On waste management: Zero the way to go

News: Although India’s waste management policy has evolved to suit the changing needs but there are still some gaps.  

Waste must become a resource that can be reworked, reused and upcycled. This will minimise the use of materials in our world and mitigate environmental damage. 

What is the relation b/w the nature of waste with a country’s development status? 

Nature of waste changes as societies get richer and urbanize 

Firstly, instead of biodegradable (wet) waste, households generate more plastic, paper, metal and other non-biodegradable (dry) waste.  

Secondly, the quantity of waste generated on per capita basis also increases. 

How India’s waste management policy has evolved?

Waste management in the 2000s revolved around collecting waste and dumping it outside the cities in landfills. This led to heaps of waste in the outskirts of every major/minor city of the country. 

Current policy initiatives like Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) 2.0 focus on source segregation, processing of and on its minimization. 

Only inert waste, which is not suitable for either dry or wet waste treatment, can be sent to landfill sites. And this should not be more than 20% of the total waste. 

Note: Inert waste is the waste which is neither chemically nor biologically reactive and will not decompose or only very slowly. Example: Sand and concrete. 

Therefore, the premise of the guidelines is that cities must become zero-landfill i.e. they must recover and reprocess all waste.

What should be the focus of future initiatives? 

1) Focus on segregation– Segregation is very essential to ensure that waste sent for incineration and energy generation is of high quality. It also results in optimal working of waste to energy (WtE) plants. 

2) Reclaiming landfill sites -This valuable land can be greened and put to suitable use, which will also help avert environmental disasters. Cities must also stop sending new waste to these landfills, otherwise they will get filled up again even while being remediated. 

3) Detailed strategies to reuse the material which will be biomined from these sites.  

Biomining is the technique of extracting metals from ores and other solid materials typically using prokaryotes, fungi or plants. 

4) The practice of circular economy needs to be followed wherein the focus is on material recovery and reuse. 

Circular economy is “a model of production and consumption, which involves reusing, repairing, and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible”. 

5) Informal processing of waste– Majority of waste processing happens through informal channels such as ragpickers. This should be formalised. 

6) Plastic waste specially packaging waste has grown exponentially. This needs to be properly phased out. Although government has decided to phase put some of single use plastic, but this is not enough. 

Source: This post is based on the article “Zero the way to go” published in Down to earth on 15^th Dec 2021.