ARTICLE IN PRESS

Habitat International 32 (2008) 58–73

www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint

Urban solid waste management in Kanpur: Opportunities

and perspectives
Hina Zia, V. Devadas
Department of Architecture & Planning, Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee, District Haridwar, Roorkee 247 667, India

Abstract

Indian cities are often characterized by poorly rendered services including waste management—the most ignored of all
basic services, on account of various reasons. The situation worsens with increasing population pressure in urban centers.
Kanpur is one such metropolitan city of North India, having an inefficient, outdated and unscientific waste management
system. This paper attempts to assess the existing state of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in Kanpur city
with the aim of identifying the main obstacles to its efficiency and the prospects for improvisation of the solid waste
management system in the city. The existing solid waste management system in the city is found to be highly inefficient.
Primary and secondary collection, transportation and open dumping are the only activities practiced that too in a non-
technical manner. This paper systematically assesses the obstacles in the existing solid waste management system in
Kanpur city and also tries to assess the potentials for its improvisation.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Waste management system; Obstacles; Potentials

Introduction

India has, in the past two decades, become a potential economic world leader and is experiencing a steady
economic growth. This increased growth has led to increasing consumerism, especially in the urban sector.
This is fast leading to depletion of natural resources and poses a significant challenge to the country’s
sustainable and ecological development.
Indian cities generate an estimated 0.115 million metric tonnes of waste per day and 42 million metric tonnes
annually (3iNetwork, 2006). The per capita waste generation ranges between 0.2 and 0.6 kg per day in the
Indian cities that is lower than that in developed countries. However, lifestyle changes due to economic growth
and fast rates of urbanization have resulted in per capita waste generation increasing by about 1.3% per year.
The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) has estimated that waste generation will exceed 260 million tones per
year by the year 2047—more than five times the present level (3iNetwork, 2006).
It is observed that bigger the size of the city (population and density wise), greater is the quantity of waste
generated. This is the phenomenon observed world over and India is no exception to this. Cities with

Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9412021124.

E-mail address: hinazia@rediffmail.com (H. Zia).

0197-3975/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2007.08.001
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H. Zia, V. Devadas / Habitat International 32 (2008) 58–73 59

Table 1
Waste generation in urban centers in India

Type of cities Tonnes/day Percent of total garbage

1. The 7 mega cities 21,100 18.4

2. The 28 metro cities 19,643 17.1
3. The 388 class 1 cities 42,635 37.1
Total 83,378 72.5
4. Other 3955 urban centers (population less than 100,000) 20,125 17.5

Source: MOUD Report (2005).

1960-1990 1990-present
Reduce
Reduce
Reuse
Reuse
Recycle Recycle

Biological/thermal treatment Biological/thermal treatment

Landfill
Landfill

Fig. 1. Change in strategy over the years in Waste Management hierarchy.

population more than 0.1 million generate a major portion of this generated waste (Table 1). They contribute
72.5% of the waste generated in the country against the other 3955 urban centers producing only 17.5% of the
total waste.
The current practice of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in all urban centers of the country is
biased towards achieving 100% collection and its subsequent disposal, with partial or no treatment/
processing. Thus, open cycle for waste management is being adopted unlike the waste management techniques
present in nature (closed cycles). To achieve the objective of sustainable development, there is therefore, an
urgent need to shift the paradigm from open cycle to closed cycle of waste management to achieve the
following: (i) to reduce the fast depletion of natural resources, (ii) reduce the environmental stress caused by
various elements of solid waste management (SWM), (iii) to promote public health and avoid economic losses
due to poor health on account of pollution caused by various SWM practices.
Integrated solid waste management (ISWM) is the most widely accepted and practiced concept for the
management of solid wastes. It has been defined as ‘‘the selection and application of suitable techniques,
technologies and management programs to achieve specific waste management objectives and goals’’
(Tchobanoglous, Theisen, & Vigil, 1993). The goals being—to achieve environmental and health regulations,
economic reliability and social acceptability. Developing and implementing an ISWM plan is essentially a
local activity that involves the selection of proper mix of alternatives and technologies to meet the changing
local waste management needs, while meeting the legislative mandates. ISWM implies that decisions on waste
handling should take into account economic, environmental, social and institutional dimensions. The
integrative aspect lies in the trade-off between these four dimensions and can take place at various levels
(Lardinios & Van de Klundert, 1997).
The Waste Hierarchy is a key element of ISWM and is widely applied in industrialized countries. It is based
on environmental principles and shown in Fig. 1. This hierarchy is an open system and faces a lot of criticism
in the order that has been given to follow. Recently, it has given way to a closed-loop concept called ‘‘Zero
waste’’ started at Canberra, Australia, and aims to eliminate rather than ‘‘manage’’ waste; it is a whole system
approach that aims for a massive change in the way materials flow through society—resulting in NO WASTE
and is both an end of pipe solution, which encourages waste diversion through recycling and resource
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60 H. Zia, V. Devadas / Habitat International 32 (2008) 58–73

