INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 6, No 6, 2016 Copyright by the authors - Licensee IPA- Under Creative Commons license 3.0 Research article ISSN 0976 4402 Status of solid waste generation and management practice in Kolkata municipal corporation, West Bengal Research Scholar, Department of Geography, AMU, Aligarh skajimali.saa@gmail.com doi:10.6088/ijes.6112 ABSTRACT This paper presents a general over view of the current Solid Waste (MSW) management in Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), West Bengal. Solid waste management is one of the most challenging issues in urban cities at present scenario, which are facing a serious pollution problem due to the generation of huge quantities of solid waste. The KMC generates more than 3520 MT solid waste per day. As a group, households are the single largest generators of Municipal waste in Kolkata. On an average maximum solid waste generated from commercial around 36.37% and market area and minimum from institution around 6.32%. It has been projecting that KMC will generate near about 8805 MT solid waste per day in 2035. But on an average has been estimated that approximately only 700 ton of these generated waste are collected and stored in every day. So, there exist a huge gap between waste generation and waste disposal, which create several environmental problems. The main objective of this paper is to discuss on existing situation of current Solid Waste Management (SWM) in KMC. This paper is basically based on secondary sources of data which is collected mainly from manual on Kolkata Municipal Corporation. It was found that the solid waste management in KMC appears to be inadequate and needs to be upgradation. Higher priority needs to be assigned to the management of solid waste by local authority and system approach needs to be adopted for optimizing the entire option of SWM. Orga (2003) stated that Municipal bodies are unable to provide a 100% efficient system and even are not able to reach the efficiency of 60%. This is not because the municipality is not doing their work properly or due to work negligence, but it is due to old conventional working methods which need to be upgraded with modern technologies. Keywords: KMC, Solid waste, waste management practice, sources and quantities, recommended waste management practice 1. Introduction The term solid waste usually relates to all kinds of waste, whether generated during the extraction of raw materials, the processing of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final products, or other human activities, including residential, institutional, commercial, agricultural, and special i.e. health care, household hazardous wastes, sewage sludge. It generates at a rate of 450 500 g per capita per day in developing countries. According to a United Nations Conference on Human Settlement report, one third to one-half of solid waste generated within most cities in low- and middle-income countries Waste disposal and management is intended to reduce adverse effects of waste on health, the environment or aesthetics. Solid waste management has become a considerable issue, in addition other environmental problems, especially for densely populated cities in developing countries. In my study I mainly confine my view on current status of solid waste Received on January 2016 Published on May 2016 1173
management in KMC which is a primitive megacity of West Bengal. This area is situated at the bank of river Ganga. Therefore, augmentation of the solid waste management facilities in term of collection and disposal is the issue of concern. But their operation & maintenance in a sustainable manner by urban local bodies would require huge capital investment, introduction of latest technologies which are cost effective. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in waste management and introduction of appropriate waste management practices are needed in order to prevent urban waste causing environmental pollution and health hazards. 2. Significance Modernization, technical advancement and increase in global population created rising in demand for food and other essential. This has resulted to rise in the amount of waste being generated daily by each household. The problems associated with handling of Solid Waste have increased at an alarming rate over the past few years. The focus of the study is on the current status of solid waste management practices in KMC in order to make suitable recommended sustainable management practices. So that KMC can make plan for unwanted or useless materials generated from combined residential industrial and commercial activities around it. 3. Objectives The key objectives of the present study are 1. To study the present source and quantities of solid waste and their generation around Kolkata Municipal Corporation. 2. To highlight the physical and chemical properties of Municipality refuse. 3. To focus an overview on current waste management practices. 4. To emphasize on Public- Private Partnership (PPP) in waste management by initiating appropriate waste management practice in order to prevent urban waste causing environmental pollution and health hazards. 5. To suggest and make recommended methods in aim of sustainable waste management. 