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There has been a significant increase in MSW
(municipal solid waste) generation in India in
the last few decades. This is largely because of
rapid population growth and economic development
in the country. Solid waste management
has become a major environmental issue in India.
The per capita of MSW generated daily, in
India ranges from about 100 g in small towns to
500 g in large towns. Although, there is no national
level data for MSW generation, collection
and disposal, and increase in solid waste generation,
over the years, can be studied for a few
urban centres. For example, the population of
Mumbai grew from around 8.2 million in 1981
to 12.3 million in 1991, registering a growth of
around 49%. On the other hand, MSW generated
in the city increased from 3 200 tonnes per
day to 5 355 tonnes per day in the same period
registering a growth of around 67% (CPCB
2000). This clearly indicates that the growth in
MSW in our urban centres has outpaced the
population growth in recent years. This trend
can be ascribed to our changing lifestyles, food
habits, and change in living standards. MSW in
cities is collected by respective municipalities
and transported to designated disposal sites,
which are normally low lying areas on the outskirts
of the city. The limited revenues earmarked
for the municipalities make them
ill-equipped to provide for high costs involved in
the collection, storage, treatment, and proper
disposal of MSW. As a result, a substantial part
of the MSW generated remains unattended and
grows in the heaps at poorly maintained collection
centres. The choice of a disposal site also is
more a matter of what is available than what is
suitable. The average collection efficiency for
MSW in Indian cities is about 72.5% and
around 70% of the cities lack adequate waste
transport capacities (TERI 1998). The insanitary
methods adopted for disposal of solid wastes is,
therefore, a serious health concern. The poorly
maintained landfill sites are prone to
groundwater contamination because of leachate
production. Open dumping of garbage facilitates
the breeding for disease vectors such as flies,
mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats, and other pests
(CPCB 2000).
The municipalities in India therefore face the
challenge of reinforcing their available infrastructure
for efficient MSW management and ensuring
the scientific disposal of MSW by generating
enough revenues either from the generators or by
identifying activities that generate resources from
waste management.
This paper discusses various future projections
for estimating the growth of MSW and the
impacts of such growth, and discusses possible
intervention(s) to mitigate such adverse impacts.
The projections have been made under the BAU
(business as usual) scenario for the year 2047
taking 1997 as the base year.
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In India, the amount of waste generated per
capita is estimated to increase at a rate of 1%–
1.33% annually (Shekdar 1999). Figure 1 depicts
the rising quantities of municipal solid
waste from 1997 to 2047 under the BAU scenario
assuming the daily per capita waste generation
in 1995 as 0.456 kg (EPTRI 1995) and the
per capita increase in waste generation as 1.33%.
The calculated value of daily per capita waste
generation in 1997 is 0.468 kg.
From Figure 1 it is evident that the total waste
quantity generated in 2047 would be approximately
above 260 million tonnes—more than five
times the present level. This enormous increase
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in solid waste generation will have significant
impacts in terms of the land required for disposing
this waste as well as on methane emissions.
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The burden that the increase in solid waste generation
would impose is evident from the fact
that the cumulative requirement of land (base
year 1997), for disposal of MSW, would amount
to around 1400 km2 by 2047 (Figure 2).
The estimates under the BAU scenario are
made considering the average collection efficiency
of waste as 72.5%, average depth of
landfill site as 4 m, and average waste density as
0.9 tonne/m3 (NIUA 1989). Diversion of land
for waste disposal would be physically impossible
since areas with the largest concentration of solid
waste would also be the areas with serious scarcity
of vacant land. The implication, therefore,
is that if the current methods of solid waste
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disposal persist, the waste would have to be carried
over long distances, which would require the
creation of a great deal of transport facilities and
infrastructure. This would involve enormous
additional finances.
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Indiscriminate landfilling leads to deterioration
of water quality in neighbourhood areas of
landfill sites due to contamination by leachates
from the landfills. This has adverse health impacts
on people living nearby, causes bad
odours, and the people living nearby live in the
constant fear of explosion of methane gas that
can accumulate at the landfill sites. Landfill gas,
which is 50%–60% methane, contributes significantly
to global warming. It is estimated that in
1997, the landfills released about 7 million
tonnes of methane into the atmosphere, which
would increase to 39 million tonnes by 2047
under BAU scenario (Figure 3). Emissions have
been calculated using Bingemer and Crutzen’s
(1987) approach, which assumes that 50% of the
carbon emissions in the landfills is transformed
into methane.
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In order to have a satisfactory, efficient, and a
sustainable system of solid waste management,
the following aspects need consideration.
_ Targeting waste reduction at source
_ Technological interventions
_ Efforts towards institutional and regulatory
reforms.
