Solid Waste Management in Tamilnadu - an Overview

Transcription

1 IJBMEIT: Vol. 4, No. 1, January-June 2012: Solid Waste Management in Tamilnadu - an Overview S. SHAMIM BANU1 AND S. KANAGASABAI 2 1 Research Department of Economics, Thiagarajar College, Madurai-09 2 Research Department of Economics, Thiagarajar College, Madurai INTRODUCTION Solid waste can be classified in to different types, depending on their sources, such as household waste is generally classified as municipal waste; industrial waste as hazardous waste, and bio medical waste as infections waste. The term solid waste means any garbage, refuse, or sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plan or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid liquid, semi solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations. The term disposal means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid wastes, hazard wastes, or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted in to the air or discharged in to any waters, including ground waters, from community activities. Solid waste generation is predominantly an industrial and urban problem, which has increased over the years due to changing life styles and increasing consumerism, resulting from rapid urbanization and economic growth. There is a need to set up adequate waste collection, processing, and disposal facilities to cope with the rising levels, of waste generation to protect human health and the environment. The scope of the research paper is to examine the waste generation and collection process performed by Municipalities and Municipal corporations of Tamilnadu. SOLID WASTE AND ITS IMPACT Solid waste disposal sites are found on the outskirts of the urban areas, turning into the child sources of contamination due to the incubation and proliferation of flies, mosquitoes, and rodents, that in turn, are disease transmitters that, affect population s health. Which has its organic defenses in a formative and creative state? The said situation produces gastrointestinal, dermatological, respiratory, genetic, and several other kind of infection diseases. Consequently dumping site have a very high economic and social cost in the public health services, and have not yet been estimated by governments, industries and families. The group at risk from the un scientific disposal of solid waste include- the population in area where there is no proper waste disposal method, especially the pre- school children; waste workers; and workers in facilities producing toxic, and infectious material. Other high-risk groups include the population living close to a waste dump and those whose water supply has become contaminated, either due to waste dumping or leakage from landfill sites. Uncollected solid waste also increases risk of injury and infection. WASTE PARADIGM Human have always produced trash and have always disposed of it in some way, so solid waste management is not a new issue. What has charged are the types and amounts of waste produced, methods of disposal, and the human values and perceptions of what should be done with it. In the past, refuse was typically discarded in the most convenient manner possible with little regard to its effects on human health or the environment. Before modern notions of hygiene developed, city streets were typically open sewers that bred diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Even until the middle of the twentieth century, household trash was commonly disposed and burned in open dumps that were neighborhood eyesores, emitted offensives odors, and attracted rats, and other vermin. Chemical wastes were often haphazardly stored in on-site industrial piles or treatment ponds. Particularly noxious waste might be buried, but few controls existed to keep the toxic substances in them from seeping in to nearby surface water or contaminating ground water. MANAGEMENT OF SOLID WASTE Solid waste composed of both durable and non-durable goods. All these waste materials are collected by urban

2 92 / S. Shamim Banu and S. Kanagasabai local bodies of Tamilnadu. The process of solid waste management by ULB s in Tamilnadu is presented in table 1. Table 1 Solid Waste Collection Scenario in the ULBs (in Percentages) Waste Collection Process Street Sweeping Segregation at source Nil 67 Door to Door collection Nil 28 Manual Handling Transportation of waste in closed container Processing of waste Nil 10 Scientific Disposal Nil 2 It is inferred from above table that the collection of solid waste by ULB s indicates a progressive trend. The comparison between 2000 and 2010 reflects that the process of street sweeping becomes a popular mode to collect solid waste. It is also to note that the segregation process was not done during the year of The segregation process of source itself is done by ULB's at the rate of 67 per cent during It is witnessed that the door to door waste collection slowly gets momentum in It is noteworthy to mention that the manual handling of solid waste process have come down from 100 per cent to 86 per cent. This indicates the high rate of awareness prevalence among people at large is found in the state. Another welcoming feature of solid waste management are that, most of the waste are carried through e closed container which abate the spread of unhygienic condition in the society. Current Scenario of Solid Waste Management in selected Municipalities Among the seven municipalities in the state of Tamilnadu, the process of waste collection and waste generation scenario s are reflected in table 2. Table 2 Present Scenario of SWM in ULBs (2010) (Municipalities-Region wise)\ SI No. Region No. of Population Waste genera- In Waste Collec- In PCSWG* Mpties (in Lakhs) tion (MT) (a) percent ted (MT) percent (b) 1. Salem Thirupur Chengalpattu Vellore Thanjavur Madurai Thirunelveli Total *PCSWG- Per Capita Solid Waste Generation Per Year. Table 2 exhibits that MT was produced by Seven Municipalities of the Tamilnadu State during Out of MT about per cent of wastes are collected by Municipalities. Among the seven Municipalities the waste collection was mostly effective with Madurai district Municipalities, which account for per cent followed by Salem Municipalities, which account for and per cent respectively. It is therefore the seven municipal corporations are doing very week in terms of solid waste collection process in the year 2010