recovery, and a guiding design philosophy for eliminating waste at source and at all points down the supply
chain (ACT Government, 1996).
Developed countries like US, Japan and Western Europe have attempted to manage the solid wastes
generated in a more comprehensive manner unlike most of the developing nations. A remarkable change is
observed in strategies adopted by these countries over the years as presented in Fig. 1.
However, India has yet to adopt the integrated waste management hierarchy. Although, the recently
introduced Manual on Municipal Waste Management and Handling Rules, 2000, by the Government of
India, recommend this hierarchy, it is still under implementation stages and the targeted results are a distant
dream.
A number of models have been developed to achieve the best combinations of waste facilities for an optimal
SWM system. Earlier models focused on economic optimization functions (Lawver, Lund, & Tchobanoglous,
1990). This gradually gave way to inclusion of environmental costs in 1990s after the UN Conference on
Environment and Development in 1992. Chang, Shoemaker, and Schuler (1996) and Daskalopoulos, Badr, &
Probert (1998) combined economic and environmental costs to design an efficient SWM system. Attempts
were also made to deal with the micro-level issues like optimal siting for minimum cost for transfer stations
and incinerators, siting for landfills, etc.
Tsiliyannis (1999) discussed the main environmental problems related to MSWM, and in particular those
concerning pollutant releases. Chang and Wang (1997) proposed a fuzzy goal programming approach for
optimal planning of SWM systems, in which they consider four objectives: economic costs, noise control, air
pollution control, and traffic congestion limitations. Another possible approach is based on life-cycle
assessment which is a tool that can provide the data needed for choosing the best combination from an
environmental standpoint (Finnveden, 1996). However, life-cycle assessment does not predict actual impact,
assess risk, safety, or whether a threshold may be exceeded by choosing an option (Bagchi, 2004).
Planning for SWM system is a very complex task, because it is necessary to simultaneously consider
conflicting objectives; in addition, such problems are generally characterized by an intrinsic uncertainty as
regards the estimates of costs and environmental impacts. Such reasons have led several authors to introduce
and apply multi-criteria decision techniques. Such techniques facilitate in choosing the best alternative
solution by assessing numerous criteria (Hokkanen & Salminem, 1997). Many approaches are available for
solving environmental problem with multiple criteria, including the Analytic Hierarchy Process (Haastrup
et al., 1998) and outranking methods (Roy, 1991).
Systems approach has also been attempted at by few authors dealing with one or few aspects of MSWM
(Dyson & Chang, 2005; Karavezyris, Timpe, & Marzi, 2002; Karen, 2004). Sudhir, Srinivasan, and
Muraleedharan, 1997, attempted to develop a generic model to study the potential and systemic consequences
of various structural and policy alternatives for a sustainable urban SWM system in Chennai city by
employing system dynamics model. It has been observed that despite the development of various models, there
is no suitable model applicable to Indian conditions and which takes all the stakeholders of waste management
in a holistic and integrated manner.
In this paper, Kanpur’s urban SWM is introduced in detail with regard to the city’s solid waste
characteristics, management, collection system, treatment processes and the disposal methods. The major
problems pertaining to SWM faced in the city have also been analyzed. An attempt is further made to explain
the future challenges and opportunities for improving the SWM system in the city.

Methodology

At the outset, extensive literature study has been done on the available and employed methods for SWM.
Subsequently, information about policy, legislation and general information on waste management was
collected from various government reports and Kanpur Municipal Corporation. Information about waste
quantities and characteristics were collected from the Corporation, based on a survey conducted by the
I.I.T-Kanpur. Field studies were conducted by the Authors to understand the various issues regarding
collection, transportation and disposal of municipal waste.
Survey research method is employed to collect data at the household level. The city is sub-divided into six
zones for administrative purpose. All the six zones have their own special features. These six sub-divisions
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H. Zia, V. Devadas / Habitat International 32 (2008) 58–73 61

Kanpur Urban Agglomeration

Municipal Corporation Area Special area

Zones
(6)

Wards
(15) (18) (18) (16) (25) (18) (110)

Selected
Wards
(5) (8) (6) (5) (6) (4) (34)

Selected
Households
(45) (70) (45) (35) (50) (55) (300)

Fig. 2. Flowchart showing the selected households of random sample survey.

together have 110 wards. An attempt was made to select households from selected wards from all six zones.
Purposive sampling technique has been employed for the selection of 34 wards. Wardwise list of households
were obtained from the Municipal Corporation and simple random sampling technique was employed for the
selection of 300 households from the selected wards. The city is also served by the informal waste-recycling
sector. The methodology employed is presented in Fig. 2. Further, an attempt is also made to understand the
price differentials of different kinds of waste and the average income of various segments of this sector. The
Authors conducted a random sample survey of 20 waste pickers/dump pickers, 5 itinerant waste buyers
(kabaries), 3 jogies, 7 retailers, 2 bone collectors/merchants and 3 wholesalers. A total of 40 respondents were
interviewed. Random sampling technique has been employed to select the respondents to conduct the survey
from each of the segment in the absence of any database as to their number or whereabouts. No house-listing
study has been conducted so far pertaining to this segment of households in different parts of the city. Further,
no record has been maintained in the Corporation or any other institution about the number of households,
their locations and other socio-economic features of their living. Therefore, the authors could not arrive at the
percentage of samples, which have been used for conducting surveys in this particular sector.

