The Ghazipur landfill collapse has highlighted the poor status of waste management in Indian cities.
It demands a scientific approach to the problem, to keep check on any such tragedies in future and to capitalise through waste management.
How is waste management approached in India?
The reality is that except for few Indian cities, most of the cities only 'dump' waste and not 'manage' them as such.
Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 are hardly being followed by the cities.
National records reveal that out of the collected 80% of the generated waste, only a mere 28% is being processed.
Urban local governments leave the task of value extraction to the informal system of garbage collectors and recyclers.
These informal systems are inefficient in recovering resources in discarded materials as they are just dumped.
Moreover, the Swachh Bharat programme, intended to address all these, focuses too narrowly on individual action rather than a collective systematic approach.
Why is waste management so important?
The volumes of wastes generated are estimated to grow in the coming years.
A mere shifting of collected waste from the cities is increasing the pressure on the suburban areas.
Moreover the stench from the landfill is a serious cause of concern for the people living in the colonies adjacent to it.
It is also being the cause for many deadly diseases like tuberculosis, typhoid, dengue, malaria and encephalitis.
Further, the methane gas produced by bio-degradable waste causes fire, and people are forced to inhale the poisonous gases from the smoke emitted.
Additionally the unregulated use of plastics is polluting the rivers, lakes and sea, and is being ingested by cattle feeding on dumped refuse.
All these firmly increase the need for addressing the issues with waste management.
What should be done?
Tonnes of waste generated should necessarily be treated as a potential resource.
Segregating the waste at the source into dry and wet is a prerequisite for adopting a scientific mode of waste disposal.
The wet waste or organic refuse can be used for composting or production of methane for household use or power generation, and the dry waste can be sent for recycling.
Furthermore, the municipal bodies should adopt an integrated system for transporting and very importantly scientifically processing the waste segregated at source.
India should also make some regulations on the use of plastics.
Central Pollution Control Board should undertake periodic assessments of the preparedness of urban local bodies in this regard.
Above all, managing waste also requires a behaviour modification among citizens and institutions.
