Micro solid waste plants for urban areas soon

Ambika Sharma

To ensure optimum management of solid waste in the 10 civic bodies and rural habitations following a cluster approach, the Department of Environment, Science and Technology has proposed to set up micro municipal solid waste management facilities.

Having the capacity to dispose of approximately 0.50 tonnes to 5 tonnes of waste each, the plants would be set up on public private partnership mode for a period of 10 years initially. These locations were Municipal Committee of Theog, Nagar Panchayats of Arki, Narkanda, Kasol, Gram Panchayat Dharampur in Solan district, temple committees at Chintpurni, Naina Devi and Mata Balasundari Trilokpur as well as cluster of 11 panchayats each at Bamson and Bangana.

DC Rana, director, Department of Environment, said a study of four towns was undertaken, where the mechanism of solid waste management and problems in scientific management of this waste was examined in depth. The pilot project, first of its kind in the waste management, will help in cleaning the state and integrating a scientific waste management solution.

A study was undertaken of key towns including Ner Chowk, Sundernagar and Mandi to examine various aspects related to the municipal solid waste, which will increase significantly in future. This has necessitated the need to devise scientific strategies for its safe disposal as its unscientific disposal can adversely affect human health and environment.

The study observed that despite incurring adequate funds on waste management, urban local bodies lack a standard system of waste collection. Though waste was also being collected at household level since the past few years, it was in the un-segregated form. Door-to-door waste collection was being undertaken in only 14 of 20 towns though at varying level. This is crucial to ensure that waste is not dumped casually, as it could prove hazardous to the environment. Segregation at source is practically negligent in the state though it helps in its apt scientific disposal. 

Other problem which was encountered in effective waste management was inadequate funding, failing which its management fails to be adequate. This necessitates the need to adopt a self-revenue generation model, the study suggested. Another study was also undertaken to examine physico-chemical characterisation of the municipal solid waste samples from four different dump sites of Shimla, Sundernagar, Mandi and Dharamsala. It also studied location and seasonal variation in the composition and quality of MSW to chalk out MSW management plan leading to clean and hygienic environment.

Rana said after two rounds of sampling and monitoring at four dumping sites in the four urban sites, it was observed that the waste from all towns was not segregated and transported to the land disposal sites, where it was dumped indiscriminately. The standard guidelines specified in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, failed to be adopted hence necessitating the need for ample scope of improvement while disposing the MSW.

The parameters such as carbon content, moisture content, C/N ratio and NPK content in the MSW samples indicated that it was suitable for bio-processing. However, heavy metals present in MSW warrant proper source segregation of this waste. 

Burning solid waste was observed during both visits to the site to reduce the volume, though it was an unscientific way to get rid of waste. Open burning of waste also generates poisonous gases from plastics and thermocol along with other gaseous emissions such as SO2, NOx, CO2, CO. Due to lower temperature in Himachal, pollutant dispersion rate is very low. Hence, proper dispersion of gaseous pollutants does not take place, which increases the concentration of pollutants in the ambient environment, which ultimately causes adverse health impacts due to air pollution.

The recommendations

Given the shortcoming in waste management, the study made significant recommendations, which included executing waste collection and its processing as per a proper waste management plan. The disposal of only inert part of the waste shall be done in sanitary landfill (SLF), which would increase the life of SLF and prompt recycling of other components of waste. 

It was also suggested that the unscientific way of waste disposal must be stopped as it could contaminate both ground as well as surface water sources due to run-off from the hills during precipitation. Heavy rain may even carry the waste with the flood water and this pollution may create health hazards to residents and tourists as well. This could adversely hamper the tourism potential of the state. 

The biodegradable or wet portion of the waste such as garden waste, vegetable and food waste should be sent to the biogas plant, wherein its organic fraction can be utilised as a substrate, for microorganisms converting it to biogas. Further, the dry or non-biodegradable or slowly biodegradable portion such as paper/ plastic, rubber, metal, glass etc. should be sent to authorised recyclers for its use in manufacturing. 

The study stressed that if this practice was followed, the waste reaching to landfill sites would only be inert type. Thus, wastes would prove as a resource and the land requirement for filling the inert would be minimal i.e. up to 5-10 per cent of the present requirement. Thus the land availability for sanitary land filling (SLF) for up to 25 years may be made available.