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Solid Waste Management

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Nature of solid waste
Municipal solid wastes are a heterogeneous mixture of paper, plastic, glass organic matter etc. generated from households,
commercial establishments and markets. The proportions of different constituents of waste very from season to season, place
to place, depending on lifestyle, food habits, standards of living, extent of industrial and commercial activity in the area.
The daily per capita waste generated in India varies from 100 Gms in small towns to 500 Gms in large towns. The growth rate
in per capita generation is assumed by planning commission to be 1.33 % for past 1990 years.
The following table presents change in characterisation of waste and relative share of different constituents of waste in past
several decades.
Physio Chemical characteristic of Municipal solid waste.
Year 1971-73 1995
Paper 4.14 5.78
Plastics 0.69 3.90
Metals 0.5 1.90
Glass 0.4 2.1
Rags 3.83 3.50
Ash and fine earth 49.20 40.30
Total compostable matter 41.25 41.8
The chemical analysis of Indian wastes shows that the total nitrogen varies from 0.56 to 0.75 % Phosphorus 0.52 to 0.83 %
Pottasium from 0.52 to 0.83 % and the Nitrogen Carbon ratio is between 1:21 to 1:31
Calorific Value is found to be between 800 to 1010 K.Cl / Kg.and density of waste is found to be between 330 to 560 Kg / Cum.
Collection of urban waste.
Collection efficiency of Municipal Solid Wastes is lower than 50 % in many cities, particularly due to the backlog created on
weekly and other holidays.
The waste is usually collected in small bins by user of premises and is transferred to community bins by those who generate
the waste. Sometimes the personnel appointed for the work collect it. Waste from these bins is transferred to community bins
is collected by trucks and is transferred to disposal sites. It takes many a times 3 to 7 days for the waste to be disposed off
from the time it is generated. In 1971 there were no cities in India that employed less than 1000 workers per million
populations. Now 56 % cities employ less than 1000 workers despite the menace of urban waste increasing.
Collection of waste from tall buildings
Collection of waste from tall buildings is done with help of refuge chute, The refuge chute is provided centrally in the building
and is accessible from each floor landing level. It has a hopper opening in the chute. The hopper is opened and the waste
material is placed in the pan of the hopper. The hopper automatically closes and throws the waste material in the chute. The
chute may be a masonry chute or a fabricated chute. The chute is connected vertically to the collection chamber at the bottom
of it. The refuge thrown in the refuge chute lands in a trolley placed in the chamber. The chamber and the refuge chute are
ventilated with a vent pipe at the top. The trolley may be taken out every day and emptied for collection by municipal authorities.
The chute must be ventilated properly at terrace level. It fowl gasses produced should be left into atmosphere at a higher level
than the last level of human access as these gasses can be toxic in nature. The duct must be lined with impervious and acid
resistant material. The refuge chamber at the stilt level must have a lockable shutter. The chamber floor must be paved with
concrete and should slope in one direction. The floor must get drained in a drainage line as the garbage may leach.

Methods used at township level for disposal of solid waste.

