Environmental audit of Municipal Solid Waste Management

Abstract

The management of municipal solid waste has become an acute problem due to enhanced economic activities and rapid urbanisation. Increased attention has been given by the government in recent years to handle this problem in a safe and hygienic manner. In this regard, Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) environmental audit has been carried out for Bangalore city through the collection of secondary data from the government agencies, and interviewing stakeholders and field surveys. Field survey was carried out in seven wards (representative samples of the city) to understand the practice and the lacuna. The audit was carried out functional element wise in selected wards to understand the efficacy and shortfalls, if any, of MSWM. 49% of the bins are covered while evaluating storage options. 17.5% of the commercial areas have community bins and 94% of the residential areas have adopted a doorto-door method for the collection of waste. Segregation of wastes in these methods of collection is 3%. There are no transfer stations presently and large-scale trucks have been used in a few wards to carry out the functions of a transfer station. Among the trucks used for the disposal of wastes from wards to disposal sites, 41.43% are polythene covered. Recycling carried out mainly by the informal sector (rag pickers) has high level of efficiency and the recyclables are being retrieved by this sector at all stages starting from collection to disposal of wastes at dump sites. As the major composition of waste is organic, waste treatment options like composting is successful in Bangalore and currently 3.14% waste reduction is achieved through composting. Ultimately, about 60% of the waste is disposed in dump yards and a balance of 21.14% is disposed in open quarry sites.

Design and Development of Portable Domestic Waste Burner

“…Literature Review has been carried out by referring some of the journals related to solid waste management [1] , Incinerator, Thermoelectric Generator and the Filter.…”

GHG footprint of major cities in India

“…Landfill gas, a mix of primarily CO 2 and CH 4 , is emitted as a result of the restricted availability of oxygen during the decomposition of organic fraction of waste in landfills [161]. Attempts have been done to account methane emissions for select landfill sites in India [81,[162][163][164][165]166]. CH 4 emission estimates were found to be about 0.12 Gg in Chennai from municipal solid waste management for the year 2000 which is lower than the value computed using IPCC [30].…”

Social and Environmental Impacts of Waste Management Alternatives in India: A Critical Analysis

“…This amounted to 0.35 kg/person/d. This figure has risen sharply since 2003 when it stood at 1700-2300 t/d (Ramachandra & Bachamanda, 2007). The composition of the solid waste is dominated by household vegetable waste and other organic matter which stand at 30% and 23% respectively.…”