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Waste reduction at source can be accomplished
in three ways: (1) fees and tax incentives to

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promote market-mechanisms to effect source
reduction, (2) mandatory standards and regulations,
and (3) education and voluntary compliance
with policies by business and consumers
(Marcin, Durbak, and Ince 1994).
Market actions for waste reduction
By charging for the environmental and economic
costs of production and disposal of waste upfront,
market forces can be employed to improve
the efficiency of waste management. By incorporating
the cost of disposal also in the production
cost, tendency to use less packaging or adoption
of the recyclable/reusable packaging material
would be promoted. At the consumer end also
the tendency to reuse the material would be promoted.
Mandatory standards for waste reduction
Setting mandatory standards could make business
responsible for the waste it generates. For
instance, Germany has implemented a mandatory
recycling programme in which, theoretically,
the seller of consumer goods must take back all
the package waste that is produced. In India the
regulatory agencies should take the lead in setting
up rules prescribing targets for waste reduction
in various manufacturing sectors.
Education and voluntary compliance
The alternative policy consists of a voluntary
programme of consumer education and business
initiatives. One of the tools to achieve this could
be adoption of EMS (Environmental Management
System) which is necessarily a voluntary
initiative. The industries adopting EMS have
achieved economic benefits also while achieving
better environmental performance.
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India has lagged behind in terms of adopting
technologies for solid waste management. In
particular, collection, treatment and disposal of
waste require urgent consideration.
Collection of waste
The preferred option would be to revamp the
existing collection service structure to provide
community with waste bins, conveniently placed
for the people to deposit domestic waste, and
door to door collection of waste. This along with
separation of waste, at source, into biodegradable
and non-biodegradable components would
not only reduce the cost of transportation for
final disposal but also provide segregated organic
waste stock for waste to energy activities.
Treatment and disposal
Proper segregation of waste would lead to better
options and opportunities for its scientific disposal.
Recyclables for example, could be
straightaway transported to recycling units,
which, in turn, would pay the corporations for it,
thereby increasing their income. Finally, the
inert material that will be required to be sent to
landfill would be of much lower quantity compared
to un-segregated waste, consequently increasing
the life of our existing disposal facilities.
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The financial constraints, institutional problems
within the departments, fragile links with other
concerned agencies, lack of suitable staff, and
other allied problems prevent the urban local
bodies from delivering and maintaining an efficient
waste management system. In this context,
it is also necessary to harness and integrate the
role of three other emerging actors in this field—
the private sector, NGO’s, and ragpickers—into
the overall institutional framework.
The private sector is now becoming a key
player in a number of industrialized nations.
Private sector participation can help upgrade
technical and managerial expertise, increase efficiency
in operation and maintenance, improve
customer services, apart from bringing in the
capital to support the government in its efforts at
waste management. There is a strong case for
comprehensively involving the private sector and
encouraging it to invest in waste management in
India. Private entrepreneurs in India are entering
into activities like the collection and transportation
of waste, and lately into treatment processes.
Private companies can, along with
door-to-door collection, take on such tasks as
secondary collection and transportation including
vehicle-maintenance.
Non-governmental organizations can play an
important role in effectively projecting the community’s
problems and highlighting its basic
requirements for urban services. They could help
in organizing the ragpickers into waste-management
associations/groups under the supervision
of the urban local body and the relevant residents’
associations or market associations.
The strategies discussed above show the broad
path that India needs to follow for efficient management
of the solid waste, which is being increasingly
generated in large quantities.
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Bingemer H G and Crutzen P J. 1987
The production of methane from solid wastes
Journal of Geophysical Research 92 (D2): 2181–2187
CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board). 2000
Management of Municipal Solid Waste
Delhi: Central Pollution Control Board.
EPTRI (Environmental Protection Training and Research
Institute). 1995
Status of Solid Waste Disposal in Metropolis
Hyderabad.
Hyderabad: Environmental Protection Training and
Research Institute. 46 pp.
Marcin T C, Durbak I A , and Ince P J. 1994
Source reduction strategies and technological
change affecting demand for pulp and paper in
North America, pp. 146–164
[In : What is determining international competitiveness
in the global pulp and paper industry.
Proceedings of 3rd International symposium:
September 13–14, 1994].
Seattle : Center for International Trade in Forest
Products.
NIUA (National Institute of Urban Affairs). 1989
Upgrading municipal services: norms and financial
implications
New Delhi: National Institute of Urban Affairs. 197 pp.
Pachauri R K and Sridharan P V (eds). 1998
Looking Back to Think Ahead: GREEN India
2047 (Growth with Resource Enhancement of
Environment and Nature)
New Delhi: Tata Energy Research Institute. 346 pp.
Shekdar. 1999
Municipal solid waste management – the Indian
perspective
Journal of Indian Association for Environmental Management,
26 (2): 100–108.