomerations.-

The local authorities and Panchayats shall,-

(a) prepare a solid waste management plan as per state policy and strategy on solid waste management
within six months from the date of notification of state policy and strategy and submit a copy to respective
departments of State Government or Union territory Administration or agency authorised by the State
Government or Union territory Administration;
(b) arrange for door to door collection of segregated solid waste from all households including slums and
informal settlements, commercial, institutional and other non residential premises. From multi-storage
buildings, large commercial complexes, malls, housing complexes, etc., this may be collected from the entry
gate or any other designated location;
(c) establish a system to recognise organisations of waste pickers or informal waste collectors and promote
and establish a system for integration of these authorised waste-pickers and waste collectors to facilitate
their participation in solid waste management including door to door collection of waste;
(d) facilitate formation of Self Help Groups, provide identity cards and thereafter encourage integration in
solid waste management including door to door collection of waste;
(e) frame bye-laws incorporating the provisions of these rules within one year from the date of notification
of these rules and ensure timely implementation;
(f) prescribe from time to time user fee as deemed appropriate and collect the fee from the waste generators
on its own or through authorised agency;
(g) direct waste generators not to litter i.e throw or dispose of any waste such as paper, water bottles, liquor
bottles, soft drink canes, tetra packs, fruit peel, wrappers, etc., or burn or burry waste on streets, open public
spaces, drains, waste bodies and to segregate the waste at source as prescribed under these rules and hand
over the segregated waste to authorised the waste pickers or waste collectors authorised by the local body;
(h) setup material recovery facilities or secondary storage facilities with sufficient space for sorting of
recyclable materials to enable informal or authorised waste pickers and waste collectors to separate
recyclables from the waste and provide easy access to waste pickers and recyclers for collection of
segregated recyclable waste such as paper, plastic, metal, glass, textile from the source of generation or from
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material recovery facilities; Bins for storage of bio-degradable wastes shall be painted green, those for
storage of recyclable wastes shall be printed white and those for storage of other wastes shall be printed
black;

(i) establish waste deposition centres for domestic hazardous waste and give direction for waste generators
to deposit domestic hazardous wastes at this centre for its safe disposal. Such facility shall be established in
a city or town in a manner that one centre is set up for the area of twenty square kilometers or part thereof
and notify the timings of receiving domestic hazardous waste at such centres;
(j) ensure safe storage and transportation of the domestic hazardous waste to the hazardous waste disposal
facility or as may be directed by the State Pollution Control Board or the Pollution Control Committee;
(k) direct street sweepers not to burn tree leaves collected from street sweeping and store them separately
and handover to the waste collectors or agency authorised by local body;
(l) provide training on solid waste management to waste-pickers and waste collectors;
(m) collect waste from vegetable, fruit, flower, meat, poultry and fish market on day to day basis and
promote setting up of decentralised compost plant or bio-methanation plant at suitable locations in the
markets or in the vicinity of markets ensuring hygienic conditions;
(n) collect separately waste from sweeping of streets, lanes and by-lanes daily, or on alternate days or twice
a week depending on the density of population, commercial activity and local situation;
(o) set up covered secondary storage facility for temporary storage of street sweepings and silt removed
from surface drains in cases where direct collection of such waste into transport vehicles is not convenient.
Waste so collected shall be collected and disposed of at regular intervals as decided by the local body;
(p) collect horticulture, parks and garden waste separately and process in the parks and gardens, as far as
possible;
(q) transport segregated bio-degradable waste to the processing facilities like compost plant, bio-
methanation plant or any such facility. Preference shall be given for on site processing of such waste;
(r) transport non-bio-degradable waste to the respective processing facility or material recovery facilities or
secondary storage facility;
(s) transport construction and demolition waste as per the provisions of the Construction and Demolition
Waste management Rules, 2016;
(t) involve communities in waste management and promotion of home composting, bio-gas generation,
decentralised processing of waste at community level subject to control of odour and maintenance of
hygienic conditions around the facility;
(u) phase out the use of chemical fertilizer in two years and use compost in all parks, gardens maintained by
the local body and wherever possible in other places under its jurisdiction. Incentives may be provided to
recycling initiatives by informal waste recycling sector.