1. Dumping in sea: The refuge may be dumped into sea in case of coastal cities. Care must be taken to dump the
refuge at safe distance from the coast, as there is a possibility of the waste getting washed ashore due to tide. The
recommended distance is 155 to 30 Km based on conditions at site. It is costly and not reliable in rainy season.
2. Sanitary land filling: The Refuse can be buried in excavated trenches, low-lying areas or mine etc. Streams and
creaks have also been used for landfill and have been opposed by Environment conscious groups and people. The
filling in trenches settles down by 30% The organic matter gets decomposed. The decomposition is anaerobic. A
large amount of heat and methane and such gasses may get released. In case of excessive deep landfill, methane
may catch fire. Landfills if open, can be very stinking and can form a nuisance to the surrounding population. Landfill
also results in pollution of water bodies nearby as the bacteria, and fungi act on garbage to generate water. The
landfills get wet in rainy season. The landfills leach due to these reasons and pollute the nearby water bodies. The
land when filled becomes unavailable for filling and the local authorities have to look for a new piece of land for this
purpose. The land costs rise with time and suitable and affordable sites are not available close to the city. Hence
transportation overheads become very high. The dumping grounds for the urban waste disposal are causing a great
problem to the environment as the waste remains exposed to atm osphere and decomposes to release polluting
gases like Methane in the air.
3. Incineration: This method can be used for small and biologically hazardous wastes like hospital wastes etc. The
wastes from hospitals should not be left in open or should not be buried as these may contain polluting bacteria and
substances. This may result into pollution of water bodies nearby. The cost of operating incinerators is very high
hence these cannot be used on large scale. The primary chamber of incinerator is for complete removal of moisture
and burning of refuse and the volatile gases. The heat generated thereof can be used for drying the refuge. The
second chamber is for complete combustion of the gasses, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide etc. Small
incinerators are also available in the market and must be used in hospitals. Small metal container may be used for
incineration of medical waste at household level. Under no circumstances, the medical waste be mixed with the
household waste.
4. Composing. The material decomposed in landfill is separated and is used for filling wasteland and making it fertile.
Anaerobic composting in 7 to 10 weeks stabilizes the refuse. The same can be achieved in 3 to 6 days by
mechanical turning over of waste. The compost has very little nutritive value and is used as base for chemical
manure. Adding cow-dung or sewage sludge can enhance the nutritive value.
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5. Hog feeding: Garbage is fed to swine etc. This is not a very good method due to problems of ill health of animals and
bad smell etc due to animals.
6. Grinding and dispatching in sewers. This method is costly and increases the BOD and suspended solids in the
sewage.
7. Salvaging: The plastics, paper, metals etc can be removed from the waste to reduce its volume. Rag pickers
generally do this from the heaps of garbage.
8. Fermentation in sealed tanks: This is done for 10 days before the waste can be let into open for further fermentation
for further 15 to 20 days. The residue is us ed for conditioning the soil.
Biodegradable waste segragation at source.
It is mandatory that the inhabitants of urban areas shall not throw any solid waste in the n eighbourhood , on the street , open
spaces , vacent plots or drain .
They shall keep (a) the wet / food waste as and when generated in any type of domestic waste container, preferably with cover
and (b) keep dry / recyclables wastes preferably in bags or sacks. A container of 15 liters capacity would ordinerily be
adequate for a family of 5. However a family may keep bigger container or more than one containers to store the waste
produced in 24 hours , having a spare capacity of 100 % to meet unforeseen delays in clearace or unforseen extra loads.
In shops offices Institutions workshops etc. , The size of the containers should be adequate to hold the waste generated in 24
hours and 100 % spare capacity to meet unforseen delys in clearance or unanticipated extra load.
They should not throw their dry or wet waste on the footpaths or roads.
The size of a container should not excede 60 liters.
Vegitable and fruit vendors: The market produces large volumes of vegitable waste . Depending on the size of the market , the
local body shall provide large size containers with lids or skips for the storage of market waste at suitablre locations in the
market.
Street food vendors may be directed not to throw their waste on to the road. Segragation of recyclable waste at source
It is suggested that the local bodies shall make a serious endeavour to motivate households , shops and establishments to
segregate recyclable / non bio degradable waste at the source of waste generation and hand over such waste to rag pickers on
' no payment on either side basis ' and "motivate rag pickers to pick up waste from the doorstep."
"Primary collection of waste and guideline for the same.
Primary collection shall be done by any of the following method or by combination of more than one method.
1) Doorstep collection through handcart, tricycle, with active community participation,
2) Collection through community bins in private societeis, multi storied buildings and commercial complexes.
3) Doorstep collection from posh localitiies on full cost recovery basis.
Doorstep collection: through contenerised hand carts with bell / whistles may be used for this purpose. Bell/ whistle are
provided to inform the inhabitant about the arrival of the cart. Each sweeper may be given a hand cart with six detachable
containers and a bell or whistle. Normaly 150 to 250 houses may be taken as yardstick for allotment of work to one
sweeper. Rag pickers may be alloted lanes and bye lanes comprising of 150 to 250 houses for doorstep collection
of recyclables.
Hotels and restaurants have to make their own arrangements for doorstep collection service for food waste. This is to be
operated on full cost recovery basis.
All local bodies to prevent burninng of dry leaves by sweepers. Leaves could be rapid composted and used as manuer.
For the facility of the citizens to dispose of their waste in hand such as used cans of soft drink, used bus tickets,
wrappers, empty cigarette cases etc. litter bins should be proviided in all the market places, places of public gathering and
on impoortent roads at resonable distance ranging from 25 mts to 250 mts.dependin g on density of road or market place.
Re-cycling
Recycling has been receiving increasing attention world-wide. Recycling has been common practice and a part of India’s
cultural ethos. Selling old newspaper , magazine, books ,empty bottles of glass and plastic , metal cans etc. is common across
all income groups at the household level. Till a few years ago the emphasis was recover and reuse. This has now changed to
recover and recycle. The modern Gurus of Solid waste managenment are depending on three “R”s for t he best results. These
are REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE. Recycling has been one of the methods used by oriental civilization or old societies as
against the modern methods of use and throw. Recycling is useful for cloth, metal glass, Paper. These are also useful for
industrial waste that can be used again. Recycling saves important resources like oars etc, saves energy, and helps save
environment by reducing the amount of solid waste.
Advance Locality management system
The waste generated in the houses is kept in separate containers, which are in turn collected, and the compostable waste is
used for making manure. This manure is used for plants placed in containers for beautification of the area. This utilisation of
compostable refuge and the system working behind this can make dirty areas into clean ones. The scheme is known as
Advanced Locality Management (ALM). Containers can be provided for area where there is a possibility of people throwing
household waste. Since this decomposes in the open with aerobic decomposition, it does not give bad smell.
The scheme is as under
1. Contribution of the inhabitants, i. e. self-financing scheme.
2. Disciplined disposal by the inhabitants- segregation at source.
3. Democratic monitoring through local committees
4. Debris to be disposed off by the inhabitants themselves.
5. Selling of recyclables
6. One small disposal bin at every street light post.