3 Solid Waste Management in Tamilnadu - An Overview/ 93 Vehicles Sl No. Region No. of Mpties Primary Secondary Disposal & Transportation activities 1 Salem Thirupur Chengalpattu Vellore Thanjavur Madurai Thirunalveli Total There are primary vehicles and 1527 secondary and Transportations were used by seven municipalities for waste collection. Only 48 vehicles are employed for disposal activities of solid waste.among the seven Municipalities cited in the table per capita solid waste generation found to be highest with Chengalpattu region followed by Thiruppur, Salem and Thanjavoor region. They account for , , and kgms per year respectively. The per capita solid waste generation is lowest with Thirunelveli region which account for kgms per year. Solid Waste Management in Municipal Corporations Table 3 details the information of solid waste generation and collection process among Nine Municipal Corporations of Tamilnadu State. Table 3 Present Scenario of SWM in ULBs (Municipal Corporations) Vehicles SI No. Corporation Population Waste gene- Waste Colle- In Percent Primary Secondary Disposal (in Lakhs) ration (MT) cted (MT) & transportation activities 1. Coimbatore Madurai Tirchy Salem Tirunelveli Tirpur Erode Vellore Thoothukkudi Total It is inferred that a total of lakhs people generating 2750 MT of waste during Out of 2750 MT of waste, 2643 MT of waste was properly collected by the corporations. An average of per cent of solid waste was collected in Tamilnadu during Among the Nine Corporations the solid waste collection was done at Cent per cent by Madurai and Erode Corporations. The Tirunelveli Corporation found to be the local body which collects solid waste of per cent, which is lowest compared to other corporations. There are vehicles employed to collect waste from the regions of nine corporations. Only 425 transports are detailed for solid waste collection during It is to hint that 17 vehicles are employed for disposal of solid waste in all the corporations.

4 94 / S. Shamim Banu and S. Kanagasabai Recycling Materials currently recycled in substantial quantities include office paper, magazines, plastic, soft drink, bottles and milk jugs, glass containers, corrugated, cardboard boxes construction and demolition debris, wood aluminum and other nonferrous metals and iron and steel. Leaves, grass clipping, branches and animal waste are composted on a large scale. Integrated Waste Management Today, most communities use integrated waste management to deal with their solid waste. An integrated waste management system tries to accommodate the waste management needs of a city or origin through a specific mix of available waste management options. Ideally, because waste management is the third- highest cost of local governments, each waste item should be matched to the waste disposal method that costs the least and provides the greatest benefit. The method these criteria vary from community to community, but of the Municipal solid waste stream in the United States approximately, 56.9 per cent is land filled, 27 per cent is recycled, and 16.1 per cent incinerated. An Integrated waste management system combines two or more of the following processes. Source of reduction, Reuse, Recycling, Composting, Incineration, Landfill burial. Source Reduction Probably the most important component of any effective integrated waste management system is a strategy for reducing the amount of refuse entering the waste stream in the first place. Source reduction includes any action that reduces the volume of toxicity of solid waste prior to recycling or disposal. Reuse It is easy to fall into the pattern of believing that never is always better. Unfortunately many perfectly good products are routed into the waste stream every day to make way for new products. Even some heavily used items might still have value- they just need to be repaired or refurbished. Composting Composting is the controlled biological process to turning organic waste in to soil conditioner. In nature, organic matter such as wood, paper, animal waste, and plant materials is decomposed by bacteria. Exposure to the elements releases nutrients that can be used by other organisms. Incineration In addition to recycling and composting, some resources can be recovered from the Municipal Solid Waste stream through incineration. One of the purposes of incineration is to increase the useful life of available landfills and minimize odor and sanitation problems. Suggestions To ensure clean and healthy environment. It is necessary to create and sustain the following relating to Waste Management 1. Communities can promote awareness of source reduction by encouraging individuals to reduce waste at home. 2. Local government agencies, business, and civic groups can educate people through programs that suggest simple source reduction tasks that everyone can take part in 3. An Action Plan is needed to integrated plannerspolicy makers- people to move in to tue same direction of waste management and waste Abating. 4. Continue to promote waste prevention and reduction by conducting educational workshops, by developing and making available technical assistance to municipalities and businesses requesting guidance, and by providing financial assistance for municipal waste reduction projects. 5. Continue efforts to promote user-based disposal (pay per bag) programmes to reduce the amount of municipal waste collected for disposal. 6. Continue to provide and improve public education and outreach using multi-media approach of

5 Solid Waste Management in Tamilnadu - An Overview/ 95 educational events, publications and a revised and updated computer website. 7. Provide technical support to assist the development of sound municipal recycling programmes through enhanced local solid waste management planning. CONCLUSION Waste is a form of wealth. This would be possible through the combined effort of Government - Policy makers - People. The resources are used for production purpose only. When the production purpose is completed, we would receive not only production but also pollution. Therefore it is necessary to create civic consciousness about the conversion of waste in to wealth. This conversion process should end up with the process of making manures, generating electricity like. References CPCB (1999). Status of Solid Waste Generation Collection, Treatment and Disposal in Metro Cities. Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi. Luis F. Diaz, Geroge. M., Savage and Linda Eggerth (1997). Managing Solid Waste in Develop in Countries, Journal of Waste Management, Oct 1997, pp Jyothi P. Patti (2009). Urban Solid Waste Management: A Micro Study, Southern Economist, 48(12) Oct 15. Dhussa A.K and Tiwari R.C (2000). Waste to Energy in India, Bio Energy News, 4(1). Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 1998, U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Management of Solid Waste in Indian Cities, Draft Report for the 12th Finance Commission of India, Government of India. National Environment Policy (2006). Ministry of Environmental Forests, Government of India. Solid Waste Management Manual (2000). Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO), Government of India