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(v) facilitate construction, operation and maintenance of solid waste processing facilities and associated
infrastructure on their own or with private sector participation or through any agency for optimum utilisation
of various components of solid waste adopting suitable technology including the following technologies and
adhering to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Urban Development from time to time and standards
prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board. Preference shall be given to decentralised processing to
minimize transportation cost and environmental impacts such asa) bio-methanation, microbial composting,
vermi-composting, anaerobic digestion or any other appropriate processing for bio-stabilisation of
biodegradable wastes;
(w) undertake on their own or through any other agency construction, operation and maintenance of sanitary
landfill and associated infrastructure as per Schedule 1 for disposal of residual wastes in a manner prescribed
under these rules;
(x) make adequate provision of funds for capital investments as well as operation and maintenance of solid
waste management services in the annual budget ensuring that funds for discretionary functions of the local
body have been allocated only after meeting the requirement of necessary funds for solid waste management
and other obligatory functions of the local body as per these rules;
(y) make an application in Form-I for grant of authorization for setting up waste processing, treatment or
disposal facility, if the volume of waste is exceeding five metric tones per day including sanitary landfills
from the State Pollution
Control Board or the Pollution Control Committee, as the case may be;
(z) submit application for renewal of authorization at least sixty days before the expiry of the validity of
authorization;

Duties of State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee.-

(1) The State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee shall,-

(a) enforce these rules in their State through local bodies in their respective jurisdiction and review
implementation of these rules at least twice a year in close coordination with concerned Directorate of
Municipal Administration or Secretary-in-charge of State Urban Development Department;
(b) monitor environmental standards and adherence to conditions as specified under the Schedule I and
Schedule II for waste processing and disposal sites;
(c) examine the proposal for authorization and make such inquiries as deemed fit, after the receipt of the
application for the same in Form I from the local body or any other agency authorised by the local body;
(d) while examining the proposal for authorization, the requirement of consents under respective enactments
and views of other agencies like the State Urban Development Department, the Town and Country Planning
Department, District Planning Committee or Metropolitan Area Planning Committee, as may be applicable,
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Airport or Airbase Authority, the Ground Water Board, Railways, power distribution companies, highway
department and other relevant agencies shall be taken into consideration and they shall be given four weeks
time to give their views, if any;
(e) issue authorization within a period of sixty days in Form II to the local body or an operator of a facility
or any other agency authorized by local body stipulating compliance criteria and environmental standards as
specified in Schedules I and II including other conditions, as may be necessary;
(f) synchronise the validity of said authorization with the validity of the consents;
(g) suspend or cancel the authorization issued under clause (a) any time, if the local body or operator of the
facility fails to operate the facility as per the conditions stipulated:
provided that no such authorization shall be suspended or cancelled without giving notice to the local body
or operator, as the case may be; and
(h) on receipt of application for renewal, renew the authorization for next five years, after examining every
application on merit and subject to the condition that the operator of the facility has fulfilled all the
provisions of the rules, standards or conditions specified in the authorization, consents or environment
clearance.

(2) The State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee shall, after giving reasonable
opportunity of being heard to the applicant and for reasons thereof to be recorded in writing, refuse to grant
or renew an authorization.
(3) In case of new technologies, where no standards have been prescribed by the Central Pollution Control
Board,
State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee, as the case may be, shall approach Central
Pollution
Control Board for getting standards specified.
(4) The State Pollution Control Board or the Pollution Control Committee, as the case may be, shall monitor
the compliance of the standards as prescribed or laid down and treatment technology as approved and the
conditions stipulated in the authorization and the standards specified in Schedules I and II under these rules
as and when deemed appropriate but not less than once in a year.
(5) The State Pollution Control Board or the Pollution Control Committee may give directions to local
bodies for safe handling and disposal of domestic hazardous waste deposited by the waste generators at
hazardous waste deposition facilities.
(6) The State Pollution Control Board or the Pollution Control Committee shall regulate Inter-State
movement of waste.

17. Duty of manufacturers or brand owners of disposable products and sanitary napkins and diapers.-

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(1) All manufacturers of disposable products such as tin, glass, plastics packaging, etc., or brand owners
who introduce such products in the market shall provide necessary financial assistance to local authorities
for establishment of waste management system.
(2) All such brand owners who sell or market their products in such packaging material which are nonbio-
degradable shall put in place a system to collect back the packaging waste generated due to their production.
(3) Manufacturers or brand owners or marketing companies of sanitary napkins and diapers shall explore the
possibility of using all recyclable materials in their products or they shall provide a pouch or wrapper for
disposal of each napkin or diapers along with the packet of their sanitary products.
(4) All such manufacturers, brand owners or marketing companies shall educate the masses for wrapping
and disposal of their products.

