CONCLUSION: Plastic Waste Management has assumed great significance in view of the urbanisation activities.

Plastic waste generated by the polymer manufacturers at the production, extrusion, quality control & lab. Testing etc., stages, as well as, by the consumers require urgent disposal and recycling to avoid health hazards. Various strategies are being devised to mitigate the impact of plastic waste in India.

Delhi lags way behind in waste dispos al http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/07/stories/2007030718420400.htm Booming economy brings toxic hi-tech waste http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=155801 India indifferent to e-waste contamination http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/19/stories/2007021901050900.htm After Vista, a deluge of E-waste to developing countries, Greenpeace warns http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/en/press/releases/after-vista-a-deluge-of-e-was Waste Not Asia meet calls for ban on hazardous technologies http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/145077/1/1893 Asia Near East (ANE) Computer Recycling and Disposal (E-Waste) Preliminary Research Paper http://www.dot-comalliance.org/resourceptrdb/uploads/partnerfile/upload/258/Ewaste%20Research %20Final.doc UN warning on e-waste 'mountain' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6187358.stm Hazardous e-waste entering India as charity: experts http://onlypunjab.com/fullstory2k7-insight-e+waste-status-10-newsID-197.html Environmental Health Perspective of E- waste in India http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rtongia/ICT4SD_Full_Book.pdf Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: The 3Rs in South Asia http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rtongia/ICT4SD_Full_Book.pdf Knowledge Partnerships in e-Waste Recycling

http://www.ewaste.ch/services/downloads/presentations/E-Waste_Brochure.pdf E- Waste in South Asia http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rtongia/ICT4SD_Full_Book.pdf E-Waste in India http://cyberlawindia.blogspot.com/2006/08/e-waste-in-india.html Waste-to-energy or waste-to-pollution? http://infochangeindia.org/agenda5_14.jsp#top The e-waste problem http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20051121/management01.shtml E-Waste Policy for India http://www.assocham.org/events/recent/event_64/E_Waste_Recommendations.doc E-Waste in India - System failure imminent take action NOW! http://www.noharm.org/details.cfm?type=document&id=1175 Waste Disposal Methods - Advantages and Disadvantages http://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/disposal.html Consortium for information on Plastic http://www.envis-icpe.com/resourceconservation.html Myths and realities about plastic http://www.envis-icpe.com/mythsnrealities.html World Environment Day : Workshop on Managing Hazardous Wastes June 5, 2001 http://www.cleantechindia.com/eicnew/world.htm Eco-Echoes: An environmental Journal by Indian Centre for Plastic in Environment http://www.icpenviro.org/magazines.asp# Building Capacity for comprehensive medical waste management in Asia http://www.awma.org/em/pdfs/2002/10/urbanenvironment.pdf Hospital waste: Treatment Technologies http://www.cpcb.delhi.nic.in/mar98iv.htm Hospital waste: Draft Bio-Medical (Handling and Management Rules) http://www.cpcb.delhi.nic.in/mar98iv.htm Rethinking waste management in India http://www.indiatogether.org/2004/apr/env-rethink.htm Waste Management News http://sdnp.delhi.nic.in/resources/wastemgt/waste-frame.html Solid waste Management in India: status and future directions http://www.teriin.org/envis/times6-1.pdf Urban Waste And Rural Farmers: Enabling Low-Cost Organic Waste Reuse In Developing Countries http://www.cityfarmer.org/UrbanRuralWaste.html Analyzing plastic waste management in India: case study of polybags and PET bottles http://www.iiiee.lu.se/Publication.nsf/$webAll/7502CC39F791FAA6C1256BE90031BE75 or http://www.iiiee.lu.se/Publication.nsf/ $webAll/7502CC39F791FAA6C1256BE90031BE75/$FILE/Priya-Narayan.pdf Performance of a local council in solid waste management: A study of Supervision and Control of Human Resources http://www.serd.ait.ac.th/ump/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20OP025.pdf Sewage becomes the solution not the Problem

http://www.undp.org/dpa/choices/18june99/ The Future Municipal Solid Waste Treatment Technologies http://www.apec-vc.or.jp/072298/072298c.htm Urban Waste Management http://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/waste.html Changing consumption patterns in Human Settlements : Waste Management http://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/fact-waste.html Waste Disposal Methods : Advantages and Disadvantages http://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/disposal.html Community and Private Sector involvement in municipal solid waste management in developing countries http://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/swm-finge1.html Sustainable Solid Waste Management in developing countries http://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/swm-fogawa1.htm Gender and Urban Waste Management