Generation and characteristics of urban solid waste

Waste generation is the first element of waste management. It is a prerequisite to any waste management
plan to have adequate knowledge of the generators of waste, its physical and chemical characteristics. The
major generators and types of waste generated in the study area are given in Table 2.
To analyze the physical and chemical composition of wastes in Kanpur city, wastes generated from different
sources, such as, different income-groups, commercial waste, waste from industries, waste from vegetable
markets, collection depots and disposal site have been considered and presented in Tables 3 and 4.
These tables illustrate that there are wide variations in characteristics of waste samples from various
sources. It has also been observed that the average density of municipal wastes in the city is 873 kg/m3 based
on the 10 samples collected from various generation points (Kanpur Nagar Nigam report, 1999). This average
density is very high compared to that in other Indian cities of comparable size whose average waste density is
425 kg/m3 (MOUDPA, 2000). The possible reasons of this wide variation in density of wastes might be due to
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62 H. Zia, V. Devadas / Habitat International 32 (2008) 58–73

Table 2
Generators of waste and types of waste

Sl. Sources Types of waste

no.

1. Households and institutions Mostly organic with some plastics, glass, metals, inert materials and hazardous waste like
batteries, paint, etc.
2. Schools Mostly papers
3. Vegetable/fruit markets, Mostly organic
restaurants, etc.
4. Commercial centers Mostly paper and plastics
5. Healthcare facilities Infectious and non-infectious waste
6. Industries Leather wastes, spent chemicals, metals, plastics, glass, etc.
7. Slaughterhouses Bones, blood, intestines, carcasses, etc.
8. Animal husbandry and diaries Dung and used straw, kanaa (used to feed pigs)
9. Wastewater treatment plants Chromium-rich toxic wastes

Table 3
Physical analysis of Kanpur city refuse (dry weight by percent)

Sl. Item Mixed Door-to- Resi MIG LIG Veg. Comm. Indus. Collection Disp.
no. door HIG HIG market area area depot site

Sample 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Biodegradable 34.9 58.6 60.0 38.7 29.3 34.9 29.3 58.6 60.0 38.7
2. Paper 3.7 5.1 5.8 4.8 0.6 3.7 0.6 5.1 5.8 4.8
3. Plastics 6.2 5.4 5.9 5.1 4.2 6.2 4.2 5.4 5.9 5.1
4. Rubber and 2.7 2.5 2.9 2.1 1.00 2.7 1.00 2.5 2.9 2.1
leather
5. Rags 5.1 7.6 5.6 4.0 2.3 5.1 2.3 7.6 5.6 4.0
6. Metal — — — 0.01 — — — — — 0.01
7. Ceramic — — — 0.01 — — — — — 0.01
8. Inert and fine 38.8 17.1 16.3 37.2 51.5 38.8 51.5 17.1 16.3 37.2
Earth
9. Fine organic 8.5 3.8 3.6 8.2 11.3 8.5 11.3 3.8 3.6 8.2

Source: Kanpur Nagar Nigam (1999).

Table 4
Chemical analysis of Kanpur city refuse

Sample Item Unit Mixed Door-to- Resi MIG LIG Veg. Comm. Indus. Collection Disp.
number door HIG HIG market market area depot site

1. pH Dimensionless 3.00 7.5 7.4 7.8 8.5 6.9 7.7 8.2 7.2 6.8
2. C/N Dimensionless 30.7 35.8 34.6 37.2 31.1 37.3 30.9 37.0 34.6 34.9
3. Moisture % 40.5 57.5 60.0 50.0 52.7 64.5 36.5 32.8 37.8 36.8
4. Organic 24.9 51.6 53.0 33.5 21.8 70.5 27.8 12.0 21.8 20.1
matter
5. Organic 13.8 28.7 29.4 18.6 12.1 39.2 15.4 6.7 12.1 11.2
carbon
6. Total 0.5 0.8 0.9 0.5 0.4 1.1 0.5 0.2 0.34 0.3
nitrogen
7. Phosphorus 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.7 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.2
8. Potassium 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.9 0.5 0.4 0.9 0.9 0.9

Source: Kanpur Nagar Nigam (1999).

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Table 5
Change in waste characteristics of Kanpur city

Sample number Item Unit 1988 1999

1. Paper % 1.4 4.00

2. Biodegradable 53.3 44.3
3. Inert (dust, ash, etc.) 25.9 39.2
4. Metals 0.2 0.01
5. Glass 0.4 –
6. Textiles 1.6 4.9
7. Plastics, leather, rubber, etc. 0.67 7.6
8. Other (stones, wood, etc) 18.6 0.1
9. Density kg/m2 500 873

the small sample size, and secondly due to the higher amount of cow dung, wet waste and inert materials in the
rubbish depots at the time of sampling.
There is no database maintained to monitor the changes regularly in waste quantity and characteristics over
the years. The characteristics of municipal solid waste are presented in Table 5, based on investigations done
by NEERI (1996) and Kanpur Municipal Corporation (1999). It clearly shows that over the years, percentage
of plastics, inert materials and paper content has increased while biodegradable part (food waste) has
decreased.