Duties of the industrial units located within one hundred km from the refused derived fuel and waste
to energy plants based on solid waste-

All industrial units using fuel and located within one hundred km from a solid waste based refused derived
fuel plant shall make arrangements within six months from the date of notification of these rules to replace
at least five percent of their fuel requirement by refused derived fuel so produced.

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 Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

The Government of India launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), or
Clean India Mission in 2014 as a national initiative to eradicate open defecation and enhance the
management of solid waste. It is a remastered edition of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, which was started by
the former PM Manmohan Singh in 2009 but fell short of its goals.

• The Swachh Bharat Mission's Phase 1 ended in October 2019.

• Phase 2 has been executed from 2020–2021 through 2024–2025 to help Phase 1's efforts be solidified.

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was started by the Indian government with the goal of making India "open-
defecation-free" (ODF) by 2 October 2019, marking the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. During
that time, approximately 89.9 million toilets had been constructed. Aside from eliminating manual
scavenging, raising awareness about sanitation standards and changing people's behavior were also goals of
the mission's initial phase. Another goal of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was to increase local capacity. The
Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 seeks to maintain the elimination of open defecation, enhance solid and liquid
waste management, and enhance the working conditions of sanitation personnel. The mission aims to
advance toward objective 6.2 of the sixth of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, which was
established in 2015.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Purpose:

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan's main goal is to raise people's awareness of the value of cleanliness. The
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan purpose is to give every citizen with access to safe and sufficient drinking water as
well as basic sanitation services like toilets, clean villages, and liquid & solid waste disposal systems. The
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation established the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan action plan.

By 2019, it is intended to increase the number of sanitary facilities. Making India an Open Defecation Free
(ODF) is the main reform that needs to be made.

• By 2019, increase the growth rate of toilets from 3% to 10%. Toilet construction has increased from
14,000 to 48,000 every day.

• Launch of a National/State-Level Media Campaign to Spread Awareness Using Mobile Telephony, Audio-
Visual, and Local Programs.

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• School children participating in education campaigns about water, hygiene, and sanitation.
Swachh Bharat Mission 1.0 (SBM): Urban The primary details about SBM 1.0 for the urban setting have
been given below;

• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Urban), which is overseen by the Ministry of Urban Development, has been
given the task of providing sanitary amenities and household toilets to all 4041 statutory towns with a total
population of 377 million.

• The expected five-year cost is approximately Rs 62,009 crore, of which Rs 14,623 crore would come from
the centre.
• The Mission aims to provide 2.5 lakh community chairs and 2.6 lakh public restroom seats, covering 1.04
crore families.
• Additionally, it suggests building solid waste disposal facilities in each community.

At the epicenter of this program are six components:

1. Single household toilets

2. Public restrooms
3. Community toilets
4. Capacity Building
5. Municipal Solid Waste Disposal Management
6. Information and Education Communication (IEC) and Public Awareness

Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 (SBM):

Urban The Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 received Rs 1,41,678 crores from the government in the Union
Budget 2021. The parts of SBM-Urban 2.0 are as follows:
1. Treatment of wastewater, including fecal sludge management, in all ULBs with fewer than 1 lakh
residents is a new component.
2. Sustainable and ecological sanitation (construction of toilets)
3. Solid Waste Management
4. Building capacity, information, communication, and education

Projected achievements of SBM-Urban 2.0:

1. All statutory towns receiving ODF+ accreditation.
2. All statute towns with fewer than 1 lakh residents will receive ODF++ accreditation.
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3. Half of all statutory towns with fewer than 1 lakh residents have received Water+ accreditation.
4. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' (MoHUA's) Star Rating Protocol for Garbage
Free Communities, all statutory towns must be rated at least 3-star Garbage Free.
5. Biological repair of all former landfills Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Rural) By October 2, 2019, the Swachh
Bharat Gramin rural programme hopes to eliminate open defecation from Village Panchayats.

• The new focus of this rural sanitation mission, which seeks to construct cluster and community toilets
through public-private partnerships, is on removing barriers and tackling crucial issues that have an impact
on outcomes.

