Waste Management in India

Introduction

“There are few things certain in life – one is death, second is change and the other is waste”. Generation of waste is inevitable in every habitation howsoever big or small. Since the dawn of civilization humanity has gradually deviated from nature and today, due to rapid urbanization and economic development, there has been a drastic change in the lifestyle of human society. Direct reflection of this change is found in the nature and quantity of garbage that a community generates. 

Basel Convention by United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) define wastes “as substances or objects, which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law”. Examples of wastes include municipal waste (household trash/refuse, commercial and demolition waste), hazardous waste (industrial waste), wastewater (such as sewage, effluent water and surface runoff), biomedical waste, special hazardous wastes (radioactive, explosive and electronic waste/E-Waste) etc.

Waste management includes all the activities and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes amongst other things collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation. It also encompasses the legal and regulatory framework that relates to waste management encompassing guidelines on recycling.

Background

The growing urbanization and pursuit for faster economic development need are leading to unprecedented growth in all kind of wastes – municipal including e-waste, and industrial hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. Mini-mountains of accumulated untreated urban waste are common sights in most big and medium cities and towns in the country.  According to Census 2011, Over 377 million urban people live in 7,935 towns and cities and generate 62 million tonnes of municipal solid waste per annum. Out of this, only 43 million tonnes (MT) of the waste is collected, 11.9 MT is treated and 31 MT is dumped in landfill sites. We have also been witnessing a growing amount of sewage, large portion of which is discharged untreated in water bodies and thus, is largest source of their pollution. With cities having literally failed to develop effective ways to dispose of their waste, the resulting mountains of waste in almost all cities have become a serious health hazard.

Cities in India are still struggling with source segregation of waste and setting up material recovery and waste recycling facilities, and most of the waste still is reaching the landfill sites. As most of these landfill sites are in low-lying areas. Waste disposal at such sites result in contamination of surface and groundwater sources making them unfit for human consumption. Experiences in developed countries in past have shown that cleaning up contaminated sites has been much more expensive than implementing pollution prevention strategies.

 Also as the cities are growing exponentially, they are facing problem in locating and developing waste disposal sites. The availability of suitable land for waste disposal is becoming a challenge for urban local bodies. Hence, there is a need to urgently look for waste reduction, reuse and recycle (3Rs) not only to ensure material recovery, but also to reduce the need for landfills.

Policy and Legal Framework

The increase in waste generation as a by-product of economic development has led to various subordinate legislations are made under the umbrella law of Environment Protection Act, 1986 (EPA) for regulating the manner of disposal and dealing with generated waste. Specific forms of waste are the subject matter of separate laws, rules and regulations and require separate compliances.

Some of the major landmarks in the history of waste management in India in terms of policy/laws/rules/schemes are as following –

1.       The Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1989

2.       Bio-medical Waste Handling Rules, 1998

3.       Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2000

4.       Strategy and action plan-use of compost in cities, 2006

5.       National Urban Sanitation Policy, 2008

6.       Plastic Waste Rules, 2011 & E-waste Rules,2011

7.       Swachh Bharat Mission, 2014

8.       Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), 2015

9.       Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2016

10.   E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016

11.   Segregation of Municipal Waste at Source Initiative for NCR, 2017

The Government of India is seized of this exacerbating problem, more so having embarked on the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) and the Smarts Cities Mission (SCM) to turn things around by driving growth to improve the quality of life through area-based development and city-level smart solutions. In developing Three-Year Action Agenda (2017-18 to 2019-20), the NITI Aayog has also drawn a broader framework for addressing the issue of municipal solid waste (MSW).

Institutional framework

The framework of solid waste management in India is broadly divided into three tiers, which are-

1.  Central level: The main function at the central level is to make laws and rules, frame policies, prepare guidelines, manuals, technical assistance, financial support and monitoring implementation of laws and rules.
2. State level: The state is responsible for implementing the rules, laws and guidelines set by the center at the state level; Make state-level laws and rules; frame policies; prepare guidelines, manuals, and technical assistance; provide financial support; monitor implementation of laws and rules.
3.        Urban local bodies (UBL): ULBs are responsible for the actual implementation and to prepare plans for collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of the solid waste; frame by-laws; levy and collect fees; Finance SWM system.

Recently while drawing a broader framework for addressing the issue of MSW, the NITI Aayog in its Three-Year Action Agenda (2017-18 to 2019-20), has recommended the setting up of a “Waste to Energy Corporation of India (WECI)” under the Ministry of Urban Development (on the lines of NHAI) which may set up world-class waste-to-energy plants through PPP across the country.

Even though the major responsibility of MSW management lies with the governmental agencies and urban local bodies, there are other stakeholders which play a crucial role as well. These are households, businesses, industries, informal sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community based organizations (CBOs), self-help groups (SHGs), students etc. Involvement of all these stakeholders is necessary in conducting waste related Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities, mobilizing financial support for communities and planning of solid waste management.

Various Measures for Effective Waste Management and Challenges Therein

         1)  Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM):

 According the ISWM, solid waste must be managed in the following hierarchy with the  first  strategy being most desirable and the succeeding strategies to be followed only when a particular strategy cannot be employed:                 

•        Reduction at source and reuse: The most logical and preferred option is minimizing the waste production. This can be done by using better technologies, efficient packaging, reusing the waste produced at each level in some other process or activity. 
•         Recycling: Recovery of material from the waste and reusing it again in manufacturing of some other product is recycling. Although recycling helps in recovering the material waste, energy is used in the process.
•          Waste to Compost: Decomposition of organic municipal waste to produce manure.
•          Waste-to-Energy: Production of heat, electricity or fuel from the waste using biomethanation, waste incineration or Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). 
•         Waste Disposal: Inert waste or the residual waste produced in the other waste management processes must be disposed in engineered landfills.