Rethinking waste management

While holistic solutions are available, municipalities have struggled to implement them without proper planning and support from various ministries. Sanjay K Gupta reports.

April 2004 - There is no Indian policy document which examines waste as part of a cycle of production-consumptionrecovery or perceives waste through a prism of overall sustainability. In fact, interventions have been fragmented and are often contradictory. 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, recognising 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. Developing countries such as India are undergoing a massive migration of their population from rural to urban centres. New consumption patterns and social linkages are emerging. India will have more than 40 per cent, i.e. over 400 million people, clustered in cities over the next thirty years (UN, 1995). Modern urban living brings on the problem of waste, which increases in quantity, and changes in composition with each passing day. There is, however, an inadequate understanding of the problem, both of infrastructure requirements as well as its social dimensions. Urban planners, municipal agencies, environmental regulators, labour groups, citizens groups and non-governmental organisations need to develop a variety of responses which are rooted in local dynamics, rather than borrow noncontextual solutions from elsewhere. There have been a variety of policy responses to the problem of urban solid waste in India, especially over the past few years, yet sustainable solutions either of organic or inorganic waste remain untapped and unattended. All policy documents as well as legislation dealing with urban solid waste mention or acknowledge recycling as one of the ways of diverting waste, but they do so in a piece-meal manner and do not address the framework needed to enable this to happen. Critical issues

such as industry responsibility, a critical paradigm to enable sustainable recycling and to catalyse waste reduction through, say better packing, have not been touched upon. Any new paradigm should include a cradle-to-grave approach with responsibility being shared by many stakeholders, including product manufacturers, consumers and communities, the recycling industry, trade, municipalities and the urban poor. What is our waste? Consumption, linked to per capita income, has a strong relationship with waste generation. As per capita income rises, more savings are spent on goods and services, especially when the transition is from a low income to a middleincome level. Urbanisation not only concentrates waste, but also raises generation rates since rural consumers consume less than urban ones. India will probably see a rise in waste generation from less than 40,000 metric tonnes per year to over 125,000 metric tonnes by the year 2030 (Srishti, 2000). Technologies, which can process organic wastes have to be a mainstay to any solution. The Supreme Court appointed the Burman Committee (1999), which rightly recommended that composting should be carried out in each municipality. Composting is probably the easiest and most appropriate technology to deal with a majority of our waste, given its organic nature. However, new and expensive technologies are being pushed to deal with our urban waste problem, ignoring their environmental and social implications. It is particularly true in the case of thermal treatment of waste using technologies such as gasification, incineration, pyrolysis or pellatisation. Indian waste content does not provide enough fuel value (caloric value) for profitable energy production (and is unlikely to do so soon). It needs the addition of auxiliary fuel or energy. Such technologies put communities to risk and are opposed widely. For example, the United States has not been able to install a new incinerator for the past five years, while costs for burning garbage have escalated astronomically with rising environmental standards in Europe. While the more developed countries are doing away with incinerators For developing countries, recycling of because of high costs (due to higher standards of emission control), waste is the most economically viable developing countries have become potential markets for dumping option available both in terms of such technologies. Incinerators routinely emit dioxins, furans and employment generation for the urban polychlorinated by-phenyls (PCB), which are deadly toxins, casing poor with no skills and investment. cancer and endocrine system damage. Other conventional toxins Pyrolysis - Risky, but favoured such as mercury, heavy metals are also released. Pollution control costs for incinerators can exceed over 50 per cent of their already astronomical cost, and an incinerator for 2,000 metric tonnes of waste per day can cost over 500 million US dollars. Ironically, the better the air control works, the more pollutants are transferred to land and water, through scrubbers and filters and the problem of safe landfill disposal of the ash remains. Again, such measures go against the requirements of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules 2000, which asks for source segregation of waste for cleaner composting and recycling. The lessons of incinerating Indian urban waste do not seem to have been learnt, despite a disastrous experience with a Dutch-funded incinerator in Delhi. It ran for just one week in 1984, since the calorific value of the fuel was less than half of that the incinerator needed. Policy responses At the national policy level, the ministry of environment and forests has recently legislated the Municipal Waste Management and Handling Rules 2000. This law details the practices to be followed by the various municipalities for managing urban waste. However, the response has been segmented and far from satisfactory. First, it does not address mechanisms which will be needed for promoting recycling, or waste minimisation. Secondly, there is no provision for any public participation, despite the fact that the Rules have been an outcome of public pressure and the immense work done by non-government organisations and community groups in this area. Other recent policy documents include the Ministry of Urban Affairs Shukla Committees Report (January 2000) the Supreme Court appointed Burman Committees Report (March 1999), and the Report of the National Plastic Waste Management Task Force (August 1997). But the present rules and regulations are inadequate both in terms of assessing environmental impact of waste and its economic and social implications. For developing countries, recycling of waste is the most economically viable

