Waste management by waste reduction

Waste management by waste reduction

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  Title: Waste managementby waste reduction at source. Introduction: Just in the last few years, the amount of waste generated in cities, where data is available for scrutiny has shown that there has been a sizable rise in solid waste – 40,000 tonnes of solid waste in urban areas per year. This phenomenon can be said to have arisen due to change in lifestyle of the people living in cities and change in consumption pattern. More and more people are on the move from villages to cities to look for work. Even as cities spill over and split their sides, burgeoning in numbers of people living in their area, the local Municipal Corporation has had to buck up its boots to meet the growing heap of waste. The main source of Municipal waste can be catagorised as follows: * House hold waste * Commercials: * Street sweeping * Hotels and restaurants * Clinics and dispensaries * Construction and demolition * Horticulture * Sludge Composition of Municipal Solid Waste in India By definition of the Ministry of Environment - "municipal solid waste" includes commercial and residential wastes generated in a municipal or notified areas in either solid or semi-solid form excluding industrial hazardous wastes but including treated bio-medical wastes” - (http://www.moef.nic.in/legis/hsm/mswmhr.html ) In India the biodegradable portion dominates the bulk of Municipal Solid Waste. Generally the biodegradable portion is mainly due to food and yard waste
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  Source: National Solidwaste association of India With rising urbanization and change in lifestyle and food habits, the amount of municipal solid waste has been increasing rapidly and its composition changing. There are different categories of waste generated, each take their own time to degenerate (as illustrated in the table below).
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  Source: National Solidwaste association of India From the above data it is evident that it is the biodegradable part of waste which has increased the most. Let us take a look at a city like Chennai with 2002 census as 50,00,000 Total MSW generation (MT/day) Garbage 3200 of which Quantity of domestic MSW (MT/day) is 2516 where biodegradable content consists of 49%, Paper (%) 6.45 Rags 4.50 Plastic (%) 2.50 Leathers and rubbers 1.45 Glass inerts (%) 37.50 Metal (%) 0.04 Others (%)1.40 (Source: National Solid waste association of India) In 2000 Central Pollution Control Board concluded that with a population of 41.34 ( Census
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  2001) the wastegeneration in Chennai at that time was (kg/c/day) 47 where waste generated was 2594 (MT/day) when total waste generated in the country was 100,000 MT (years 2000) – Source: ( http://www.cpcb.nic.in/wast/municipalwast/Waste_generation_Composition.pdf ) Taking Chennai as an example, it is clear that most of the garbage is generated from homes and therefore it is also probable that the waste generated while being biodegradable, may be due to life style changes and food habit changes. Therefore, the ideal mix and match of waste reduction would be to control/reduce waste at source, which in this case means the home. The problem on hand seems easy, but it is not so. Consumption patterns in urban homes with working adults relying heavily on packed and ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch or dinner, causes waste in terms of paper and packaging material. In homes, where this is somewhat regulated, waste still forms part of garbage, because people waste cooked food and they throw peals and seeds in vegetables, fruits, because they are not any more aware of what can be done with these. Neither is the tradition of old recipes alive in homes any more. So for both lack of time and knowledge, throwing things seems to be the pattern in homes now. If this is to be taken as a challenge, then it is necessary to find ways to reduce waste at source. What they do abroad: The European Union's approach to waste management is based on three principles: Waste prevention: This is a key factor in any waste management strategy. If we can reduce the amount of waste generated in the first place and reduce its hazardousness by reducing the presence of dangerous substances in products, then disposing of it will automatically become simpler. Waste prevention is closely linked with improving manufacturing methods and influencing consumers to demand greener products and less packaging. Recycling and reuse: If waste cannot be prevented, as many of the materials as possible should be recovered, preferably by recycling. The European Commission has defined several specific 'waste streams' for priority attention, the aim being to reduce their overall environmental impact. This includes packaging waste, end-of-life vehicles, batteries, electrical and electronic waste. EU directives now require Member States to introduce legislation on waste collection, reuse, recycling and disposal of these waste streams. Several EU countries are already managing to recycle over 50% of packaging waste. Improving final disposal and monitoring: Where possible, waste that cannot be recycled or reused should be safely incinerated, with landfill only used as a last resort. Both these methods need close monitoring because of their potential for causing severe environmental damage. The EU has recently approved a directive setting strict guidelines for landfill management. It bans certain types of waste, such as used tyres, and sets targets for reducing quantities of biodegradable rubbish. Another recent directive lays down tough limits on emission levels from