Given the squalor and unclean circumstances in rural schools, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiative
specializes in restrooms in buildings equipped with fundamental sanitation features.

• The goal of the Clean India mission is to build Anganwadi toilets and manage liquid and solid waste in all
Village Panchayats.

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 Smart Cities Mission
National Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Government of
India with the mission to develop smart cities across the country, making them citizen friendly and
sustainable. The Union Ministry of Urban Development is responsible for implementing the mission in
collaboration with the state governments of the respective cities. The mission was planned to include 100
cities, with the deadline for completion of the projects set between 2019 and 2023. As of July 2024, 7202
out of a total 8018 tendered projects have been completed, utilizing ₹144,530 crores out of the total tendered
amount of ₹164,163 crore.

Description

Smart Cities Mission envisions developing areas within selected cities in the country as model areas based
on an area development plan, which is expected to have a rub-off effect on other parts of the city and nearby
cities and towns. Cities will be selected based on the Smart Cities challenge, where cities will compete in a
countrywide competition to obtain the benefits from this mission. It is a five-year program in which
financial aid will be given by the central government to the cities. The Ministry of Urban Development used
a competition-based method as a means for selecting cities for funding. The state governments were asked to
nominate potential cities with the overall count across India limited to 100. A hundred cities have been
selected so far to be upgraded as part of the Smart Cities Mission. Each city will create a Special Purpose
Vehicle (SPV) headed by a CEO to implement the projects under mission.

What is the Smart Cities Mission (SCM)?

o It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, launched in June 2015 to transform 100 cities to provide the
necessary core infrastructure and clean and sustainable environment to enable a decent quality of
life to their citizens through the application of "Smart Solutions".

o It aimed to improve the quality of life for citizens through sustainable and inclusive development.

Objectives:
o Provide core infrastructure and decent quality of life

o Clean and sustainable environment

o Application of ‘Smart’ Solutions

o Sustainable and inclusive development

o Compact areas

o Replicable model
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Components of the SCM:

o Area-based Development:

 Redevelopment: Renewal of existing urban areas to improve infrastructure and amenities. E.g.
Bhendi Bazar, Mumbai.

 Retrofitting: Upgrading infrastructure in existing areas to make them more efficient and
sustainable. E.g. Local Area Development (Ahmedabad).

 Greenfield Projects: Development of new urban areas with a focus on sustainability and smart
technologies. E.g. New Town, Kolkotta, Naya Raipur, GIFT City.

o Pan-City Solutions:

 Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions

across various sectors such as e-governance, waste management, water management,
energy management, urban mobility, and skill development.

o Governance Structure:

 To enhance effectiveness, a new governance model was adopted.

o A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) was created under the Companies Act,
2013 led by a bureaucrat or a representative of a multinational corporation
(MNC),

o Current Status of the Smart Cities Mission (SCM): Initially planned for completion by 2020, the
mission was extended twice, with the current deadline set for June 2024.

 The funding Pattern was envisioned through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Route.

What are the Challenges Faced by the Smart City Mission?

 Lack of Clarity in Definition:

o The SCM did not clearly define a smart city, acknowledging the varied conceptualisations
based on local contexts and aspirations.

 The definition's ambiguity makes it challenging to allocate resources effectively and

prioritise projects.

 Top Down Approach:

o The role of elected representatives being sidelined by reducing the role of elected councils in
decision-making raises concerns about democratic governance and accountability.
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 Flawed City Selection Process:

o Selecting cities on a competitive basis overlooked the diverse urban realities of India, which
are dynamic and not static like the West.

o The scheme focused on developing less than 1% of a city's area, leading to exclusion of many
areas from development.

 For example, Chandigarh had invested Rs 196 crore into one pocket-sector 43.

 Inadequate Funding and Scope:

o McKinsey reports indicate that to improve livability in Indian cities by 2030, USD 1.2 trillion is
needed, making Rs. 1,67,875 crore over nine years a mere 0.027% of the total urban India
expenditure.

o Initially planned for completion by 2020, the mission was extended twice, with the current
deadline set for June 2024, indicating the complexity of the urban development process.

 Governance Structure Issues:

o The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) model created for smart cities was not aligned with the 74th
Constitutional Amendment Act, leading to objections from cities regarding the governance
structure as it bypassed traditional city governance structures.