Another aspect of ISWM is the integration of informal sector through NGOs, resident welfare association (RWAs), SHGs and CBOs to include rag pickers and private door-to-door waste collectors.

Challenges – Knowledge, administrative and policy related

•          Unavailability of database on waste streams generated – quantity and composition
•          Waste handled by unskilled labor
•          Lack of proper monitoring and inspection techniques
•          Ignorance in general public
•          Lack of accountability of waste management authorities
•          Lack of enforcement of rules
•          Centralized decision making
•          Majority of waste in landfills
•          Absence of market for products from RDF units and Material Recovery facilities (MRFs).
•          poor occupational safety provisions of the waste pickers as well as workers

2) Financing mechanisms

·         Grants from state/central government to the ULBs which are frontrunner in implementation of MSW programs.  Various centrally sponsored schemes and programs/missions like Jn-NURM, Sustainable Habitat Mission, National Clean Energy Fund, AMRUT etc. have provisions for grants to ULBs.

·         Subsidies:  various Waste-to-energy projects like refuse derived fuels, biomethanation, biogas and gasification are highly encouraged by providing financial incentives. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) gives incentives to both private and public sector companies. Similarly Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC) and Ministry of Agriculture(MoA) provides a subsidy of upto 50% of capital cost of compost plants.

·         Loans from government or other financial institutions (national/international) : Development financial institutions like Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO), Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited (IDFC), Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) etc.

Challenges:

·         Operation of maintenance of waste management units dependent on grants.

·         Poor collection of house tax, which is a major source of funds for waste management at the level of ULBs.

3)    Incentives to invest in waste management sector:

The government of India has provided certain incentives to promote the investment in the solid waste management sector; some of these have been listed below: 

·         Tax exemption of certain bonds selected by the local authorities.

·          Tax holiday for the projects involved in solid waste management.

·          Exemption of taxes on the income of the companies which have invested in infrastructural development projects, including solid waste management infrastructure. 

Challenges:

·         Lack of investments

·         Less involvement of waste producers, especially industries

·         No motivation to limit waste produced

·         Limited scope of re-selling products out of use

4)      Economic instruments: 

Some of the following economic instruments may promote efficient waste management-

·         E-Waste Management Rules, 2016 brought the producers under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), along with targets. Through these guidelines producers have been made responsible for collection of E-waste and for its exchange. Violation of such rules will invite penalties.

·         Introduction of landfill taxes could be a way to discourage disposal of waste and promote reuse and recycling.

·         Reduced GST on repairing and maintenance of large household appliances can be another step towards promotion of re-use rather than increasing consumption.

Challenges:

·         Facilities for repairing are slowly losing their market to cheap use-and-throw products.

·         Setting up the collection mechanism or a separate Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) for implementation of EPR guidelines is a big challenge in a vast country like India.

5)      Public Private Partnership (PPP) in waste management:

       In case of municipal solid waste management, PPP has been practiced the complete life-cycle of waste management, for example,  in door to door collection, street sweeping, secondary collection of waste, transportation of waste, composting and power generation from waste and disposal etc.  The government of India has also incorporated PPP mechanism in various projects under Jn-NURM.

Challenges:

·         Lack of accurate estimation of quantity of municipal solid waste.

·         Limitations of available technologies to achieve segregation of highest order.

·         Unavailability of market for projects like RDF/Pellets to sell the products produced by them.

·         It was also observed that certain technologies like combustion of waste were causing damage to the air quality and required huge capital investment.

6)   Deployment of technology: 

      Technology can play game-changing role in complete life-cycle of waste management process. From waste collection to waste segregation, transportation, treatment and disposal, technological interventions are necessary to improve efficiency and effectiveness of waste management. Integrating the information technology (ICT) with the existing waste management system can have a huge impact on the management of the waste sector in India. Technologies like GPS, GIS, remote sensing, online web services and cloud computing can find some real time application in waste management.

Challenges:

·         Low collection efficiency

·         Long distance transportation of decomposable organic waste.

·         Ground water contamination at landfill sites.

·         Lack of waste inventory.

Way Forward

Population growth and particularly the development of megacities are making waste management in India a major problem. The current situation is that India relies on inadequate waste infrastructure, the informal sector and waste dumping. There are major issues associated with public participation in waste management and there is generally a lack of responsibility towards waste in the community. There is a need to cultivate community awareness and change the attitude of people towards waste, as this is fundamental to developing proper and sustainable waste management systems. Sustainable and economically viable waste management must ensure maximum resource extraction from waste, combined with safe disposal of residual waste through the development of engineered landfill and waste-to-energy facilities. India faces challenges related to waste policy, waste technology selection and the availability of appropriately trained people in the waste management sector. Until these fundamental requirements are met, India will continue to suffer from poor waste management and the associated impacts on public health and the environment.

Necessary political will; incorporating community participation; continuous sensitization programmes; changes in the habits of masses towards littering; promoting co-operation between private-private enterprises, private-public enterprises, private-public-community and various formal-informal players; decentralized and region-specific planning; adopting capacity building measures; promoting formation of micro-enterprises among the waste-recycling sector through various policies etc. are some of the possible solutions to the current problems of waste management in our country.

To ensure equitable development of masses and to achieve the targets envisioned in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must overcome various challenges to the waste management.