MSWM

There are a number of legislations at National, State and Local level, which govern the management of
municipal solid waste in Kanpur city like the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act of 1959, Hazardous
Wastes (Management and Handling Rules), 1989, Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules,
1998, Municipal Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1999, Manual on municipal solid waste
management, 2000, Plastic and other non-biodegradable garbage—Ordinance of July, 2000. However, even
the latest manuals fail to solve the financial problems of local bodies and the status of MSWM as well as
hazardous and bio-medical waste management continues to be deplorable.
The Municipal Corporation (Kanpur Nagar Nigam (KNN)) is the local body for maintaining sanitary and
hygienic condition (including health and SWM) of Kanpur city. It is headed by the Mayor and a board of 12
corporators. The administrative head of the Corporation is the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (MNA), also called
Municipal Commissioner.
Three departments of KNN are involved in SWM, and are:

1. Health department: Primary collection of waste comes under the purview of health department.
2. City cleansing department: Secondary collection, transportation and disposal of waste come under the
purview of this department.
3. Engineering department: This section deals with the repair and maintenance of vehicles.

These three departments work on their own without any co-ordination among them.
Fig. 3 gives the organogram of KNN with details of the above-mentioned departments.
The formal MSWM in Kanpur city includes mainly primary and secondary collection, transportation and
final disposal of collected waste.

Collection system

Source-separated collection is considered to be one of the key elements to successfully practice integrated
SWM. It means that the generated waste is first classified and stored separately as biodegradable and
recyclables of different types and collected separately for further treatment/reuse/disposal. However, in the
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64 H. Zia, V. Devadas / Habitat International 32 (2008) 58–73

Mayor and Board of Corporators

MNA

Assistant MNA Assistant MNA

Zonal Director City (Chief)Engineer Health Officer Special grade Accounts officer HRD UNA
UNAs City Cleansing Dept. Engineering dept. Health dept. Accounts dept.
(9)

Assistant Director (1)

Secondary Collection Executive engineers Senior Health Officer (1)
& disposal

Veterinary dept.
Depot in charge (4)
Assistant Engineers

Office staff Zonal Health Officers (4)

a.o. Primary Collection SW
Junior Engineers
Drivers
Chief Sanitary Inspectors (5)

Fillers Supervisors & Draftsmen

Sanitary Inspectors

Labourers
Clerks Safai Naiks

Safai Naiks (4)

Sweepers
Peons, Beldars, etc.
Foremen Workshops

Mechanics

Fitters

Hammer men

Carpenters

Cleaners

Fig. 3. Organogram of Kanpur Nagar Nigam (KNN).

study area segregation of waste is absent at generators level and collection level. The collection of generated
waste and its overall management is shown in Fig. 4.

(a) Residential: Households throw the daily waste generated on the roads or nearby containers (collection
depots-reinforced concrete (RC) containers, open depots, etc.) from where it is collected and taken in hand
carts by the municipal sweepers to the secondary storage points or directly transported to the dump site.
Door-to-door collection is not practiced.
(b) Commercial and market waste: Commercial waste is dumped at various collection points or just thrown
away along roadside. Market waste and waste generated by the street-food vendors, which is highly
organic in nature is littered. No charges are levied for collection of market and commercial waste. The
clearance of such waste is the responsibility of the Corporation.
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H. Zia, V. Devadas / Habitat International 32 (2008) 58–73 65

To Consumers through local market

Reuse

Local
Recyclers
Primary Storage IWBs/Kabadiwalas
To other
districts/states

Waste Generation Primary Collection

Transport Disposal Small traders
1. Households - Source separation by
2. Institutions maid-servants - Open dumping at
KNN vehicle Wholesalers
3. Commercial - Housewives, dumpsite
fleet
establishments, - Tricycles - Dumping in Low
markets, etc. - Private sweepers lying areas (on
4. Slaughterhouses - Municipal Sweepers request by citizens
5. Slums or on orders of
6. Treatment plants KDA/KNN
7. Industries - Some illegal
8. Others dumping

Secondary Storage
Dump
- Dhalaos pickers
- Open depots Stray
- Dustbins animals
- Some open burning by
Municipal workers

Rag pickers

Fig. 4. Waste collection and its management in Kanpur.

(c) Bio-medical: The city is littered with hazardous and non-hazardous bio-medical waste together with the
municipal waste. The Municipal Waste Handling Rules though prohibit such dumping, it is however
ignored by all medical facilities. Such waste is collected by private workers to the secondary collection
depots from where it is collected by the municipal collection crew.
(d) Industrial: Hazardous industrial waste though comes in separate category and is not included in municipal
waste. However, it is observed that in the study area industrial units discard their hazardous and non-
hazardous waste along with the municipal waste. Few tanneries and other chemical-based industries dump
their waste at illegal sites using personal vehicles, private contractors or municipal trucks on payment of
certain fee to KNN.
(e) Institutions: These organizations also throw the waste generated in nearby collection depots/storage points
from where it is collected by the municipal crew for further transportation and disposal.
(f) Road clearing and public places: Municipal sweepers collect the road clearing waste in handcarts and waste
from public places to the nearest secondary collection depot for further transportation to disposal site.
(g) Construction waste: The city is littered with huge heaps of construction waste like ballast, sand, bricks, or
other leftover materials, which the owners feel may come in handy sometime. It lies unattended for days
and months together or is lifted by the private contractors on payment basis.

