Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management,

5 - 7 September 2007, Chennai, India. pp.163-168

Household Hazardous Waste Generation-Management

H. Lakshmikantha1 and N. Lakshminarasimaiah2
1

Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, Bangalore, India

Department of Civil Engineering, Adhimaan College ofEngineering, Hosur, Tamil Nadu.
Email: lkdp2k@rediffmail.com
ABSTRACT

The household hazardous waste (HHW) consists of the waste material resulted from items like;
tube lights, dry battery cells used in radio and torch etc, mercury vapour lamps, nail polish
remover, blades, sprays, pesticides, chemicals, out dated medicines/drugs, thermometers,
vehicle batteries, discarded vehicle/s, waste/used oil from various sources vehicles like; bikes,
cars etc, electronic waste from TV, VCR, computers and bio-medical or infectious waste
resulted from in house medication. There is no specific methodology suggested or adopted for
collection and disposal of household hazardous waste generated in an Indian family.
The present population of the Karnataka state is about sixty million (six crores). By
considering per-capita generation rate of about five grams of household hazardous waste, the
total amount of hazardous waste generated across the state per day will be about three
hundred tons. The present work aims at identifying and quantifying household hazardous waste
generated and also to record the present method of handling and disposal of HHW in the state
of Karnataka. Besides, the primary objective of the authors is to bring awareness among the
general public and concerned authority about the possible threat posed by unscientific
handling and disposal of household hazardous waste.
Keywords: Municipal waste, Dump site, Household hazardous waste, landfill.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Not only industries are producing hazardous wastes, but also household are among the generators.
Households frequently use products of their concern and normally discharge together with garbage.
Many household products contain the same chemicals as strictly regulated industrial wastes and pose
environmental problems. When they are not used up, certain household chemicals can become
household hazardous waste. The household hazardous waste (HHW) consists of the waste material
resulted from items like; tube lights, dry battery cells used in radio and torch etc, mercury vapor
lamps, nail polish remover, blades, sprays, pesticides, chemicals, out dated medicines/drugs,
thermometers, vehicle batteries, discarded vehicle/s, waste/used oil from various sources vehicles like;
bikes, cars etc, electronic waste from TV, VCR, computers and bio-medical or infectious waste
resulted from in house medication. Although the quantities of chemicals disposed by individual
households may be small, the number of households in a city/town is many, and the amount of waste
adds up.

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Dry batteries containing heavy metals; Light tubes, containing small amounts of highly toxic mercury,
electronic parts from TV, VCR, Computer and other electronic items, waste oil from vehicles,
refrigerators, residues of paints, dyes, varnishes, etc. from renovation activities; because of organic
solvents and pigments contained the residues and empty containers and old overdue and obsolete
pharmaceutical products should be collected separately.
In developed or industrialized countries, the risk of hazardous waste (HW) in water, soil and air is
fairly well understood and adequate laws have been enforced (D. A. Passaro, 2003). The general
public is well informed about the dangers of hazardous waste. It is realized that waste production
should be minimized and that waste must be stored or disposed in such a way that the least possible
damage is done to man and environment. And also, availability of well engineered and managed
facilities for HW treatment and establishment of good waste collection and transfer systems.
Hazardous waste management in developing countries differs much from that in industrialized
countries and it posses special problems. The general public being unaware of the dangers associated
with hazardous waste, as a consequence, does not exert any pressure on the politicians.
Open dumpsites predominate in all districts of the state, and in the absence of controls, hazardous
wastes continue to find their way into such sites. Waste pickers may live and work among the wastes.
Many dump sites are already causing water pollution; often there are no special measures to prevent
contamination water from seeping into the ground or flowing water.
Legislation and control play a crucial role in hazardous waste management. Private enterprises usually
not take measures on a voluntary basis, since their main interest is profit maximization. Hazardous
waste treatment costs money and it is rather difficult to express the benefits in relation to money. The
effectiveness of legislation depend in part upon the commitment to enforce the measures-possibly in
the face of economic difficulties and on the existence of an established infrastructure to make
compliance possible.
By this study one can realize the potential threat and hazard of unscientific handling and disposal of
the waste for both community and the environment. These types of special and harmful wastes require
specific attention from public and civic authority, since their separate collection, proper handling and
disposal is urgently needed. Household hazardous waste management requires big efforts on;
Awareness rising and information campaigns among the consumers, general public and the industries,
including segregation activities at source. The present population of the Karnataka state is about sixty
million (six crores). If we consider a generation rate of about five grams of household hazardous
waste per head per day, then the total amount of hazardous waste generated across the state per day
will be about three hundred tons. The present work aims at identifying and quantifying household
hazardous waste generated and also to record the present method of handling and disposal of HHW in
the state of Karnataka.
2.0 PRESENT METHOD/S OF HANDLING AND DISPOSAL OF HHW
The waste generated from the households is mostly organic in nature with some of recyclable material
like paper, plastics, glass, leather, cloth and HHW. Presently, the household waste is either put into the
community collection bins or is dumped along the road side or is disposed off by burning. The
municipal contractors assigned to the area come and collect the waste once in a day or in some cases
once in a week. The waste collected from all such locations of the town or city will be disposed on to
open land just outskirts of the town/city.
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2.1 Problems Associated in the Present System of Waste Management