option available both in terms of employment generation for the urban poor with no skills and investment. Indirectly this also preserves the natural resources going down the drains. Some local governments have taken initiatives to burn waste through incineration or gasification for insignificant electricity generation at astronomical cost and with dangerous environmental impacts, and which will take away the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of the urban poor. Urban poverty, informal recycling sector and livelihood questions Urban poverty is inextricably linked with waste. In India alone, over a million people find livelihood opportunities in the area of waste; they are engaged in waste collection (popularly known as ragpicking) and recycling through wellorganised systems. A substantial population of urban poor in other developing countries also earn their livelihood through waste. It is important to understand issues of waste in this context. The informal sector dealing with waste is engaged in various types of work like waste picking, sorting, recycling and at the organised level, door-to-door collection, composting and recycling recovery. The municipalities in many developing countries do not do any recycling recovery on their own. Recycling of only some types of materials like plastics, paper and metals is not enough. A recycling research carried out by Srishti revealed that many types of new materials mainly used for packaging are not, or indeed cannot be, recycled in the low-end technology being employed. Besides, there are serious issues of poor occupational safety provisions of the waste pickers as well as workers. This sector faces a severe threat from the new business model approach to managing waste being promoted, without any attempts to integrate existing systems in them. There is an urgent need to build upon existing systems instead of attempting to replace them blindly with models from developed countries. The Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, as well as Agriculture, should develop the market for compost, and if required provide subsidies for compost manure first to provide organic soil nutrients to the farmers and to solve the urban waste problem which continuously is polluting land through uncontrolled dumping. Indias Green Revolution rescued the nation from famines, but left over 11.6 million hectares of low-productivity, nutrient-depleted soils ruined by unbalanced and excessive use of synthetic fertilisers and lack of organic manure or micronutrients. City compost can fill this need and solve both the problems of barren land and organic nutrient shortages, estimated at six million tons a year. Indias 35 largest cities alone can provide 5.7 million tonnes a year of organic manure if their biodegradable waste is composted and returned to the soil. Integrated plant nutrient management, using city compost along with synthetic fertilisers, can generate enormous national savings as well as cleaning urban India. There is scarcely any other national programme which can bring such huge benefits to both urban and rural sectors. Municipal response At another level, the trend in cities in developing countries is to shift the traditional municipal responsibility to private actors without considering the host of existing stakeholders. Also upstream focuses such as making producers responsible for packaging waste are lacking. Excessive reliance is placed on technologies many of which are expensive with high environmental and economic ramifications. For instance, installing an incinerator leaves the question of waste recycling - or toxic environmental impacts - unanswered. Merely replacing one centralised system by another does not change continued livelihood opportunities for those who live off waste such as economically deprived communities in metropolitan cities in particular then 300,000 livelihoods) and 40 per cent of the urban poor have replacement has direct and hidden subsidies, mostly at the expense For instance, waste disposal sifting is often done in poorer other types of contamination.
The Green Revolution left over 11.6 million hectares of low-productivity, nutrient-depleted soils ruined by unbalanced and excessive use of synthetic fertilisers and lack of organic manure or micronutrients. City compost can fill this need and solve both the problems of barren land and organic nutrient shortages. Treating garbage right No wasteful business this!