Thus, currently all the waste is collected in a mixed state.

Primary collection

Primary collection of wastes comes under the purview of the Health department of KNN. The city is divided
into six zones for primary waste collection; each zone headed by a Zonal Health Officer. At present, there are
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only four Zonal Health Officers looking after four zones; the remaining two zones being looked after by a
Health Officer and the Senior Health Officer. A Chief Sanitary Inspector is assigned to each of the six zones,
reporting directly to the Health Officer. Each Chief Sanitary Inspector presides over sanitary inspectors, who
in turn are reported to by the Safai Naiks. The Safai Naiks are assigned to a number of wards. The sweepers
are assigned to beats and report to the Safai Naiks. The existing workforce of the Health department (in 2005)
is 4280 people against the sanctioned post of 6100, inclusive of the temporary sweepers, and the total gap in
the workforce is thus 2631.

Waste collection points

Three different types of waste storage facilities are used in Kanpur city. They are: (i) rubbish depots,
(ii) open depots, and (iii) containers.

(i) Rubbish depot: It is an enclosed storage area for wastes with concrete floor and surrounding walls, with
two entrances at the front or side.
(ii) Open depot: It is an open space without any built boundaries and is treated as an official storage point.
(iii) Containers: Four different types of containers with varying capacities are used for waste storage. Open-
type containers with smaller capacity of 0.75 and 1.0 m3 are open at the top. Containers of capacity 6.5
and 8.5 m3 are closed and have filling windows.

As per the Municipal administration, there are 1275 waste collection points provided in the urban limits of the
city, but research study reveals that there are 748 collection points available in the city, which is only 58% of
the quoted figure in the official report of KNN.

Secondary collection

The City Cleansing department of the Municipal Corporation looks after the task of secondary collection
and disposal of wastes. There is no co-ordination between the City Cleansing Department and the Health
Department, which looks after the primary collection. The department is headed by the Director City
Cleansing. It has a total workforce 344 against sanctioned post of 595.
Various types of vehicles are used for secondary collection and disposal of wastes in Kanpur city.
Container-carriers (also called dumper-placers) are used to carry middle and big-size containers (collection
depots) while refuse collectors (skip loaders) are used to empty waste from small containers (0.75 and 1 m3)
while bulldozers and dozers are used at the dumpsites. There are 134 vehicles for secondary collection
including dozers and bulldozers. There are no pre-defined collection routes. The average utilization rate of
vehicles is only 48% (ICDP-2, 2001).

Repair and maintenance

The Workshop or the Engineering department looks after the repair and maintenance of the vehicle fleet.
There are two vehicle workshops at Fazalganj and Chunniganj for maintenance of vehicles used for secondary
collection. The workshops are in poor shape. The department does not have its own finances, which often
results in delays in repairs. Lack of experts is observed due to absence of any fresh appointments. Major
repairs are contracted out to private contractors and only minor repairs are dealt with in the workshops.
Servicing of vehicles is not based on kilometers traveled; rather it is infrequently done on a 3-month basis.
Repair takes long time depending on the clearance of funds for spare parts by the Municipal Commissioner.

Analysis

The following variables have been considered for analysis based on the primary household survey done at
grassroots level and the results are presented as below:
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(a) The satisfaction level of the respondent households with regard to the waste collection service as provided
by the Municipal Corporation illustrates that 78.7% of the surveyed households are not satisfied with the
collection service provided by the government (Table 6). This holds true for all the income-groups as
evident from the table and their dissatisfaction level increases with income.
(b) The type of waste disposal as practiced by the people of Kanpur city is presented in Table 7. The table
illustrates that more than half of the people dispose the waste generated in and around municipal dustbins
(55%), one-third throw directly on street as per their convenience (33.3%), only 2% of the respondents try
to compost the organic part of the waste and 5.3% of the respondents burn it.
(c) An attempt has also been made to find the waste separation and storage tendencies among the respondents
of the study area and the findings are presented in Table 8. The table clearly illustrates that more than
three-fourth of the surveyed households separate only high-quality recyclables like newspaper, magazine,
bottles, etc., to be later resold to the Itinerant Waste Buyers; only 10.7% of the people separate both high
quality and low quality recyclables while 12.3% of the respondents make no attempts to separate the
generated waste.
The study reveals that most of the residents, including well-educated people do not understand the
importance of pre-collection sorting of waste.
(d) The Authors have also attempted to study the willingness of the respondents to pay user-fee for improved
collection services and presented in Table 9. The table illustrates that 86% of the respondents interviewed
show willingness to pay user-fee if door-to-door collection facility is introduced and improved collection of
waste is provided by the Corporation.