4. Methodology The study has been accomplished mainly through secondary data. The secondary data has been collected from various Government and Non-government sources. Numerous reports of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) have been consulted for the purpose. Apart from these a number of articles from various journals related to the topic have been considered. Lastly, the secondary data has been computed, compiled and represented through cartograms followed by analysis and interpretation. 4.1 Study area (Description of KMC) The State of West Bengal has 20 districts among which the city of Kolkata holds a place of significance both in the field of administration and commercial activities. The city is under the administrative jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has a total area of 205 sq. km (census 2011) with a geographical extension of 22 27'N to 22 39'N latitude and 88 14'E to 88 26'E longitude. The territorial jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has been divided into 15 Boroughs consisting of 141 1174
municipal wards. Spatially the city can be divided into North, East, Central and South Kolkata. The district of Haowra lies to the North-West, North 24 Parganas on the Northern and North-Eastern side and South 24 Parganas on the South-Eastern and South-Western side. The River Hugli flows through Western part of the city. It is 120 km from Bay of Bengal and stands on the eastern Bank of River Hooghly (Figure 1). Table 1: KMC at a glance Area 205 sq km Climate Humid during summer and pleasant in winter Maximum temperature 40 o C Minimum temperature 10 o C Average rainfall 1605 mm Total population 44,96,694 (as per 2011) Population density 24,429 sq km Vehicular population 1.05 million Floating population 60,00,000 per day No. of Borough 15 No. of Wards 141 Solid waste generation and disposal per Day 3520 MT/D (as per 20113-14) Source: KMC, 2011 N INDIA WEST BENGAL KOLKATA KMC WARDS KOLKATA Figure 1: Location Map of the study area. (Maps not to scale) 1175
4.2 Current Waste Generation Status at KMC 4.2.1 Source and quantities of solid waste in KMC Kolkata is one of the three metropolitan cities in India. With an area of 205 sq km and a population of about 4496429, it generates around 3520 MT/D of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) at a rate of about 0.90-1.10 kg per capita per day. Major sources of Municipal Solid Waste in KMC are Residential areas, commercial and market areas, office, institution, street sweeping etc. (table 1) Table 1: Major source of SW Generation. Waste Major sources of SW generation rate (%) Household 34.20 waste Commercial and market waste Street sweeping waste Institutional waste 36.37 22.81 06.62 Source: WBPCB, 2010 Total 100 Household waste Commercial & market waste Street sweeping waste institutional waste Figure 2: Source of waste generation in KMC 1176
Field survey was carried out by KMC in 2010 to assess the municipal waste generation in each of the 15 Borough on the basis of waste collection from various collection points. Borough I to IX is classified as Cluster I and X to XV as Cluster II. KMC generates approximately 1.10 kg/cap/day. The rate of generation varies from borough to borough and ward to ward. In Borough I to IX the average generation of waste was2711 MT/ day in the year 20011 and in Borough X to XV average waste generation from all sources assessed as 809 MT/ day. It is estimated that in 2011total average waste generation was 3520 MT/ day in KMC. Annually sources and quantity of solid waste in different borough of KMC has shown below (table 2). Figure 3: Different sources and their quantity of waste generation Table 2: Quantity of SW in KMC. Source of waste Weight (kg) House 3110091 Market 674450 Play ground 1495 Park 12479 Institution 47461 Office 17512 Shopping mall 31207 Hospital 51321 Bhavan/Complex 82861 Factory 21160 Total 4050037 Source: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (2011) A report from KEIP, Kolkata has estimated the amount of generated waste from various sources during a year from January 2010 to January 2011 has shown below (table 3) 1177
Table: 3. SW Generation in Kolkata during January 2010 to January 2011. Month Waste generated (ton) January 10 107144 February 10 106944 March 10 138238 April 10 135540 May 10 150301 June 10 136890 July 10 142532 August 10 146232 September 10 140984 October 10 148157 November 10 134469 December 10 140453 January 11 153443 Figure 4: Rate of solid waste generation in KMC Source: KEIP & KMC (2011) Forecasting of Municipal Solid Waste Generation (future aspect) The quantity of municipal waste generation will be in metric tons. The future population and waste generation are calculated from the formulation taken 2011 as a base year are shown in (table 4). Table 4: Waste generation projection. SL No. Year population Quantity (MT/ D) 1 1981 9194000 1839 2 1991 11021900 2755 3 2001 13114700 3934 1178