waste behaviour on its own, or ensure waste-pickers. It also does not ensure that (four metropolitan cities have nearly more cleaner neighbourhoods. Often such of poorer communities and the environment. neighbourhoods, leading to groundwater and

Though community projects are working well and fulfilling the greater objectives of environmental safety and natural resource conservation, they are doing so under great economic and social stress. There is neither the recognition nor support for such work by the different institutions from various stakeholders. Hence there is a need to bring the work

into the larger public space and review the rules and regulations both for enhancing and providing incentive to such community waste management systems. Composting: the environmentally and economically sustainable solution Composting of city wastes is a legal requirement provided under the Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSW) Rules 2000 for all municipal bodies in the country. But neither the central nor the state governments have yet responded to show any kind of preparedness for it, nor have they been able to grasp it as an environmental and social good that requires official support which can generate employment. The MSW Rules 2000 requires that biodegradable wastes shall be processed by composting, vermi-composting, anaerobic digestion or any other appropriate biological processing for the stabilisation of wastes. The specified deadline for setting up of waste processing and disposal facilities was 31 December 2003 or earlier. The production and sale of city compost is not the primary function of city administrations, but it will need to be privatised for optimum efficiency and care. Several entrepreneurs have already entered the field and many compost plants are in place, almost all on public land made available at a nominal cost. These companies are willing to wait for the five to seven years payback on their investment, but are facing tremendous problems of producing compost from unsegregated wastes, and of marketing and distributing their product. The government is indifferent to the problems of these compost producers (i.e. a working capital crunch because of highly seasonal demand) and to farmers needs (i.e., timely, easily accessible availability of affordable compost). The Fertiliser Association of India, the leading lobby group for synthetic fertilisers, is focused on protecting the fertiliser producers massive subsidies (Rs 142,500 million annually) for their chemical fertilisers subsidies from which the farmers do not benefit. This situation is increasingly coming under national debate. Just 12 per cent of this annual subsidy would meet the one-time capital cost of city compost plants in Indias 400 largest cities (which include cities with populations of over 100,000 people) and would be able to produce 5.7 million tonnes a year of organic soil conditioners. Integrated plant nutrient management (IPNM) would also reduce the foreign exchange burden on the Indian exchequer because bulk supplies of phosphorus and potassium must be imported. In addition, the government of India spends Rs 43.19 million on phosphorus and potassium concessions alone. (Phosphorous is used to store and transfer energy within the plant. It is used in forming nucleic acids (DNA, RNA). Potassium remains in tissues in ionic form and is not used in the synthesis of new compounds as are nitrogen and phosphorous. Potassium is mobile in plants and tends to move from older to younger, more active growing tissue.) Emphasising IPNM using city compost, which can be produced all over the country can be a successful strategy if a focused inter-ministerial effort is made. However, in spite of the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture renamed its Department of Fertilisers as the Department of Integrated Nutrient Management a year ago, no policy changes have taken place whatsoever. A proposed Task Force including the agriculture and fertiliser ministries may soon formulate an Action Plan for IPNM. The real economic benefits of compost use, like improved soil quality, water retention, biological activity, micronutrient content and improved pest resistance of crops, are ignored by policy-makers and fertiliser producers. Fertiliser producers do not yet realise that preventing soil depletion and reclaiming degraded soils would in fact increase the size of the market and therefore, also their market share, which is currently threatened by globalisation and world prices that undercut their own. Since most large fertiliser plants are government-owned, another threat is the governments intended policy of closing down loss-making public-sector enterprises and disinvesting from profitable ones. Preliminary surveys on municipalities' preparedness in implementing the MSW Rules 2000 show that the majority of the cities are yet to embark on city-wide implementation of door-to-door collection of waste, source segregation, composting of organics, recycling and creating engineered and safe landfill sites for residual waste disposal. The municipalities were given three years time to make such preparations but most of them have not even woken up. This is the regard given to the apex courts verdict. Whether municipalities will enforce the MSW Rules 2000 and provide cleaner and healthier cities is yet to be seen. For now, the risk remains that MSW Rules will become yet another policy to gather dust due to government apathy. Sanjay K Gupta April 2004