Role of informal sector and micro-enterprises

Micro-enterprises are for profit business operations (Carson et al, 1995). Micro- and small enterprises are
defined as ‘‘enterprises with fewer than 20 employees, having small capital and using low-cost technologies’’
(Ahmed & Ali, 2004). Such organizations though common in Latin American countries are not prevalent in

Table 6
Satisfaction with the solid waste collection service of Municipal Corporation

Sl. no. Income-group (Rs. in 000) Yes Percent No Percent Total

1. o50 9 25.7 26 74.3 35

2. 50–100 33 23.7 106 76.3 139
3. 100–150 17 20.2 67 79.8 84
4. 150–200 3 11.1 24 88.9 27
5. 200–250 1 12.5 7 87.5 8
6. 4250 1 14.3 6 85.7 7
Total 64 21.3 236 78.7 300

Table 7
Type of waste disposal

Sl. Income-group Thrown on Percent Municipal Percent Composting Percent Open Percent Any Percent
no. (Rs. in 000) street dustbin burning other

1. o50 16 45.7 13 37.1 0 0.0 3 8.6 3 8.6

2. 50–100 55 39.6 70 50.4 4 2.9 5 3.6 5 3.6
3. 100–150 17 20.2 58 69.1 1 1.2 6 7.1 2 2.4
4. 150–200 10 37.0 12 44.4 1 3.7 1 3.7 3 11.1
5. 200–250 1 12.5 6 75.0 0 0.0 1 12.5 0 0.0
6. 4250 1 14.3 6 85.7 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
Total 100 33.3 165 55.0 6 2.0 16 5.3 13 4.3
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Table 8
Waste separation in surveyed households

Sl. no. Item No. of Households Percentage

1. Only high-quality recyclables (newspapers, magazines, bottles, etc.) 231 77.0

2. Both high quality and low-quality recyclables(wet and dry) 32 10.7
3. No separation attempted (Mixed waste) 37 12.3
Total 300 100.0

Table 9
Willingness to pay if better (solid waste management) services are provided

Sl. no. Income-group Yes Percent No Percent Total

1. o50,000 25 71.4 10 28.6 35

2. 50–1,00,000 118 84.9 21 15.1 139
3. 1,00–1,50,000 75 89.3 9 10.7 84
4. 1,50–2,00,000 25 92.6 2 7.4 27
5. 2,00–2,50,000 8 100.0 0 0.0 8
6. 42,50,000 7 100.0 0 0.0 7
Total 258 86.0 42 14.0 300

Source: Field survey conducted by Authors, 2004.

Indian cities, including Kanpur. The city has another segment of people called ‘informal sector’ engaged in
waste management to some extent. Informal sector implies ‘‘unregistered, unregulated, or casual activities
carried out by individuals and/or family or community enterprises that engage in value-adding activities on a
small-scale with minimal capital input, using local materials and labor-intensive techniques’’ (Haan et al.,
1998). The informal sector engaged in waste recycling mostly refers to those employees who are classified
as ‘‘own account’’ workers, e.g. unpaid family workers and those who collect and treat mostly unregistered
waste material (World Bank, 1995). This sector is primarily engaged in recycling activity in the city.
The segment comprises of waste-pickers, dump-pickers, itinerant waste buyers, jogies, small and big traders,
wholesalers.
Recycling at household level is observed to be a frugal practice in the city. Materials like magazines,
newspaper, bottles, cans, glass, metals, etc. are stored and sold to the itinerant waste buyers, who pay for
the materials by weight. These Itinerant Waste Buyers in turn sell to the small-scale waste traders who in
turn supply the material to big traders and wholesalers. Field study shows the presence of small-scale waste
traders spread all over the city, especially along the highways. Waste-pickers and dump-pickers collect
the recyclables from the various collection points and dump sites (official and unofficial), respectively. Jogies
are a group of people who sell the recyclables with or without some repair for reuse in a place called Parade
ground.
There are no estimates as to the number of people involved in waste-recycling sector in Kanpur city.
Srivastava (2002) estimated the figure at 15,000–20,000. Studies undertaken in cities of similar size put the
estimate that some 10% of the waste is recycled. This amounts to 220 tons per day. A random sample survey
of 40 respondents from the informal sector engaged in waste recycling was done in Kanpur city by the authors
to find out the contribution made by various types of waste in income. It was observed that polythene/carry
bags (thicker ones) brought more income compared to other wastes. The sale price differentials of various
materials show the socio-economic condition of various segments of informal waste-recycling sector. The
study conducted by the Authors in Kanpur city shows a wide range of price differentials for each waste type
among different segments (Table 10). For instance, the sale price of waste paper by waste pickers is Rs. 1 kg
while it is Rs. 4.50 kg for wholesalers. Similarly, plastics and polypacks are sold at Rs. 2.50 and 1.50 kg,
respectively, by waste pickers whereas wholesalers sell the same at Rs. 7.50 and 12 kg, respectively.
Further, Table 11 illustrates that there is a wide variation in income among the various actors of this
informal waste sector. This shows that the wholesalers and retailers/bone collectors enjoy a good monthly
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Table 10
Sale price differentials among various materials, Kanpur (Rs./kg)

Sl. no. Type Waste pickers IWB/kabadi Retailers Wholesalers

1. Waste paper 1.00 3.50 4.00 4.50

2. Plastic (hard) 2.50 5.00 6.00 7.50
3. Polypack 1.50 5.25 8.50 12.00
4. Newspaper 1.00 5.00 5.75 6.25
5. Glass 0.75 1.50 2.00 2.75
6. Iron 4.00 5.50 6.00 8.50

Source: Field survey conducted by Authors, 2004.