 Despite PPP being an important driver of the mission, not more than 5% of the funding
has come through this route.

 Displacement and Social Impact:

o Smart city projects led to the displacement of people living in poorer localities, such as street
vendors, disrupting urban communities.

o The focus on infrastructure development in some towns led to enhanced urban flooding, as
water channels and contours were disrupted or dismantled.

What are the Steps Needed to Strengthen the Smart City Mission?

The Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs gives the following overarching
recommendations.

 Governance and Implementation:

o Dedicated CEO should be appointed with fixed tenure, ensuring the representation of experts
and stakeholders, and utilising existing expertise.

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 o Members of Parliament (MPs) need to be included in State-Level Advisory Forums, and should
be consulted for project identification, selection, and implementation, as they have grassroots-
level expertise.

 Project Focus and Priorities:

o The emphasising should be more on pan-city projects for comprehensive and holistic
development, optimising resource allocation and reducing wastage.

o Digital infrastructure protection mechanisms are needed to safeguard against cyber threats and
maintain data privacy.

 Capacity Building and Funding:

o A plan to strengthen Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) capabilities in small cities and central
government assistance for organisational restructuring and capacity building in states requiring
support should be taken up.

 Project Completion:

o The focus should be on timely completion of project. The ministry's role should not be confined
to fund transfer but extend to ensuring execution and completion by intervening with inputs
and expertise.

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What are the 5 R’s of Waste Management?

Refuse

The first step of the 5 R process. This can be a difficult one as you will have to practice refusing waste
production for your business, however it this will be the most effective way to minimise waste. How? Well,
by simply refusing to use single-use plastics or wasteful, non-recyclable products, you can ultimately reduce
the amount of waste your business produces on the daily.

Ideally, you will want to talk to your procurement team to work out how you can approach this step most
effectively. When you work with vendors or suppliers try to avoid working with unnecessary product
packaging and attempt to opt for reusable or returnable packaging and containers.

By making smarter buying decisions and setting efficient standards early on in the process, this will make it
much more easier for organisations to ‘refuse’ using waste that they don’t ultimately need or would turn out
wasteful.

Reduce

This is all about reducing your use of harmful, wasteful and non-recyclable materials to save you money,
help the environment and so on. By limiting your dependency on these types of products, this leads to less
waste materials ending up in landfill and prevents you from creating negative impacts on the environment.

We would always advise using the minimal amount required to avoid excess waste as these material and
energy could then be used for future requirements. Once good example would be when printing a document,
print double-sided to slash your waste output in half. Other methods involve reducing the amount of single-
use plastics, plastic packaging and organic waste.

Reuse
Single use plastics such as cups, straws, gloves and now masks have generated a ‘throw away’, ‘one won’t
hurt’ culture. The rate that we all consume plastic products is drastically becoming unimaginable, the plastic
crisis has always been one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges. In a race to reduce waste,
businesses are prompted to reuse items in the workplace instead of replacing them.
All you need to do is start by focusing on a particular area within your business at one time, for instance the
work kitchen. Try to replace all the single use utensils and equipment for compostable and reusable options.
Once you successful master on environment in your business, find ways to reuse other products such as
protective packaging, ink cartridges, food containers and even rechargeable batteries.

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Repurpose
If you can’t refuse, reduce or reuse a particular item, try repurposing it instead. The ‘green’ community often
refers to this method as ‘upcycling’. You will quite often be surprised to learn how many everyday objects
in the office can serve more than one purpose.

Sometimes, it will involve some imagination and creativity, but there are limitless possibilities with
upcycling common objects found in the workplace. Try using leftover cardboard boxes for storage, leftover
cups and mugs as stationary holders and even using binder clips to hold together small wires.

You could even designate a small space to an ‘upcycling station’ and here you can collect and store items
that you can reuse for convenient purposes later on. Also, encourage your colleagues and visitors to leave
behind their ‘unusable items’ and see what you can come up with to ensure they can still be effectively used.

Recycle
Last, but not least at all, we have recycle! Once you’ve ventured through all the other R’s, recycling is the
most eco-friendly waste disposal method. If your business doesn’t recycle already, start by compiling
cardboard, paper products, plastics, glass and organics. A lot of companies when they start recycling are
instantly surprised by the amount of waste they reduce by implementing an effective recycling program.

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