Municipal Solid wastes at National level Essay Example for Free

Municipal Solid wastes at National level Essay India is one of the largest countries in the world whose multifaceted socio-economic progress occurred in the last 50 years since its independence in 1947 (Gupta, et. al. , 1998). Indian population is second largest in the world with 856 million in 1991 (Gupta, et. al. , 1998) and 1,027 million in 2001(COI, 2001). The country has an average annual growth rate of 1. 3% (Gupta, et. al. , 1998). The growth of the nation is shown by its rapid industrial and economic growth both in the public and private sectors. This has contributed to the changing of the general lifestyle of its people. Soon enough, they have begun to espouse an urban lifestyle (Jha et. al. , 2007). This drastic change in the lifestyle of the people of India triggered an increase in the production and consumption of all sorts of products. It further spawned additional economic activities – new or innovated products and services – that led to an overall great rise in the volume of wastes generated by the city (Sharholy et. al. , 2007; Jhaet. al. , 2007). Even the packaging of products has undergone an evolution. After all, these are all natural consequences of the city’s growth. Indeed the city has grown both in size and population. The number of territorial divisions has increased from 30 in 1919 to 155. The population has similarly increased from 5 lakhs in 1921 to approximately 42 lakhs. The increase in the city’s area is from 27. 6 sq. miles in 1921 to 174 sq. kms. (COC website) Several studies in the past (Bhoyar, et. al. , 1996; Esakku et. al. , 2007; Rathi, 2006) reveal that the composition of MSW in Indian cities have recorded higher percentages of earth and inert materials (35-52%), varying degradable matter (35-84%) and lowest recyclable material (10-20%) (Jha et. al. , 2007) and there has been a gradual increase in total MSW over the past several years in Chennai (COC, 2004). The increasing amounts of MSW have been causing problems that governmental agencies have been attempting to solve. The extent of the problem, which covers threats to the health and welfare of the people and the environment, just seemed to keep growing and there were no conclusive solutions in sight (Srinivas, 1998). With environmental concerns on top of the government’s agenda, the key area which needs an extensive importance at present is the MSW Management (MSWM). The system of garbage disposal and management poses a great challenge to the municipalities and the magnitude of which is not felt much, involves heavy cost, but derives only less concentration (Bhide and Sundersan, 1983). Chennai in past 20 years has shown increasing growth in population (Table 5; Figure 31), also there is substantialgrowth in industrial sector resulting in increased quantities of waste generated in the last 12 years (Table 1) (COC, 2004). MSW in Chennai, like in most other Indian cities is collected and dumped at open landfills. Ecologists and environmentalists around the world term this improper dumping technique, and argue that such open dumping of garbage poses serious health hazards and also disturbs environment leading to ecological imbalance, habitat modification and deterioration of species (Kansalet. al. , 1998; Sharholy et. , al, 2007). A study by Das et. al. (1998) show that about 90% of the wastes generated is disposed of by way of open dumping in landfills and such practice causes serious environmental and human health hazard. The quality of land, water and air also get deteriorated because of dumping at open landfills. They in turn influence an increase in leacheate percolation of environmental pollutants from garbage into naive environment, polluting the wetland and groundwater of the adjacent areas (Sharholy et. al. , 2007). Chennai Wards and Zones Chennai is divided into wards and several wards are grouped together as zones. There are totally 155 wards (Table 2, Figure 2) and 10 zones namely Tondiarpet (Zone I), Basin Bridge (Zone II), Pulianthope (Zone III), Ayanavaram (Zone IV), Kilpauk (Zone V), Ice House (Zone VI), Nungambakkam (Zone VII), Kodambakkam (Zone VIII), Saidapet (Zone IX), Adyar (Zone X) (Figure 3). Zone V (Kilpauk) is the largest zone with an area of 25. 62 sq. km and a population of 542,132 and Zone VI (Ice House) is the smallest zone with an area of 8. 24 sq. km and a population of 341,805 (Table 3) OK. Why does this matter? How does this relate to your overall question? Should this be in your introduction? MSW in Chennai Chennai is under enormous stress for a controlled MSWM and this is predominantly due to uncontrolled urbanization (Lakshumi et. al. ,2006). MSW handling and disposal in Chennai is jointly performed by Corporation of Chennai and Neel Metal Fanalca Environmental Management Private Limited (Figure 3), private-public participation. This is the second time Corporation of Chennai has joined hands with a private concern to collect and dispose MSW in Chennai (COC, 2004). Expand, why the second? What happened during the first? Earlier CES Onxy, a private MSW collection and disposal industry, handled disposal of solid wastes in three zones (zone VI, zone VIII, and zone X) in Chennai, where they cleared approximately 1000 tons/day of MSW between year 2000 and 2007 (COC, 2004). Onyx charged Rs. 1,212/ton (~$30 USD) of garbage cleared. After the contract period with Onyx, Corporation of Chennai called for fresh bid for tender towards solid waste management for the three zones; Kodambakkam (zone VIII), Adyar (zone X), and Ice House (zone VI). The Corporation has also planned to privatize fourth zone namely Pulianthope (zone III) (The Hindu, 2007). OK Chennai shows high quantities of organic wastes among the MSW collected