Table 11
Average monthly income among various segment

Sl. no. Group Monthly income (Rs.)

1. Waste pickers 1527

2. IWBs (Kabaris) 2046
3. Retailers 4067
4. Wholesalers 10700
5. Jogies 3780
6. Bone collectors/merchant 6037

Source: Field survey conducted by Authors, Kanpur, 2004.

income, whereas the waste pickers and Itinerant Waste Buyers live on subsistence level. It is however, observed
that there is no formal recognition by the government to the services rendered by this sector. Alliance between
the formal and informal waste-recycling sector does not exist in the study area.

Treatment and processing

There is no treatment facility for treatment of municipal solid waste in Kanpur. A compost plant with a
capacity of 200 tons of compost per day was set up in 1979 but the plant closed after half year of operation due
to high presence of inert materials in the waste and lack of technical and management skills. Besides, to make
the composting plant sustainable, there is a need to strictly maintain the quality of compost, which requires
segregation of waste at generation stage and a market demand for the same.
For biomedical wastes, there are three incinerators installed in two different government hospitals, but only
one is operational (of the other two, one has technical problems and one has never been in operation). A private
entrepreneur, Medical Pollution Control Committee established a common incinerator at Bhaunti in 2001, with
a capacity to treat 10 tons in 8 h. However, it is currently running below capacity, i.e., at 500 kg per day.

Disposal

There is no sanitary landfill in Kanpur city. The city does not have even controlled dumps. Waste is simply
dumped at the designated sites (with or without compaction) where no soil cover is used, no visual or
environmental barriers and no provision for leachate checking is available. There are five dumpsites in the city
for the disposal of solid wastes: Panki (16–20 acres), Krishna nagar (40–50 acres), Bingawan, Rooma and
Bhaunti. Of these, Panki and Krishna Nagar dump sites are closed; chromium sludge from treatment plants is
dumped at Rooma; treated bio-medical waste from incinerator is dumped at Bhaunti while municipal waste is
disposed at Bingawan. Besides the above official dump sites, it is observed that the city is full of unofficial
dumpsites. Burning of waste in containers, on roadsides and small dumps is often practised by the residents
and also by the municipal sweepers.
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Problems and perspectives

Problems
1. Pollution caused by existing disposal mechanism: Identification of the site(s) for landfill and dumping is
currently being practiced in Kanpur purely on the basis of easy availability of open spaces, without any
scientific land-suitability considerations at all and pre-/post-site planning. Landfills do not exist and give way
to more dangerous and polluting open dumps. The current practices of open dumping often leads to a number
of problems like air, water and ground pollution, spread of diseases through rodents and other vector carriers,
increased risk of respiratory diseases, increased emission of greenhouse gases, loss of real estate value of
adjacent land, poor esthetics and built environment. All these problems pertaining to open dumping is
observed in the study area.
2. Absence of treatment facility for municipal solid waste: There is no treatment facility for the processing of
collected waste in the study area and earlier attempts to run a centralized composting plant by the government
failed.
3. Inefficient collection system: The existing collection system in Kanpur city suffers from many problems.
Some of them are illustrated as under:

Primary collection:

(a) It is observed that people just throw waste around the bins as the bins are mostly in a dilapidated state.
The problem is compounded by residents’ apathy on their role in waste management. Throwing of waste
on the streets and outside home, shops, etc., is a common practice. Collection points are not conveniently
located.
(b) The surroundings of depots and containers are very dirty as heaps of garbage is seen lying all around them.
(c) The walls and floors of the rubbish depots are mostly damaged or broken, which makes the lifting of waste
by loader difficult. Besides, the depots become inaccessible during monsoons.
(d) The condition of open depots in the city is very poor. It gives a very dirty look even immediately after the
lifting of wastes.
(e) The prescribed working hours for the municipal sweepers is 8 h but due to inadequate supervision, an
average sweeper works only for 4 h. Malpractices in the form of contracting out of jobs by sweepers are
also observed in the city.
(f) Municipal workers, especially sweepers are found to be ill-equipped. Shovels and spades are hardly
available. The handcarts are usually in poor shape due to lack of maintenance. Besides, it is extremely
difficult for women sweepers to handle the handcarts due to its poor design and small capacity.
(g) Rag-pickers who collect recyclables from the secondary storage containers and depots often result in
spreading of waste outside the waste collection points leading to further littering.

