Trash troubles

“There are few things certain in life – one is death, second is waste. No one can stop these things in our lives.” – Unknown

Approximately 1,400 sq. km land – equal to the combined area of Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai (3 of the 5 most populous cities of India)—would be required to dump municipal waste in India by 2047.

Waste management is a universal issue that affects every individual or government agency providing civic amenities to its people.

Almost 50 per cent of India’s population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050, leading to a five per cent growth in the volume of waste generated per year. As towns and cities develop economically, and the population grows, waste generated is expected to increase drastically from 2.01 billion tonnes today to 3.40 billion tonnes in 2050.

As of date, over 377 million people—31 per cent of the Indian population—live in 7,935 towns and cities and generate a massive amount of around 277.1 million tonnes of solid waste per annum. According to a 2019 India Today report, the country produces more than 1.50 lakh metric tonnes of solid waste daily. This is increasing every day with the burgeoning economy, urbanisation and population.

India today produces more than 80 per cent of the waste generated in South Asia and 13 per cent of the world per annum. According to a World Bank study, India is one of the world’s highest waste-generating nations. As a result, most Indian towns and cities are ugly to look at and littered with garbage.

Any unwanted solid, liquid or gaseous substance discarded or thrown out by households or commercial establishments can be considered as waste. According to the Press Information Bureau, waste can be segmented into three categories:

✼ Biodegradable or organic waste (food and kitchen waste, green waste vegetables, flower, leaves, fruits and paper, etc.).

✼ Inert and non-biodegradable waste (construction and demolition waste, dirt, debris, etc.).

✼ Recyclable waste (plastic, paper, bottles, glasses, etc.).

Human activities are the cause behind most kinds of waste, and the way it is stored, collected and disposed off.

According to the World Bank’s What a Waste 2.0 report, the world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal waste annually, at least 33 per cent of which is not managed in an environmentally safe manner. Improper handling and disposal of waste is a leading cause of soil, water and air pollution and causes the greatest harm to the environment and public health. Unsafe disposal of hazardous waste contaminates the soil and water, causing serious health problems and leads to air pollution in the surrounding area.

Uncontrolled or mismanaged waste attracts flies, rats, and other creatures which spread infectious diseases. Polluted environment and ineffective waste management serves as a breeding ground for disease vectors and leads to several respiratory problems and diseases like Japanese Encephalitis, jaundice, cholera, colitis, diarrhoea, worm, dysentery, and skin diseases. The US Public Health Service has identified 22 diseases including asthma, heart attack, and emphysema due to burning garbage and faecal matter in municipal waste. Unmanaged and decomposed garbage attracts rodents, which lead to diseases like dengue and malaria.

Poorly managed waste contaminates the world’s oceans, clogs drains and harms humans, plants and animals. All over the world, about one million plastic bottles are purchased every minute and some 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used and thrown away every year. Ten of the world’s biggest rivers flush around eight million tonnes—more than 90 per cent of the plastic waste—into the oceans every year.

The amount of plastic waste is enough to fill up 2,400 Olympic stadiums or 4.8 million Olympic-sized swimming pools. It weighs equal to 3.4 million adult blue whales or 1,376 Empire State Buildings.

The real magnitude of the problem is that India, Pakistan and China collectively account for 94 out of the top 100 most polluted cities in the world. India has the highest number of polluted cities (46) followed by China (42), Pakistan (6), and Bangladesh (4) in terms of air quality index. These include Noida, Greater Noida, Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut, Agra, Bulandshahr, Bisrakh, and Muzaffarnagar (in Uttar Pradesh), Faridabad, Jind, Fatehabad, Bandhwari, Gurugram, Yamuna Nagar, Rohtak, Dharuhera and Hisar (Haryana), and Bhiwadi (Rajasthan).

As a result some 1.7 million deaths—i.e. 18 per cent of the total deaths in India in 2019 were reportedly attributable to air pollution.

Managing waste properly is essential for building sustainable and liveable cities, but it remains a challenge for many developing countries and cities because waste management is an expensive activity, invariably guzzling 20-50 per cent of municipal budgets.

Solid waste management is a serious problem in India because of the enormous quantities generated every day. Experts believe that India is following a flawed system of waste disposal and management. Almost all municipal authorities indiscriminately discard solid waste in dump yards within or outside the city. Waste dumping and open burning continue to be the principal methods of waste disposal in India.

Burning garbage is the third biggest cause of greenhouse gas emissions in India. The garbage dump yards are known to frequently catch fire. An 18-ft high inferno at Deonar in Mumbai went on for three months, pumping tonnes of cancer-causing smoke caused by burning plastic and leather in 2016.

According to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, only 22–28 per cent of the municipal waste (27,000 MT per day) is scientifically collected, processed and treated. The remaining 80 per cent (1,08,000 MT per day) is dumped in an unhygienic manner in landfill sites leading to health and environmental degradation. Heavy metals and toxic liquid in the rotten garbage are absorbed by the soil or water bodies. This leads to contamination of the food chain and rivers, endangering humans, plants and animals. As a result, garbage dumped on the roadside, clogging of the drains, and garbage floating on the surface of the rivers, particularly during the rainy season are common sights in India.

The major problems affecting solid waste management are unscientific treatment, improper collection of waste, and ethical problems. This in turn leads to hazards like environmental degradation, water pollution, soil pollution, and air pollution. Some of the other bottleneck areas include:

✼ No storage of waste at source

✼ No system of primary collection from doorsteps

✼ Irregular street sweeping

✼ Waste storage depots are a problem

✼ Transportation of waste is not satisfactory

✼ Processing of waste: only a few cities have been practicing this

✼ Disposal of waste is a neglected area and the current practices are grossly unscientific

According to an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and PwC joint report the urban municipal solid waste will increase to 387.8 million tonnes in 2030 and 543.3 million tonnes by 2050. At this rate we would need about 88 sq. km of land—the size of New Delhi—just to dump the hazardous waste by 2050.

The writer is a seasoned media professional with over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and web media. He is presently Editor of Taazakhabar News. Views expressed are personal