Sanjay K Gupta is an environmental activist and works on issues of waste and sanitation. He currently works with Toxics Link, Delhi, an environmental non-government organisation. This article comes to India Together from Humanscape through Space Share, our content-sharing program for other publishers of public-interest content.

Sources

Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules 2000, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, issues on 25 September 2000 Patel. Almitra H, Using city compost for urban farming in India University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, All-India co-ordinated research project on dryland agriculture, quoted in Down To Earth 15 November 2001.

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NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 23: India's booming economy is producing mountains of toxic electronic waste like discarded computers and televisions, but there are no laws to regulate its disposal, a local environment group said on Friday. Toxics Link said while the Asian giant's economy has been growing at eight per cent annually over the last three years, it has also resulted in the generation of 150,000 tonnes of electronic waste each year.

An eight-month study by the group found that India's bustling financial hub of Mumbai was the biggest source of electronic or e-waste, generating 19,000 tonnes every year. "Being the hub of India's commercial activities, the banks and financial institutions in Mumbai generate huge amounts of e-waste," Ravi Agarwal, Director of Toxics Link, told a news conference. "But like the rest of India, there are no laws for its safe handling and this will lead to serious health and environmental impacts." Agarwal said the government had to regulate the management of e-waste by setting up a central authority to collect all discarded electronic goods and put in place laws to deal with disposal and recycling.

India's economic liberalisation that began in the early 1990s has seen hundreds of banks, financial institutions, electronics industries, information technology firms and call centres setting up operations across the country.

The booming economy has also led to a growing middle class--estimated around 300 million--which has more disposable income and an insatiable appetite for electronic products. "When electronics like televisions, PCs and efrigerators are discarded, it is the informal sector made up of tens of thousands of people who collect it and then break it down and recycle parts of it which can be sold," said Agarwal. "They extract toxic-heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and chromium which are sold for other uses." These metals harm the development of the brain, kidneys and some are carcinogens which enter the food chain through the air, water and soil.
Economy Booming economy brings toxic hi-tech waste REUTERS
Posted online: Friday, February 23, 2007 at 1931 hours IST

India indifferent to e-waste contamination"

Special Correspondent Ministry must pay attention: Greenpeace Hazardous chemicals released during manufacture of semiconductor chips

Study shows evidence of environmental contamination

NEW DELHI: Some of the biggest brands in electronics industries and their suppliers are contaminating rivers and underground wells with a wide range of hazardous chemicals, according to a Greenpeace survey. An analysis of samples taken from industrial estates in China, Mexico, the Philippines and Thailand has revealed the release of hazardous chemicals during the manufacture of printed wiring board (PWB) and semiconductor chips, and the component assembly. The highly toxic polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), widely used as brominated flame-retardants, are used in a wide range of processes.
Explosive consumption

India is witnessing an explosive consumption of electronic goods and equipment, and is on its way to becoming the choice destination for manufacturing. "It is imperative that India pay heed to the alarm bells being sounded on the environmental and human health front. It is time the IT Ministry realised its responsibility to regulate the toxic impact of this industry hand in hand with promoting its growth," said Vinuta Gopal of Greenpeace India. "In fact, even as governments worldwide, including China, recognise that toxic contamination from e-waste is a looming environmental disaster, and enforce a phase-out of toxic chemicals, India does nothing. This inaction on the part of the Government is nothing short of shocking, the IT Ministry and Ministry of Environment and Forests are abdicating their responsibilities," she said. The study, "Cutting-Edge Contamination," was undertaken to highlight the environmental contamination resulting from manufacture of electronic equipment such as computers. Discharged wastewaters and sediments from discharge pipes/channels were analysed near PWB facilities and one component assembly facility. Where possible, treated wastewaters and treatment sludges/sediments from wastewaters and treatment plants were also collected and groundwater samples from many sites analysed. Evidence of environmental contamination by a diverse range of chemicals, many with known uses in this industry, was found in each of the three sectors investigated. These included both chemicals incorporated in the products and chemicals used in manufacturing processes, many with known toxicity to humans and other potential environmental impacts.
Chemicals found