everyday, primarily vegetable and fruit wastes collected from areas in-and-around the marketplace (Ramakrishnan, 2005) and in most other part of Chennai paper predominates MSW (Jhaet. al. , 2007). But with increasing consumerism, the amount of wastes produced has also been increasing and if this trend continues then the generation of waste would soon outnumber the rapid increasing population. Moreover, as the dumping sites and landfills are also nearly filling up, Corporation of Chennai is on the look for alternate dumpsites and effective MSWM techniques like recycling of wastes (Jha et. al. , 2007). Composition and Sources of MSW Reports from Corporation of Chennai show that organic wastes (food wastes, green wastes, timber) are of greater quantity among the MSW composition than other wastes (Table 4a). Also the main source of MSW waste is generated by the residential (Table 4b) (COC, 2004). Dumping grounds in Chennai Chennai has two open dumping grounds namely Kodungaiyur, which is the north Chennai and Perungudi in South Chennai (Figure 5). 1. Kodungaiyur dumping ground Kodungaiyur dumping ground is located within the city limits (Figure 5, 6 7). It is rectangular and has a total area of 350 acres, where 65 acres is owned by Corporation of Chennai while 285 acres is owned by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB). The soil type is clayey alluvial flatland. The dumpsite came to operational in 1980. The daily waste disposed from zone I-V at this site was 1600 to 1800 tons. The maximum life expectancy of Kodungaiyur dumping ground is until 2010 (COC, 2004; Jha et. al. , 2007) 2. Perungudi dumping ground Perungudi dumpsite is located outside City limits in South Chennai (Figure 5, 8 9). Perungudi dumpsite is also rectangular with a total area of 600 acres owned by CMWSSB. The dumpsite area is a wastewater disposal marshy land made of silty-clay alluvial soil. Perungudi dumpsite came to operational 7 years after Kodungaiyur dumping ground became operational and has a life expectancy until 2010. About 1500 to 1800 tons of garbage from zone VI-X is dumped here (COC, 2004; Jha et. al. , 2007). MSW Collection Chennai Municipality (Figure 11A) and Neel Metal Fanalca (Figure 11B) employ sanitary workers or sweepers who are either permanent staff or daily-paid temporary workers (Figure 10) who sweep and remove solid waste, like paper, plastics, organic debris, construction wastes etc every day. They sweep about every 50 meters of the roadside before they gather solid wastes on the adjacent roadside. Sanitary workers from Corporation of Chennai or private organizations engage in door-to-door domestic collection (Figure 12) of segregated and/or non-segregated solid wastes (both biodegradable/non-biodegradable and recyclable/non-recyclable) from residents, streets, roadsides and arterial roads in rotomould bins (Figure 13) and tricycles (Figure 12). The solid wastes thus collected in wheel barrows or tricycles are carried to the nearest collection point or collection depots (Sharholy et. al. , 2007). The MSW collection process includes either primary collection and/or the secondary collection. Primary collection of segregated and/or non-segregated wastes involves the transportation of wastes from the collection point to the nearest transfer station (Figure 14 15) or NGO-run recycling units through Light Motor Vehicle (LMVs) or compactors and this technique involves manpower completely in the collection process (Sharholy et. al. , 2007). Whereas in the secondary collection process each MSW collection worker is assigned with work schedules and work areas (COC, 2004) who transfer the accumulated garbage from collection points by way of compactors and tippers, and ferried to the disposal site where they are dumped (Sharholy et. al. , 2007). In many parts of Chennai, a small portion of the waste generated everyday lie around the garbage bins without being collected (Figure 28) and the collected portion is taken for disposal. The efficiency of collection of solid waste can be equated to the amount of garbage collected from the streets to the disposal sites divided by the total volume of MSW generated during that period. Studies made reveal that the two main aspects that contribute to MSW collection efficiency are manpower and transportation facilities (Sharholy et. al. , 2008). Segregation REWORD On an average, the city generates around 3,200 tons of garbage and 500 metric tons of building debris daily, of which recyclable and biodegradable waste would be approximately 40-45% and 40-45% of building debris and the rest non-biodegradable MSW (Sharholy et. al. , 2007; COC, 2004). If this 40-45% of recyclable and biodegradable wastes is removed, the life expectancy of the landfill would substantially increase and this is possible only with source segregation. Source segregation of MSW in Chennai has been a quest for Corporation of Chennai (Malarvizhi, 2007). Although they made efforts in few areas, as part of a pilot study, to improve awareness and segregate wastes at source (Figure 16), yet source segregation technique in Chennai is far to reach common public (Malarvizhi, 2007). On the contrary, few NGOs are also participating in source segregation awareness program and actively helping Corporation of Chennai in door-to-door source segregation programs (Malarvizhi, 2007). Some residents segregate their wastes into dry and wet wastes. Few others also dump the organic wastes in small pits where organic waste get decomposed, converted to compost and used as fertilizers (Rathi, 2006). Also to add, rag pickers play an active role in segregation of wastes, where they segregate wastes into paper, plastic, wood and metals before these are sold in recycling market for money (Figure 17) (Rathi, 2006).