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  incinerators. The Unionalso wants to reduce emissions of dioxins and acid gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxides (SO2), and hydrogen chlorides (HCL), which can be harmful to human health. (Source: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/index.htm) In India, some of the technologies available for MSW treatment are: o Composting o Vermin-composting o Refused Derived Fuel (RDF) for utilizing in power generation o Bio-methanation o Landfill as a bio-reactor A number of NGOs have been working in the area of waste management, through a process of waste utilization. For example: Plastic waste is now used to make bags and foot mats. Cut human hair has been sold to wig makers. Paper is recycled. Food waste is composted. However, these all are indicative of managing waste creatively, after it is already created. The real leap frog would be to actually reduce waste, at source, meaning reduce waste in the very process of crops and vegetables growth, thereby, reducing waste afterwards. Meanwhile in Karjat Janwani, an NGO in Maharashtra is working on a concept wherein the need for dumping ground itself can be done away with. It is an administrative model supported by value chain analysis to convert it into a commercially sustainable venture. We are talking about a ‘zero garbage ward’;wherein the ward definition chosen is that of an electoral ward - the smallest administrative unit in the ULB (Urban local bodies).Their model works on taking a ward in Karjat and going from house to house to educate on segregation of waste at house level, into wet and dry waste. This waste is then picked up by rag pickers from house to house, while wet waste is disposed by using biogas plant, composting pits at the ward level itself. This method frog leaps the present method used across, where waste, both dry and wet are collected at one and the same time and then segregated. This method also supports gainful employment of rag pickers, who otherwise have no dignity for labour. (Source: Nimal katrak Dekhan: http://www.janwani.org/images/environment/zero%20garbage %20_concept%20note_janwani.pdf) At a more deeper level waste must be managed from point of production itself. Thus, to speak of Zero-waste, one cannot overlook the contribution of plantation without waste – More than 30 years after it was published, farmer sage Masanobu Fukuoka’s cult book One-Straw Revolution, continues to inspire Indians who implement it in their own farms. These farmers do not plough or till the land. They do not use fertilizers but rather, turn to the waste generated in their farm, to fertilize their fields. Picture this: https://picasaweb.google.com/rajuktitus/UntitledAlbum#5520055805115685074 In his article “Waste to energy generation, the requirement of today”, EPC World, page 118-9, expert and Chairman of Organic Recycling Systems Pvt. Ltd, provides another solution by
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  advocating Reduce-Recycle-Reduce dynamics.He goes on to say that if in the case of 40,000 million solid waste generated in urban areas per year, 1500 MW of power could be generated from this waste with another 1000 MW of industrial waste too, it is worth using waste-to-energy projects to handle our energy deficit in India. The advantages of waste-to-energy projects he sites as: (a) Quantity of waste is reduced by nearly 60 – 90% depending upon waste composition and technology adopted to convert waste to energy. (b) Land filling requires less land (c) If the waste is generated in urban areas and land fill is also there, cost of transportation of waste is reduced (d) There is net reduction in environmental pollution In the process of biomethanation, cited above, the organic waste undergoes bio-degradation producing methane rich biogas which can be used for domestic and industrial purposes and in steam turbines to generate motive power or electricity. The sludge from anacrobic digestion, viz, the process by which organic waste is converted to biogas, has multiple uses thereafter. (a) It can be used as soil conditioner (b) Sold as manure The advantages of this process are: (a) It produces energy/power and compost (b) Emission to atmosphere is ZERO (c) Land requirement is less (d) Produces good quality compost free of metals and pathogens (e) There is no fear of soil/groundwater/downstream pollution (f) Net reduction in environmental pollution is much higher compared to other technologies