Solid Waste Management in Mumbai

Solid Waste Management (pg1)
Introduction: -
Civilization began & developed around river banks. Things were manageable at those times as people lived in harmony with nature. Industrialization changed everything. At the end of the
19th century the industrial revolution saw the rise of the world of consumers. Concentrated population packets developed at and around industrial area. Rapid Urbanization process posed many challenges before planning authorities. Government, local administration tried & is trying their level best to provide all basic amenities to this population. While doing so, one difficult challenge before administration is to manage waste generated by this large population. Solid waste generation is a continually growing problem at global, regional and local levels.
Solid wastes are those organic and inorganic waste materials produced by various activities of the society, which have lost their value to the first user. Improper disposal of solid wastes pollutes all the vital components of the living environment (i.e., air, land and water) at local and global levels. The problem is more acute in developing nations than in developed nations, as their economic growth as well as urbanization is more rapid. There has been a significant increase in MSW (municipal solid waste) generation in India in the last few decades. This is largely because of rapid population growth and economic development in the country. Due to rapid growth of urban population, as well as constraint in resources, the management of solid waste poses a difficult and complex problem for the society and its improper management gravely affects the public health and degrades environment. The population of Mumbai grew from around 8.2 million in 1981 to 12.3 million in 1991, registering a growth of around 49%. On the other hand, MSW generated in the city increased from 3200 tonnes per day to 5355 tonnes per day in the same period registering a growth of around 67% (CPCB 2000). This clearly indicates that the growth in MSW in our urban centers has outpaced the population growth in recent years. This trend can be ascribed to our changing lifestyles, food habits, and change in living standards.
Waste referred as rubbish, trash, garbage, or junk is unwanted or unusable material.
According to European councils’ directive “Waste is any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard." Waste if it is hazardous or toxic, it could even be a harbinger of disease and death, not just for living beings, but for all that sustains life, for example, water, air, soil and food. Solid waste can be defined as any solid or semi-solid substance or object resulting from human or animal activities, discarded as useless or unwanted. It is an extremely mixed mass of wastes, which may originate from household, commercial, industrial or agricultural activities.
Solid waste is a broad term, which encompasses all kinds of waste such as Municipal Solid
Waste (MSW), Industrial Waste (IW), Hazardous Waste (HW), Bio-Medical Waste (BMW) and
Electronic waste (E-waste) depending on their source & composition. It consists of organic and inorganic constituents which may or may not be biodegradable. On one hand, the recyclable components of solid waste could be useful as secondary resource for production processes. On the other hand, some of its toxic and harmful constituents may pose a danger if not handled properly. Source reduction, recycling and composting, waste-to-energy conversion facilities, and land filling are the four basic approaches to waste management.

Law Provision
1. Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rule, 2000:
Processing of Municipal Solid Wastes
Municipal authorities shall adopt suitable technology or combination of such technologies to make use of wastes so as to minimize burden on land fill. Following criteria shall be adopted, namely:- (i) The biodegradable wastes shall be processed by compositing vermicomposting, anaerobic digestion or any other appropriate biological processing for stabilization of (pg 2) wastes. It shall be ensured that compost or any other end product shall comply with standards as per Standards.
(ii) Mixed waste containing recoverable resources shall follow the route of recycling.
Incineration with or without energy recovery including pelletisation can also be used for processing wastes in specific cases. Municipal authority or the operator of a facility wishing to use other state-of-the-art technologies shall approach the Central Pollution
Control Board to get the standards laid down before applying for grant of authorisation.

2. Maharashtra non-biodegradable garbage (control) act 2006:
There is Authority competent for enforcement of the provisions of these rules related to the use, sell, collection, segregation, transportation and disposal of Plastic carry bags/ nonbiodegradable garbage within their respective jurisdiction. The authority comprises, The
Municipal Commissioner or any other officer nominated by Municipal Commissioner; the member secretary of the State pollution control board or any other officer not below the rank of
Sub-regional officer, nominated by the board; the Development Commissioner (Industries) of the Industries Department of the state or any other officer not below the rank of the Deputy
Director, nominated by the Development Commissioner; the Collector of the district or any other officer not below the rank of Tahasildar nominated by the Collector for his district; and the
Chief Officer of the Municipal Councils.