Problems in solid waste management are common in any part of the human settlements. Though the
nature and magnitude of the problem varies from place to place and depends on the economic
standards and life style of the community. The following are the major problems associated with
present system of waste management.
Lack of awareness: the major problem to be addressed is lack of awareness among the
community. It is because of lack of awareness; people are mixing up the hazardous waste and nonhazardous waste at source itself and also because of no civil information dissemination system on
waste minimization techniques or procedures.
Lack of infrastructure: Collection, storage, transportation, processing and disposal: noticeable
short comings like improper collection and disposal system, no house to hose collection system,
inefficient waste collection and handling by the staff. Improper or no storage at household level,
haphazard dumping by citizens, improper design of community collection bins, no quantification
of waste, lack of infrastructure for processing the waste and finally absence of scientific disposal
site like, engineered land fill facility.
2.2 Identifying and Quantifying of HHW
Considering a typical Indian family as the generator of the HHW, the type of HHW which could be
anticipated for the present day life style will be; Dry batteries containing heavy metals; nail polish
removers, vehicle batteries, thermometers, old chemicals, acids, alkalis, waste oils from bikes, cars
etc, electronic waste, pesticides, Chlorofluro Carbon (CFC) fluids, bio-medical waste like; syringes,
bandages, blades etc, Light tubes containing small amounts of highly toxic mercury; residues of
paints, dyes, varnishes, etc. from renovation activities; organic solvents and pigments contained the
residues and empty containers, old overdue and obsolete pharmaceutical products. Other items are;
Electronic/electric articles like old computers, audio and video devices (devices such as radio, disc
players, parts of VCR and of TV sets, computers and all peripheral instruments and devices)
household tools etc.
A survey of municipal solid waste revealed that approximately 1500 tones of municipal solid waste,
excluding industrial waste and construction/ demolition waste, is produced each day in the Bangalore
city (Report, IUEIP, 1999) and during year 2006 it is estimated to be about 4500 MT/day. This
equates to an average waste generation rate per capita of 0.27 kg/day. Municipal waste generation by
source is presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Municipal Waste Generation Rate in Bangalore

Source
Residential
Markets
Hotels and restaurants
Commercial Premises
Slums
Hospitals
Street Sweepings, Parks, Open Places

Quantity
(t/day)
780
210
290
85
20
25
40

165

Composition %
(by weight)
54
14
20
6
1
2
3

Household Hazardous Waste Generation-Management

The major constituents of municipal solid waste in Bangalore are organic matter/putrescible waste.
Typically this comprises 74% of the municipal waste stream. The proportion of organic
matter/putrescible waste is source-dependent ranging from approximately 16% of waste from
commercial premises to 90% for market waste and street sweeping waste. The composition of
municipal waste in Bangalore presented in Table 2. Figure 1 shows the crushed batteries to recover
the material from the used batteries, and Figure 2 shows the HHW disposed along with the domestic
waste (municipal waste) and burning on open land.
Table 2. Physical Composition of Municipal Waste in Bangalore

Waste type
Putrescible
Paper
Plastics
Glass
Metals
Dust & Ash
Cloth, Rags &
Rubber
Hazardous

Composition (% by weight)
Hotels &
Markets Slums
Residential commercial
Restaurants
29.9
76.0
90
15.6
71.5
2.5
17.0
3
54.6
8.4
1.7
2.0
7
16.6
6.9
8.4
0.2
0.7
2.3
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.3
56.7
4.0
8.2
8.1
1.3
1.2

