Solid Waste Management and Environmental Sustainability in Urban Areas

Abstract

Rapid urbanisation, rising incomes and changing consumption patterns have increased the quantity and complexity of municipal solid waste in Indian cities. When this waste is not collected, segregated, treated and disposed of scientifically, it pollutes air, soil and water, emits greenhouse gases, spreads disease and damages the urban environment, which makes solid waste management an essential condition for environmental sustainability. This paper examines the status of solid waste management in urban India on the basis of secondary data from the Central Pollution Control Board, replies of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in Parliament, and published research. Three comparison tables are prepared: year-wise generation of municipal solid waste, the progress in the share of waste processed over time, and a comparison of the fate of waste in 2020-21 in terms of the quantity treated, landfilled and unaccounted. The analysis shows that urban India generates about 1.6 lakh tonnes of solid waste per day, that about 95 per cent of it is collected, and that the reported share of waste processed increased from less than 24 per cent in January 2018 to 75 per cent in the latest government reply. However, the independent annual report of the pollution control board shows that only about half of the generated waste was treated in 2020-21 and that nearly 32 per cent remained unaccounted, which means that it was disposed of in an unscientific manner. The paper concludes that sustainability of cities depends on source segregation, decentralised processing, scientific landfills, remediation of old dumpsites, integration of the informal sector and reliable monitoring of data.