Some chemicals were found in waste streams from more than one sector, including some toxic and environmentally persistent groups such as PBDEs, phthalates used as plasticisers (softeners) in plastics, certain chlorinated solvents and high levels of some heavy metals.

Other chemicals found in waste streams and groundwater samples were specific to each of the manufacturing sectors, for example brominated flame-retardant tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) and photo initiator-related chemicals at PWB manufacturing sites. Flame-retardants are chemicals added to a wide variety of materials, including casings and components of many electronic goods. Two widely used groups of chemicals are PBDEs and TBBPA.

The stench and ugly sight of garbage dumped on the roadside, sometimes overflowing from drains or floating on the surface of rivers, is not at all uncommon in India. It is disgusting, until you get used to it and begin to ignore it. Where Does Your Garbage Go? Indias garbage generation stands at 0.2 to 0.6 kilograms of garbage per head per day. Also, it is a well known fact that land in India is scarce. The garbage collector who comes to your house every morning to empty your dustbins inside his truck, takes all the garbage from your neighborhood and dumps it on an abandoned piece of land. Garbage collectors from all parts of the city meet there to do the same. Such a land is called a landfill. Indias per capita waste generation is so high, that it creates a crisis if the garbage collector doesnt visit a neighborhood for a couple of days. Typically, each household waits for the garbage boy with two or three bags of trash. If he doesnt turn up, the garbage becomes too much to store in the house. The household help or maid of the house will then be instructed to take the bags, walk a few yards away probably towards the end of the lane and dump the bags there. Seeing one household, all the others in the neighborhood immediately follow suit. This land, at the end of the lane, soon becomes the neighborhoods very own garbage dump a convenient place to dump anything if the garbage boy doesnt show up. Of course, when the quantity of the waste becomes too much to bear then diseases are feared, the residents would march up to their colonys welfare association and demand for the waste to be cleaned up at once. The waste will then be picked up from there and dumped in another piece of land this time further away from the colony probably in a landfill. People in India also litter excessively. The sweeper again sends all this garbage to the local dump, from where it finally goes to a landfill.

At the end of the day, it is safe to say that all garbage gets dumped in a certain piece of land (called a landfill). Why is Waste a Problem? As already mentioned, waste disposal in India simply involves rounding up the waste from different parts of the city, and dumping everything in a landfill. Once a landfill is completely occupied, a new landfill is discovered in a different part of the city. The Energy Research Institute estimates that 1400 sq. km. of land would be required by 2047 for municipal waste! Cities those are fortunate enough to have a river passing through them, have an additional dump for all their garbage. The state of the Yamuna River in Delhi is a testimony to this fact. The river practically doesnt flow at all. Expansive white deposits can be seen on their surfaces that prevent the flow. The deposits are nothing but toxic wastes that have reacted with the water. Practically no living creature lives in this section of the river. The landfill method is simply one that creates land pollution (and in some cases, ground water contamination). The waste is not subjected to recycling, composting, or any other form of environmental treatment. Hazardous toxic wastes lie side by side with the organic wastes in the landfill. The waste disposal issue has been given a small budget by the Government. Limited by this, the municipalities are ill-equipped to deal with the massive amounts of waste they collect everyday. Another problem is their inefficiency in collecting the waste. Currently, their efficiency is only about 50 to 80 per cent. The common man living in a populated urban city can tell you that the garbage boy seems to take holidays every now and then. The real problem is that he has collected so much that he cant store any more trash in his truck for the day, which is why he seems to take a holiday and does not come to your house. On the one hand, we can blame the municipality for not having enough resources to collect all the garbage. On the other hand, we ourselves are to blame for generating such huge amounts of garbage. What Can be Done About it? Firstly, it is imperative on the part of municipalities to separate the biodegradable from non-biodegradable waste. Biodegradable wastes can then be subjected to composting, which is a process of converting plant and animal wastes to humus by soil microorganisms. Humus enhances the fertility of soil.