4.0
-

0.4
-

Figure 1 Used Dry Battery Cells Crushed for Metal

Recovery

0.5
-

Street
Sweepings
90
2
3
5
-

All
Sources
72.0
11.6
6.2
1.4
0.2
6.5
1.0
0.9

Figure 2 Tube Lights along with Domestic Waste

Disposed on Open Land

2.3 HHW Waste Generation

The total population of Karnataka as at 0:00 hours of 1st March 2001 stood at 52,733,958 as per the
provisional results of the Census of India 2001. Karnataka is now the ninth most populous state in
India. The decadal growth rate of population in the state has been 17.25% during 1991-2001, lower
than the rate of 21.12% during 1981-1991. (Source: Census of India 2001). Considering the present
rate of household hazardous waste generation is about 0.9% of the domestic waste. Per-capita
generation of HHW will be about 5 grams per head per day. The HHW generation will be about three
hundred tons per day from total community of the sate.
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3.0 DISCUSSION
3.1 Risks Associated
Household products contain the same chemicals as that of strictly regulated industrial wastes and pose
environmental problems of the same nature. Although the quantities of chemicals disposed of by
individual households is small, but the number of households in a city/town is many, and the amount
of waste adds up. These types of special and harmful wastes require specific attention since their
separate collection, proper handling and disposal is urgently needed.
3.2 Resource Recovery
Many small reprocessing enterprises thrive within the informal sectors. One of the main reasons for
the existence of the informal sector is the lack of formal employment opportunities for a large
proportion of the urban and sub urban populations. For many of the urban poor waste recovery often
represents a basic strategy for survival. Informal sectors are in organized and often operate beyond the
scope of action of trade unions and employers organizations. Recycling of household batteries is
carried out with simple tools. Some of the characteristics of the market in which recycling enterprises
operate are;
Resource recovery is dominated by informal sector entrepreneurs. A large number of traders and reprocessors have managed to set up feasible business that generates reasonable or high profits. One of
the prime factors that determine the feasibility of waste recovery is the price of the virgin material.
The price of the recovered material is equal to the price of the virgin material less a reduction for a
difference in quality. Therefore, fluctuations in the price of the virgin material have a direct impact on
the price of the recovered material. This makes the waste recovery sector very dependent on
developments on the market for the virgin material. Virgin materials often have to be imported, are
therefore relatively expensive and; consume foreign currency. The use of recovered waste materials as
raw material inputs relieve this financial burden for the enterprises concerned as well as for the
economy as a whole.
Labour costs are low, also because of high unemployment rates. Therefore, the informal waste sector
provides employment for many people, although it is often the last resort in their daily struggle for
survival. That means that the commonly labour-intensive processes of recovery of waste materials,
such as collecting, washing and sorting waste, are soon financially feasible. The dark side of this is
that incomes are usually minimal and working conditions often terrible. Products made of, or which
include recycled components generally have a lower quality. However, the market for the low-cost
consumer items made of non-virgin materials is extensive. First of all, because there are large
numbers of low-income consumers, who cannot afford the higher, priced virgin-made products.
Secondly, because the quality standards required by this group of customers can be met by the
products made of recycled materials. There are few or no regulations or quality standards for recycled
products.
4.0 CONCLUSIONS
From the study it clear that, though the contribution of HHW by each individual is very small but
because of huge population, the waste quantity adds up and results in substantial quantity of HHW;
which needs to be given immediate attention both by public and authority towards safe handling and
disposal. People are not aware of the problems associated with HHW towards their health and
environment. The following observations were made from the present study.
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Most of the people are not aware of the fact that they are contributing hazardous waste into the
environment.
Though the quantity of HHW generated by each individual is very small because of large
population the resultant quantity will be of considerable amount.
There is a strong need for public awareness towards safe handling and disposal of HHW and
impact on man and environment due to unscientific handling of HHW.
Public have to be informed and educated through mass medias about safer substitutes or alternate
material or procedures in place of HHW generating products
There is need for segregation and storage of HHW at source.
Measures have to be taken to stop illegal dumping of all industrial and domestic waste through out
the state.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author records sincere thanks to Chairman, and Member Secretary, KSPCB for their kind
cooperation and encouragement.
REFERENCES
D.A.Passaro, Report: waste management in Portugal between 1996 and 2002. Waste Management 23
pp. 97-99 (2003).
Ministry of Environment and Forest, Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules.
Government of India, Gazette publication (1998).
Ministry of Environment and Forest, Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules.
Government of India, Gazette publication (2000).
Ministry of Environment and Forest, Batteries (Management and Handling) Amendment Rules.
Government of India, Gazette publication (2001).
Ministry of Environment and Forest, Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Amendment
Rules. Government of India, Gazette publication (2003).
Report on Hazardous Waste, Inge Lardinois and Arnold v.d. Klundert, Urban Waste Series 4 Working
Paper (June 1995).
Report on comprehensive plan for SWM at IUEIP area submitted to BDA (January 1999).

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