There are few things certain in life – one is death, second is change and the other is waste.” No one can stop these things to take place in our lives. But with better management we can prepare ourselves. Here we will talk about waste and waste management. Each of us has a right to clean air, water and food. This right can be fulfilled by maintaining a clear and healthy environment. Now for the first question, what is waste? Any material which is not needed by the owner, producer or processor is waste. Generally, waste is defined as at the end of the product life cycle and is disposed of in landfills. Most businesses define waste as “anything that does not create value” . In a common man’s eye anything that is unwanted or not useful is garbage or waste. However scientifically speaking there is no waste as such in the world. Almost all the components of solid waste have some potential if it is converted or treated in a scientific manner.
Population explosion, coupled with improved life style of people, results in increased generation of solid wastes in urban as well as rural areas of the country. In India like all other sectors there is a marked distinction between the solid waste from urban & rural areas. However, due to ever increasing urbanization, fast adoption of ‘use & throw concept’& equally fast communication between urban & rural areas the gap between the two is diminishing. The solid waste from rural areas is more of a biodegradable nature & the same from urban areas contains more non-biodegradable components like plastics & packaging. The repugnant attitude towards solid waste & its management is however, common in both the sectors. Universally ‘making garbage out of sight’ is the commonly followed practice.
In India, the urban local bodies, popularly known as the municipal corporations/councils, are responsible for management of activities related to public health. However, with increasing public and political awareness as well as new possibilities opened by economic growth, solid waste
Importance of Waste Management
Proper waste management is essential for several reasons. Firstly, it helps in the conservation of natural resources. By recycling and reusing waste materials, we can reduce the demand for virgin raw materials, which can help conserve natural resources such as water, timber, and minerals.
Secondly, waste management is necessary for environmental protection. Improper disposal of waste materials can lead to pollution of the air, soil, and water, which can harm wildlife and human health. Waste management techniques such as composting and recycling can help reduce pollution and protect the environment.
Thirdly, waste management can provide economic benefits. Recycling and reusing waste materials can help create jobs and generate income for local communities. Moreover, the production of recycled materials requires less energy than the production of virgin materials, which can help reduce production costs.
Disposal vs. Management
There are common practices to dispose waste from ordinary people. But disposal of waste is becoming a serious and vexing problem for any human habitation all over the world. Disposing solid waste out of sight does not solve the problem but indirectly increases the same manifold and at a certain point it goes beyond the control of everybody. The consequences of this practice such as health hazards, pollution of soil, water, air & food, unpleasant surroundings, loss of precious resources that could be obtained from the solid waste, etc. are well known. That’s why it is essential to focus on proper management of waste all over the world. Waste management has become a subject of concern globally and nationally. The More advanced the human settlements, the more complex the waste management. There is a continuous search for sound solutions for this problem but it is increasingly realized that solutions based on technological advances without human intervention cannot sustain for long and it in turn results in complicating the matters further.
Management of solid waste which generally involves proper segregation and scientific recycling of all the components is in fact the ideal way of dealing with solid waste. Solid waste management (SWM) is a commonly used name and defined as the application of techniques to ensure an orderly execution of the various functions of collection, transport, processing, treatment and disposal of solid waste. It has developed from its early beginnings of mere dumping to a sophisticated range of options including re-use, recycling, incineration with energy recovery, advanced landfill design and engineering and a range of alternative technologies. It aims at an overall waste management system which is the best environmentally, economically sustainable for a particular region and socially acceptable. This not only avoids the above referred consequences but it gives economic or monetary returns in some or the other forms
Challenges in India
Key issues and challenges include lack of collection and segregation at source, scarcity of land, dumping of e-waste, lack of awareness, etc. Simple dumping of mixed waste is the practice followed practically everywhere and especially in the developing countries as they cannot mobilize financial resources for applying expensive technology propounded by the developed countries.
In India, “The new Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules 2000”, which came into effect from January 2004, fail, even to manage waste in a cyclic process. Waste management still is a linear system of collection and disposal, creating health and environmental hazards. Urban India is likely to face a massive waste disposal problem in the coming years. Until now, the problem of waste has been seen as one of cleaning and disposing as rubbish. But a closer look at the current and future scenario reveals that waste needs to be treated holistically, recognizing its natural resource roots as well as health impacts. Waste can be wealth, which has tremendous potential not only for generating livelihoods for the urban poor but can also enrich the earth through composting and recycling rather than spreading pollution as has been the case. Increasing urban migration and a high density of population will make waste management a difficult issue to handle in the near future, if a new paradigm for approaching it is not created.
Suggestions for future improvement
The political will is the first priority. Generally Government bodies and municipalities give priority to present problems which they face but do not think for future problems due to environmental decay. Their view is that, they will solve problems when they will face it but not now. Because doing something for environment does not provide political gains or assure next time seat. Now questions is that how can we change this mentality? We believe there should be a positive approach for a long time planning and implementation. Legislation and its effective enforcement is a key to sustainability for which the framework requires to be established. Efforts to improve waste storage and collection are required. This can be done when each household and locality are provided standard bins that are placed outside for ease of collection. In areas where this is not appropriate, centrally located waste collection points should be established that are shared by a number of households. Wastes need o be increasingly sorted at the source, to separate materials that can be recycled and to educe the amount of wastes requiring collection and disposal. Co-operation is required among communities, the informal sector, the formal waste collectors and the authorities. An effective Solid Waste Management system should aim at minimizing manual handling and 100 % collection & transportation of solid wastes should be achieved.
Waste management is a critical issue that affects the environment and human health. It is essential to manage waste effectively to protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and generate economic benefits. Recycling, composting, landfills, and waste-to-energy are some effective waste management techniques that can be used to manage waste effectively. By adopting these techniques, we can create a cleaner and healthier environment for future generations.
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