The process of solid waste treatment in ALM

The process involves production of mulch from dry leaves. The bed prepared from dry leaves and cow-dung must be kept
moist for the bacteria and insects to grow. This process involves very small amount of water and keeps the soil moist due to the
presence of a layer of mulch.
The bacteria and the Insects present in the mulch shred the food particles of wet garbage and convert it into manure in 45 to
60 days. The earthworm rises to the surface in rainy season and helps destroy the food particles.
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Methods used at individual plot level for consuming wet garbage.

Various other methods have been in use.
1. The wet garbage can be segregated and put in number of bins. This allows for aerobic decomposition of waste.
2. In some other method, plants are planted in such containers. These thrive on the wet moist garbage.
3. The earthworms have also been used for this purpose.
4. Some people have successfully used polythene sheets for spreading wet garbage for aerobic biodegradation.
5. In some cases containers of a height of 1 to 1.2 meters have been used for dumping wet garbage. Trees have been
planted in these drums. The drums are punctured at sides to allow for the ventilation.
The Advantages of Aerobic composting
The process of Aerobic composing is an ecofriendly process and is pollution free. The process involve aerobic bacteria that
decompose the solid waste . It doe s not generate foul gases as well as any heat, smoke. The process is also adding importent
elements to the soil by way of manuer . Hence it helps the growth of plants.This has made it possible to make it into an
aesthetical sollution to the problem of garbage.
The proces depends on aerobic bacteria and earthworms to produce manuer. The process being an aerobic process it needs
oxygen and produces no filthy smell. It imparts good smell to the soil. No heat is generated in the process.
Drawbacks of aerobic composting: The process of vermicomposting requires more land . It is also labour intensive hence it is
possible in areas where cheap labour is available.
Economics of the scheme
Transport is a major problem in solid waste management. A person has been appointed in each locality on salary to manage the
locality. The payment is made by the residents of the area.It is possible to maitain large number of plants in pots from soild
waste generated in the area. The transportation of tonnes of solid waste is saved.
Problems of centralised composting by Municipal authoritis
The collection at the source is without segregation. Hence the plastics and the papers do not allow the oxygen to reach the
biodegradable waste. This results into the waste furmenting due to unaerobic bacteria. The waste will start smelling foul and
will give out leeching which make further handling of the waste unhygenic and harmful. The laeching results in polution of
waterways nearby.
The paper and the plastics get soiled and then they are retrived by the rag pickers.The value of these as recyclables will be
less due to this. The collection is never 100 percent in centralised system. The transportation and the depositing at the site will
spread foul gases on the way and inthe visinity of the project. All these problems get solved satisfactorily salved by locality
management system.
Biomethanation of Solid Waste
Dr . Mapuskar has proven that Nitrogen percentage in vegetable market waste is adequatte to produce bacteria. The carbon in
the vegitable waste and hydrogen from water are basically used in the process of methane generation by bacteria Nitrogen
goes into making the body protiens of the bacteria. He has established a project of biomethanation at Market Yard, Gultekadi,
for Pune Municipal Corporation.
Biomethanation of refuge at the Market Yard, Mandai , Gultekadi, Pune.
The Gultekadi Marketyard is a major wholesale vegetable market located in Pune generating about 20 tonnes of vegetable
waste daily. To achieve reduction of waste at source, a proposal of convertng vegetable waste into biogas and manure using
unaerobic digestion within the marketyard itself was mooted. Reduction of waste at source by turning it into biogas and manure
will not only treat the vegetable waste by the most hygenic way but would save the cost of transporting.
The project located on a plot of 1000 sq meters within the market yard complex has a capacity to convert one tonne of vegitable
waste daily.
Project process
Anaerobic digestion converts the waste into biogas and manure by biomethanation. The waste having a carbon and nitrogen
ratio of 25-30 to 1 undergoes unaerobic digestion through a period of 30 days. Methane gas is supplied as a fuel replacing
LPG to the restaurants in the market yard area.