4 2011 14112536 4939 5 2021 16105614.85 6442 6 2031 17870628.33 8042 7 2035 1873775.4 8805 Source: Das and Bhattacharyya (2014) Figure 5: Waste generation projection 4.3 Methodology for calculating 2035 projections Projections for urban municipal solid waste generation in 2035 were made by factoring expected growth in population and estimated per capita waste generation. The population data collected from census of India as per the report of technical group on population projections constituted by the national commission on population to the office of the Registrar general & Census commissioner of India. The population projection is calculated by forecasting method. The population growth in Kolkata from 2011 to 2035 shall have a growth of 33% in 24 years at a rate of 1.4% of annum. This growth rate is considered in the model from 2011 to 2035 to predict the MSW generation. The MSW data collected from various municipalities as per the office records and survey work. It is estimated that the amount of waste generated in Kolkata will increase at a per capita rate of approximately 1.4% annually is considered for estimate of MSW from the year 2011 to 2035. The population versus increase of municipal solid waste generation of year wise from 1981 to 2035 is obtained from forecasting method. 4.4 Physical and chemical characteristics of refuse The variation in both geographic origin and composting technology, the properties of MSW composts generated in various regions are likely to be different. KMC is no exception from this case as it depends on many factors such as the nature of local activities, food habits, cultural tradition, climatic conditions, season and socio-economic factors. Waste composition, moisture content, waste particle size, waste density, temperature and ph are important as these affect the extent and rate of degradation of waste. These are determined on components of solid wastes. The physical and chemical characteristics help in deciding the desired frequency of collection, steps needs to be taken during transportation and methods of disposal. 1179
Variation of physical properties and chemical composition of waste in KMC during 1995 and 2010 are shown in following (table 5 and table 6). It is shows from table 5 that there is an increasing trend in coal consumption and it is due to increase utilization in domestic gas, stove and other equipments. But there is noticed an increasing trend in utilization of biodegradable fraction, and with it paper, plastic, metals and inert materials are increasing day to day. Figure 6: Photo 1: Increasing trends of waste. Figure 7: Photo 2: Physical properties of waste (Mixed waste). Table: 5. MSW Composition in Kolkata. Parameters 1995 2010 Biodegradables 44.29 50.56 Green coconut shells 8.51 4.5 Paper 4.64 6.07 Plastic 3.22 4.88 Metals 0.43 0.19 1180
Note: - Nil, All values are in % by wet weight. 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Glass and crockery 1.72 0.34 Coal 3.10 - Inert 26.82 29.60 Others 7.27 3.83 1995 2010 Source: NEERI (2010) Figure 6: Composition of generated waste Table: 6. Variation of chemical characteristics of MSW in Kolkata. Parameters 1995 2010 Moisture 61.57 46 Ph 6.33 8.07 Loss on ignition 46.78 38.53 Carbon 25.98 22.35 Nitrogen as N 0.88 0.76 Phosphorousas P2O5 0.58 0.77 Potassium as K2O 0.93 0.52 C/N ratio 29.53 31.81 Calorific value kj kg-1 2717 5028 Note: All values are in % by dry weight, except ph, C/N ratio and calorific value. Source: NEERI (2010) It is found from table 6 that only Carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio has in the suitable range for composting. On the other hand Moisture Content (MC) has been increasing in waste and it is 1181
due to admixture of higher proportion of fresh and unprocessed water containing materials like vegetables, fruits and food waste. 4.6 Present waste management practice at KMC All activities and operations in terms of solid waste management in KMC area are performed under four heads. Such as 1. Garbage sweeping 2. Garbage collection 3. Transportation of garbage and 4. Disposal of garbage as waste Major sources and generation of such garbage and waste are discussed above. The expenditure of Kolkata Municipal Corporation for various khat of solid waste management is INR 39416.61 lakhs annually (in 2011), in which more than 70% are expended for waste collection and only 5% are used for final disposal (Table 7). Stage of SWM Table 7: Expenditure in various stage of SWM in Kolkata Expenditure (%) Waste collection 70 75 Waste transportation 18 20 Waste disposal 5-7 Source: KMC (2011) 4.7 Garbage collection procedure Kolkata Municipal Corporation is responsible for collection the waste or garbage from different wards ok KMC, the Municipal authority is collecting this garbage in regular manner from different waste bins. The total number of waste bins in Kolkata is 664 (as per KMC, 2011). Garbage is accumulated in these bins from adjacent area. For garbage collection procedure, 250 persons are engaged. They are engaging in sweeping the roads and collecting the garbage and transferring the waste into the bins. The collection of waste is frequently done those areas where the number of labor or sweepers is more. Currently, different collection methods are being applying in KMC, such as 1. House to house collection, 2. Collection from roadside storage area and 3. Collection from community bins etc. But this collection of waste is not in an adequate way. A large percentage about 19% to 21% remain uncollected either in the place of originates or around the bins. These lead to a number of health hazards or environmental problems. 1182