Non-biodegradable wastes then further have to be categorized on the basis of their toxicity. Toxic wastes, when dumped in the land, may eventually contaminate and poison ground water. They have to be stored in tightly sealed underground containers. Wastes like plastic, metal, paper etc can also be subjected to recycling. In some ways, the waste can actually serve as a resource! Of course, all of the above requires a hike in the waste disposal budget. The municipalities need to be taught the technologies described above so that they can deal with the waste effectively. As individuals, we need to realize that we do generate quite a lot of waste we dispose of containers that can be reused and we throw away papers that can be recycled. It is important to reduce our wastage of resources so that we dont pressurize our weak waste disposal system. Harshini Shanker

Too Much Waste

All of us open biscuit or chips packets, eat the contents and casually discard the plastic covers without giving a second thought to where they might go or what might actually happen to them. Once the dustbins in our houses are full, we empty them out onto the

streets or hand them over to men who drive garbage trucks, but where does all of it really go after that? Usually, waste goes to large, empty yards on the outskirts of cities. In Chennai, a lot of the waste gets dumped at the Palikaranai marsh, a fresh water swamp. It is declared as a reserve forest area and is home to many flora and fauna. But the dumping of solid waste and the discharge of sewage are causing the marsh to shrink. Additionally, the people who live around the marsh are also badly affected. The toxic waste is extremely hazardous to their health. Children from these slums are often born with birth defects and the people develop numerous other diseases inhaling these substances throughout their lives. The problem of waste is not only limited to where the waste is finally dumped, but also to the treatment of those made to segregate it. Rag pickers are usually children from a pooreconomic background, and anyone will spot them digging into the street dustbins trying to gather and segregate waste. A lot of these children handle the toxic substances without being given any gloves, and they are therefore highly susceptible to harmful diseases. Rag pickers are also treated badly by the government and the general public, and are hardly paid enough; yet they do such an important job for society. Dumping of waste carelessly obviously impacts the environment and the people in a big way; yet it is quite hard for us to come up with an easy solution as to where it would all go. However, we can try to minimize the amount of waste produced as much as possible. Very simple tasks like carrying cloth bags while going grocery shopping instead of accepting the plastic ones given in stores, or attempting to reuse items like glass bottles or plastic containers instead of discarding them after one-time use can help reduce the amount of waste each individual house produces by quite an amount. Individuals can segregate their own waste in their houses into bio-degradable and non-biodegradable items. Kitchen waste (like vegetable peels) can be combined to form manure, which is very rich for plants. There are solutions for improvement that can be implemented in the whole city as well. For instance, large colour-coded bins can be placed in each area. These bins can be for plastics (recyclable and non- recyclable), organic waste, paper, and so on. The people who collect the waste or the residents themselves can come and discard their waste in the appropriate bins, which makes the rag pickers job much easier. The Chintan model of waste disposal, which has worked out very well in Delhi, can be implemented in a

whole city. It primarily focuses on rag pickers segregating the waste for individual households. The working conditions of the rag pickers are also taken into consideration. Unfortunately, many dont see the importance of this issue. It is easy to be ignorant of what directly does not concern us. But in addition to impacting the environment and the welfare or rag pickers or people who live around these dump yards, waste can also affect us. If water bodies and ground water is polluted, the water that reaches our taps is going to be contaminated. The lifestyle trends of today emphasize more and more on the concept of use and throw and the amount of waste being produced is so much more now than it was many years ago. It is essential for us to stand up and take responsibility for our environment by doing what little we can do at an individual level. Niyantri Ravindran Image Source :[