The biogas plant is a floating dome type with hydraulic retaintion time of 30 days . Two 4.5 m diameter plants having a capacity
of half a tonne are used. The material is washed into 4000 lit capacity tank to separate the heavy things like metals etc.
1 KW electrically operated shreder is used to shred the material to 3 mm partical size. It is transfered to a tank and mixed with
water to a proportion 1: 2 to form a slurry.
The digested slurry is fed into the leaching pits for drying . Three leaching pits of diameter 3 meters and a depth of 0.6 meters
are employed.
The plant produces 80 cu m of biogas and and 50 kg of manure daily.

The flow chart for the project

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Collection Point
Vegeable waste is braught to the site
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Seperation Tank
Vegeable waste is put into tank to remove metal and heavy substances
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Blender
Vegeable waste is put into blender for reducing size
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Slurry Tank
Blended material is formed into slurry
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Digestion chamber
Slurry is braught into digestion chamber for anaerobic digestion. Methane gas generated in the process is dileverd for direct
use as fuel
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Leach Pits
Digeted slurry flows into the pits where water percolates and evaporates leaving behind organic manure.
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Problems of biomethanation from vegeable waste
Acording to Dr. Mapuskar the ligniments in the plant body do not get degraded easily and form a fluf which is as thick as 12
inches at a time . This restricts the gas from rising to the top and and reduces the supply of gas. The scum at the top must be
broken occasionally.
There is a problem of silting due to silt getting inside the plant alongwith vegeable waste. The plant needs to be opened for
maintainance. Hence the plant is made into two separate digesters. The plant needs manual servicing for desilting and removal
of sludge. Hence it was not advisable to add Human excreta in such plants.
Biomethanation of household wet solid waste as suggested by Shri Karve of ARTI, Pune
Shri Karve has argued that the Methane producing bacteria are present in all dark locations and act on biodegradables in
nature to produce Methane. Human and Animal intestine is one such place where these bacteria reside. Hence human and
animal excreta is not the only source of methane. On the contrary all Sugar, starch and cellulose can be broken down by
bacteria to produce methane.
Mr Karve has developed a model of biogas based on table waste and kitchen waste. It consists of two interlocking drums of
plastic. The lower drum acts as digester and the upper drum works as collector of gas. The sludge formed in this process can
be taken out. The digested and stabilized sludge does not smell foul hence can be removed easily. It is riich in bacteria and can
be used as manuer.
He has suggested that the waste be ground in a grinder and then only it should be fed into the digester.

Solid wastes from hotels and restaurents.

It is now mandetory for hotels and restaurents to have a self finaced system of garbage collection at the city level. The hotels
produce veriety of solid waste and it must be collected by an agency appointed by hotel managements at the city level.
Hotel Orchid, a 5 star hotel claims to have reduced its problem of garbage by following methods.
Each room is provided with a bin for recyclable material.
Garbage bags are made out of milk pouches.
Bins for supply of laundry, paper etc are of reusable cane baskets.
Many such design strategies can be adopted for reducing garbage.

Solid waste from restaurents

Survey on biodegradable waste generated by class a and class B restaurants
Restaurants in Grade A and Grade B were surveyed and following data was obtained
Resturants in the marketplaces were grade B restaurants . These served Items of snacks , had fast food counters and served
lunch and dinner also.
The pattern of the customers was as described by the owners of the resturents . The morning sessions generally does brisk
business from 8.30 to 10.AM. Afternoon session begins at 12 noon and did brisk business from 12.30 to 2.30 PM. The post
lunch session starts at about 3.30 and does brisk business between 4.00 to 7.30 PM and the Dinner session did
business till 9.00 in the night. The restriction on the number of customers served was due to seating capacity.
The relationship between the seating capacity and the solid waste generation was checked and following data was revealed
as given in appendix no.