4.8 Transportation of garbage Collected garbage or waste needs to be transported to specific disposal site. For this purpose, different types of vehicles are used in KMC which starts from small dumper and end into big dumper. For transporting this garbage to disposal sites, tri cycle cart, tractor, hand load and pay loader are involved. The distribution of departmental vehicles in KMC from 1986 to 2011 is given below (table 8) Table 8: Distribution of departmental vehicles in KMC Year No. of Departmental Vehicles D.P (Big) D.P (Small) Hand load Pay loader 1986-1990 0 1 32 0 1991 1995 0 2 31 6 1996 2000 11 6 22 8 2001 2005 31 7 7 13 2006-2011 31 0 0 1 Source: WBPCB (2011) KMC provides daily collection facilities, but overflow bins are the common features throughout the Municipality. The main cause of these problems is frequency of waste collection, location of waste bins and distance from disposal site. 4.9 Disposal of waste Normally the collected waste is transported into the disposal site and disposed it. In KMC the disposal site is DHAPA which is located to eastern metropolitan bypass. The average distance of each Borough from DHAPA is summarized below (table 9). Bulldozers are used at DHAPA disposal site to areal extend and level the waste. Table 9: Average distance from different Borough to DHAPA Borough 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Distance (km) 9 7.5 5 7.5 7 7 3.5 6.5 9.5 7 8 3 10 11.5 13.5 Source: KEIP (2005) 1183
Figure 7: Borough No. and their distance from DHAPA Disposal site. From collection to disposal site, there is no segregation of biodegradable, non- biodegradable, inert and other waste which is not healthy for either environment or inhabitants. As, there is no practice of waste segregation at source, toxic metals like zinc, nickel, lead and arsenic get dumped in DHAPA and leach into the soil. Waste water in the canal around DHAPA shows that concentrations of total dissolved solids, biological oxygen demand and concentrations of zinc and carbon are high. 4.10 Problems Associated with Solid Waste Management in KMC 1. Municipal solid wastes stack up on the roads due to improper disposal system. People clean their own houses and throw mixed waste to their immediate surroundings which affect the community including themselves. 2. Dumping of waste allows biodegradable materials to decompose under uncontrolled and unhygienic conditions. This produces bad odors, breeds, various types of insects and infectious organisms besides spoiling the aesthetics of the site which brings many diseases like malaria, diarrhea, cholera, dengue etc. 3. Industrial solid wastes are sources of toxic metals and hazardous wastes, which may spread on land and can cause changes in physicochemical and biological characteristics thereby affecting productivity of soils. 4. Various types of wastes like cans, pesticides, cleaning solvents, batteries (zinc, lead or mercury), radioactive materials, plastics and e-waste are mixed up with paper, scraps and other non-toxic materials which could be recycled. Burning of some of these materials produces dioxins, furans and polychlorinated biphenyls, which have the potential to cause various types of ailments including cancer. 4.11 Suggestion To overcome such problems and recommend for a Sustainable Managing plan of Solid Waste involves various steps which are summarized below: 1. Segregation of mixed waste at the source. 1184
2. Collection at the source with different segregated material in different package. (coded with different color) 3. An optimization of load release and collection point (both primary and secondary). 4. Improvement in transportation system compatible to the type of load. 5. Selection and identification of transportation route with improved capacity of carrying with the utilization of MIS and GIS methods. 6. Upgradation of disposal ground as per the solid waste-land fill guideline of CPCB with the application of sanitary landfill system and improved version incineration. 7. Adoption of a systematic disposal technique suitable to the type and quality of waste generated. 8. Possible marketing of the product (if any) from the disposal ground. 9. Organizing awareness and motivation camp in the locality. 10. Involvement of the community. 5. Conclusion The KMC should make certain modifications and improvements to solid waste management services which have been practicing. This is not sufficient to mitigate the present and future problems related to solid waste management in Kolkata. To achieve a target of 100% collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal, Municipal Corporation would first need to prepare a macro plan which would identify the quantity of waste generated in the whole municipality and the broad strategy to be adopted to manage the system. This should be followed by a micro or locality-based plan, which would provide details as to routes, timing, equipment, and manpower deployment. 6. References 1. Stirrup, F.C.9, (1965), Public cleansing, refuse disposal, Percamon Press, Oxford. 2. Mather, A.S., (1986), Land use, Longman Group Limited, U.K. 3. Karley, N.A., (1993), Solid Waste and Pollution. People s daily graphic October 9, pp.5. 4. Chouhan, B., M. And Reddy, B.K, (1996), Bio- energy scenario in India. IREDA News. 7(1). 5. Thomas, S. And Siddhartha, K., (2007), Biosphere A Geography of Life. Kisalaya Publication Pvt. Limited, New Delhi. 6. Santra, S.C., (2010), Environmental Science. New Central Book Agency (P) Ltd, 2 nd Edition, Reprint: Delhi. 7. Majid Husain., (2012), Geography of India. Tata McGraw Hill Private Limited, 7 West Patel Nagar, New Delhi. 8. Garg, A. and Singh, N., (2013), E-waste vis-a-vis human health and environment. Interdisciplinary Environment review, 14(14) pp 187-198. 1185
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