Secondary collection and transportation:

(a) Collection of waste as claimed by KNN is 1266 tons per day. Field studies however, done by ICDP in
1999–2000 show that it is only 680 tons per day on an average.
(b) Field studies show that the vehicle utilization rate of the vehicle fleet is very low, resulting in low collection
of wastes. The average utilisation rate of vehicles is abysmally low at 48%.
(c) There is shortage of drivers. Besides, a number of drivers are found to be on leave and their absence
usually remains unreported. This shows poor supervision by the Corporation.
(d) Poor maintenance of vehicles results in frequent breakdown of vehicles. Workshops lack sufficient budget
and hence are not able to do timely repair of the vehicles.
(e) Route planning is not observed. Deployment of vehicles and collection routes to be adopted at each depot
is randomly done.
(f) Only day shifts is practiced in Kanpur city, which often results in road blockages and longer time for waste
collection in busy and congested areas.
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H. Zia, V. Devadas / Habitat International 32 (2008) 58–73 71

(g) Waste transportation in open trucks result in lot of littering.

(h) Fuel allocation is not rational and results in high expenditure on fuel costs. Fuel allocation to the vehicles
is done on a daily basis and in fixed amounts. This often results in mal practices by the drivers who sell the
diesel for extra income.

4. Absence of standby disposal site: The city does not have any standby disposal site. The prime reason for
this is absence of any integrated SWM plan. Even the Master Plans remain silent about this vital issue and no
land is allocated even in the Master Plans for waste disposal and/or treatment.

Recommendations

1. Source-segregation of waste: Source-segregation of the waste under various heads-biodegradable,

recyclables and hazardous should be implemented immediately. To improve awareness among the residents
about the importance of source-segregation, a proper Information Educational Campaign to sensitize the
people through print and multi-media, educational campaigns in schools and colleges, etc., and through
religious leaders, is simultaneously required.
2. Introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR): Introduction of the concept of EPR is
recommended in the study area. It is a concept for products, which extends its impacts beyond the emissions
and effluents generated by the extraction or manufacturing processes to the management of the product once
it is discarded. It works on the logic that the primary responsibility for waste generated during the production
process and after the product is discarded is that of the producer of the product. There are various regulatory,
economic and informative instruments available at policy level, which could be used by the government. It is
specially recommended for the industrial units in the study area because waste generated by such sources often
lands up in municipal dumps illegally in huge quantity.
3. User-charge system as per the income class: Owing to the poor financial status of the Corporation and to make
SWM more economically sustainable, it is required to introduce a user-fee for waste collection and management.
However, the fee must be charged in accordance with the income-groups so that the poor section is not deprived of
the facilities, as most of the people are willing to pay user fee if the waste collection facility is improved.
4. Improving the collection system: There is an immediate requirement to introduce a door-to-door collection
system in the study area and improvise the primary and secondary collection system with or without the
participation of private contractors.
5. Preparation and adoption of an integrated waste management system: There is an urgent need to appoint
SWM expert to look for optimal solutions for an integrated SWM plan of the city. Use of geographic
information system (GIS) facility in the Corporation is recommended for optimal route planning and
networking of collection and transportation of waste. Public participation in the form of community
organizations and NGOs and common people should be sought after while preparation of the strategic
integrated waste management plan. This shall also result in rich dividends in the form of easier
implementation. This requires immediate preparation of a strategic integrated waste management plan in
accordance with the waste quantity, characteristics and the socio-economic and cultural structure of the city.
6. Formation of database on the waste quantity, quality from various sources separately is also
recommended in the study area with regular updating to keep a track on the achievements/obstacles.
7. Participation of all stakeholders including informal waste-recycling sector: Stakeholders in an integrated
SWM include participation of residents, Resident welfare associations (RWAs), Non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), Community-based organizations (CBOs), private contractors/organizations, govern-
ment authorities and the informal waste-recycling sector. Stakeholder’s participation is strongly recommended
for better implementation of various programs and policies and improvement in waste management in a
cost-effective manner.
8. Decentralized treatment plants: Under the existing conditions, composting is the most recommended
method for treatment of organic wastes in the study area. Earlier attempts of centralized composting plants
however failed due to various reasons as discussed earlier. Decentralized composting plants at ward levels
(except the core wards) are, therefore, recommended as they could be better managed and shall be more cost-
effective and sustainable.
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9. Compliance of MSW rules by people and authorities: To achieve better compliance of MSW rules by
people, powers need to be given to the Corporation to levy spot fines on the polluters. Increase in awareness
among the people about the ill-effects of mismanagement of solid waste can also result in better compliance
and cooperation for implementing various programs and is therefore, recommended.

Conclusions

Rapid urbanization and population growth of Kanpur city is bound to bring an increase in the overall waste
generation in the coming years. The existing status of waste management and the littered streets all over the
city clearly speak about the poor environmental health of the city. The city is already a hotbed of various
broncho-respiratory and sanitation-based diseases, which is the consequence of poor waste management to a
large extent. The existing SWM system in the city is totally inefficient. The informal waste-recycling sector,
despite its importance, is ignored by the Local Authority. There is therefore, an urgent need to improvise the
situation to stop further decay and deterioration of the city. The aforesaid policies, if implemented, have the
potential to bring an improvement in the SWM system in the city, which shall lead to healthier life in the city.

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