Name of Seating Number of Solid waste

Resaurant Capacity sessions in Liters {Kg}
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D 52 4 70 { 39.2 }
P 64 4 100 {56)
G 40 2 25 {14}
G2 80 4 125 {70}
S 40 4 60 {33}
Considering the nature of the solid waste generated the weight of the solid waste generatedcan be around 0 .75 to 1 Kg
per seating capacity of the restaurant. ( at 560 kg per 1000 liters)
8.6.2. Restaurents frequented by Tourist, travellers
The restaurents frequently visited by travellers and tourists , do not show much of a change in the above pattern as the
restaurents visited by the travellers and tourists.Apart from kitchen wastes, these restaurent counters sell cans of softdrinks
and bottles of various drinks. These are generally caried away by the customers. The bottles generall get reused and the cans
generally are thrown away by the customers according to the owner of restaurent at Subraya
8.6.4 Fast food Joints and solid wastes thereof
Generally any fast food thela will generate a solid waste of about 20 litres in a session. This mainly consists of papers and
plates. Generally most of the Thela owners do most of the peeling and cutting at home. Sometimes the thela owners do the
cutting and peeling on the thela itself. The average solid waste is about 40 liters for a session of 6 hours.
8.6.6 Collection of waste at vegetable market
The standerd for waste collection in the Market place are not available. Four marketplaces were surveyed . The number of
vendors in various marketplaces is available with the revenue collection officer. Each vendor in the marketplace has to pay a
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revenue for a space allocated to him. The space allocated by the market is 1.2 meters X1.5 meters. It was observed that the
area actually occupied is much more , many atimes 6'X6'( 1.8 mX1.8 m)
Onr Municipal Engineer in charge of garbage collection agreed that the garbage collection at one of the Muinicipal mandai was
excessively higher because the of a large number of fruit vendors nearby. The collection at the Kapilteerth market was also
higher due to the number of wholesalers neerby. The rate of garbage was 4 kg / vendor.
8.1.2 Supreme court recomendations - the terms of referance.
The supreme Court of India appointed acommittee to look into the problem of solid waste management. The recomendations of
Inerim report submitted by the committee set up by Supreme court of India.
The Study mentions in the preface that " The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India entertained the Writ Petition No 888 of 1996 and
after several hearings, felt it appropriate to constitute a committee and specify the aspects which the committee should
examine.
Following are the terms of referance as recomended by the Supreme court to the committee.
"Examine the existing practices and and suggest hygenic processing and wast disposal practices.
1.Examine and suggest ways to improve conditions in the formal and informal sector for promoting eco frriendly sorting ,
collection transportation , disposal, recycling and reuse.
2.Examine and suggest ways to improve conditions in the formal and informal sector for promoting eco friendly sorting,
collection , transportation, disposqal recycling and reuse.
3.To revioew Municipal bye laws and powers of local bodies and Municipal Authorities and suggest modifications to ensure
effective budgeting, financing, administration, monitoring and compliance.
4.Examine and formulate standerds and regulations for management of urban solid waste, and set time frames within which
the authorities shall be bound to implement the same. (Interim report)
The commiittee came up with an interim report on the various aspects referred to it and submitted it on 30 June 98.
Use of paper-Use of packaging paper to rise
Given the current stress on liberalisation and industrial growth and changing life-style, consumption levels are going to rise in
the future. At present the annual per capita consumption of paper in India is 3.6 kg, which is much lower than 45,6 kg of world
average. The consumption is expected to rise to 5.0 kg. By year 2000 and 6 kg by 2005. It is evident from the table that the
share of packaging paper has been rising over the years and that of writing and printing has been falling. Cultural paper is used
for writing and printing for direct consumption. About 6 to 10 % of household waste consists of paper and ends up on landfill.
Small percentage gets recycled as not soiled by other wastes.
Speciality paper is the least of Indian Markets

Paper : % of total consumption

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Cultural Packaging Speciality
60 37 3
56 41 3
49 47 3
46 50 4
45 50 5

( TERI report)
8.2.4 Use of plastics on rise.
The annual per capita consumption in plastics (in kg ) also has been rising.
Figures for some of the years since 1950 to 1997 show consistant growth from 0.02, 0.64, 0.71, 1.00, 1.06,
1.42, 1.62

( TERI report “Looking Back to think ahead- Green India 2047 -Tata Energy Research Institute report on 50 years of Indian
Independence”)