MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Inefficient management of the solid waste along with increasing population becomes cause of environmental degradation. The Municipal Solid Waste(Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 lay down the steps to be taken by all municipal authorities for the best practice of solid waste management. Municipal authorities must follow the rules, compliance criteria and procedure which laid down respectively in schedule I and schedule II of the rules. With the increasing of population, the amount of garbage generated also increased. Municipal authorities are responsible for the implementation of MSW 2000 rules. For this purpose, municipal authorities must provide all the facilities like services and infrastructure from collection to disposal of MSW i.e. for collection, segregation, storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of municipal solid waste. Population growth has enhanced the quantum of waste generation, leading to decrease in the quality of environment and public health. Increasing the amount of solid waste generation, especially Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), is a matter of serious concern especially in urban areas and this problem has worsened due to the improper disposal plans. Urban Local Bodies should be responsible for proper solid waste collection and disposal methods.

Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016 stipulate that the local authorities shall “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 authorized by the State Government or Union territory Administration” This chapter provides stepwise guidance to local authorities in the preparation of MSWM plans. MSWM is essentially a municipal function; it is mandatory for all municipal authorities to provide this service efficiently to keep the cities and towns clean and to dispose the MSW in an environmentally acceptable manner, complying with the SWM Rules, 2016.

It is also pertinent that MSWM systems adopt measures (as per the Supreme Court Directives, 1998) which not only reduce environmental degradation but also look at how high levels of toxins are affecting the health of men, women, and children. The state level municipal acts clearly mention the mandatory functions and additional discretionary functions that the ULBs must perform. ULBs, therefore, have to prioritize their mandatory functions by duly considering their current status and deficiencies.

The solid waste damage the environment

1. The rubbish occupies much land. Garbage has taken in much precious soil resources and human’s living spaces, which has seriously affected the development and growing of agriculture and industry. Large amount of waste has not only destroyed plants rooted on the earth surface, but also influenced the beauty of natural environment, and also broken the ecological balance of nature.

2. Polluting the environment. Solid waste contains various kinds of harmful components, so if these wastes can’t be disposed in right methods, they will pollute soil, air and water, and even have a harmful influence on various organisms including human being.

3. Spreading disease. Waste has a large number of microorganisms that are the breeding ground of germs, viruses and pests. Thus it will seriously damage people’s healthy. The filtrate of waste can change the components and structure of soil, and the harmful components can damage people’s health through the food chain. Waste can destroy the structure and physical property of soil, which causes the decline of the soil fertile and moisture. It has toxic heavy metals such as pathogenic microorganism, organic pollutants.

4. Under the foundation of rainwater, these harmful components can seriously pollute underground water and surface water. In this case, it has largely affect the living of aquatic organisms and the use of water resources.

5. Solid waste with small size can be floated in the air under the foundation of wind, which can aggravate the air pollution. A large number of garbage are exposed to the open air can generate odor, spread disease.

6. Ash pollution. Living waste after burning will generate much carbon black, whose major component is ash. Carbon atom is quite important composing element of materials, which has large content. In the process of combustion, the polymer compounds will generate a reaction to become a small particle of carbon black material, and these materials will raises under the function of air ascending motion, float in the air and then fall to the ground.

Traditional disposal methods of municipal solid waste

Waste treatment is necessary for us. With the smaller and smaller differences between urban and rural development, the trend of rural to city, quality of living waste also have become bigger and bigger; as the waste materials increases, how to efficiently dispose waste has become an urgency problem for us. Many experts of domestic and overseas have put forward many disposal methods, such as landfill, waste burning to generate electric, etc. However, after the considerations of many respects, these waste treatment methods have theirs disadvantages.

Landfill: landfill can cause a serious pollution to the land. Through a long-term landfill, the waste will be oxygenated, and it will decompose to generate a large number of harmful materials and cancerogenic substance, and these materials will cause serious pollution to the earth and atmosphere, and even will do harm to our next generation.

Burning to generate electricity: it is also one of solid waste recycling methods, but the residual gas also can lead to serious air pollution, and the resulting slag also contains much harmful materials. Therefore, this method can cause secondary pollution.