Centralized Disposal :-
Many local bodies adapt / achieve the decentralized collection technique by community bins. But there is total negligence about the disposal through decentralized units. Disposal is still carried out in centralized system. This is common scenario in metro cities of Maharashtra. Like in Mumbai, presently there are three dumping grounds viz Deonar, Mulund and Gorai.
Deonar is the largest and the oldest dumping ground of Mumbai operating since 1927.
Mulund dumping ground is operating since 1968 while Gorai is one of the smallest dumpsite of
Mumbai Operating since 1972. Sr. No | Location of Disposal Site | Site Area (Ha) | Area available for dumping | Waste received (Tons/Day) | 1 | Deonar | 131.12 | 116 | 4000 | 2 | Gorai | 25.00 | 18.45 | 1,200 | 3 | Mulund | 24.00 | 16.60 | 600 | 4 | Kanjur | 141 | | Proposed site for MSW Processing and disposal for future. | | Total | 180.12 | 151.05 | |

Land requirement :-
The main constraint for the effective implementation of MSW Rules & setting up of waste processing facility for local bodies is non-availability of suitable land. Ideally dumping sites should be located at where there is, usually, no human population or at a safe distance from all human settlement. But the increase in the population of the city has forced people to settle near the dumping grounds. This leads to problems like people living in unhealthy conditions and protesting for the closure of the dumping grounds, as dumping causes health hazards for the people in the vicinity.
Increasing population generates large amount of waste, which need the large patch of land for its proper disposal. But with increasing urbanization, land available for dumping and (pg 3) creation of landfill sites for disposal of waste is becoming difficult especially for metro cities.
For example there are only 3 landfill sites in the Mumbai region, whose expected lifespan remains only 2-5 years. MCGM is going to find it difficult to locate new waste disposal sites in the near future to take care of present level of waste generations and that generated by the new population. It is desirable that adequate land be earmarked at the planning stage itself for solid waste disposal. Dumping site has the definite life span, so appropriate alternative should be envisaged at planning stage only

Technology Selection & trained man-force :-
Disposal is the final & most important step of the Solid waste management. The crucial aspect of this stage is the selection of proper disposal technology.
The equipment and machinery used in the system are usually that which have been developed for general purpose or that which have been adopted from other industry. This results in over utilization of existing resources and lowering of the efficiency. Technology transfer in
MSW is not as simple as it is in case of another sector. Solid waste characteristics and local conditions in any country if is different from country from where developed technology is borrowed then implementation issues may arise. Use of indigenous technology & machinery on the basis of the analysis of garbage should be adopted & promoted.
Quantity and characteristics of the waste are the major factors, which decide technology to be used for waste disposal. On the basis of the waste quantity, infrastructure requirement can be estimated. It is also necessary to carry out waste analysis frequently in order to assess the changes in waste characteristics due to ever-changing scenario. This data will also serve as a basis for up gradation or switching over to better disposal/treatment option.
Availability of adequate trained man-force to implement the procedures of the adopted technology in a correct manner is another important aspect. Staff deployed by Local
Administration to carry out waste disposal is most of the times not trained, motivated & efficient. Availability of Funds :-
Shortage of funds is one main barrier for achieving a proper MSW Management. Due to this lack of efficiency is evident at all stages of SWM i.e. collection, transportation, treatment and disposal. Due to lack of funds local bodies fail to set up adequate number of composting or other disposal plants of different capacities which will reduce organic load to sanitary landfills and also the GHG emissions from landfills. Available funds are not utilized in efficient manner.
More expenditure is incurred on waste collection & transportation than disposal. Funds must be allocated to analyze the collected waste, dominating area of particular waste type. According to type of waste & quantity of waste generated, if decentralized disposal facilities are provided, it will definitely reduce the burden on landfills as well as overall expenditure required.
Law enforcement :-
Solid Waste Management is a vital, ongoing and large public service system, Municipal agencies will have to plan and execute the system in keeping with the increasing urban areas and population. Community participation is essential for smooth and efficient operation of SWM system, which lack in current scenario.
The financial constraints, institutional problems within the departments, fragile links with other concerned agencies, lack of suitable staff, and other allied problems prevent the urban local bodies from delivering and maintaining an efficient waste management system. Some times provisions of the law are not implemented due to one or other reasons.

Decentralised Methods for Waste Disposal:-

(pg 4)
The Corporation has recently issued a work order for establishing a centralized treatment facility on Built-OwnOperate-Transfer (BOOT) basis.

This treatment facility will be equipped with imported autoclave and shredder machines to deal with different categories of bio-medical waste (MCGM website, Jul. 2005). A Waste to Energy and Compost Plant for 3600 TPD has also been proposed, although no date for commissioning has been indicated (SWM Cell, AIILSG,
2003).
Wet or biodegradable waste is disposed through the process of composting by adopting the method of vermi-culture and dry or recyclable waste is disposed by direct sale to the recycling unit by rag-pickers. At some places for example, for example at the Bhabha
Atomic Research Centre (BARC) plant and at the Shatabdi Hospital plant, wet i.e. biodegradable waste - specifically waste from the canteen in the case of the BARC plants and waste from nearby hotels in case of the Shatabdi Hospital plant - is converted to biogas through the process of bio-methanation. Wet waste from markets is converted to high quality compost manure called “Vermigold” at the vermi composting plant located in
Dadar. Waste disposed in this way throughout the different waste management units under various organisations adds up to 370 MT per day.
Of the total waste generated in the city, this amounts to 5 per cent. Thus the need for encouraging waste disposal through such decentralized units becomes evident. The list of decentralized facilities existing now in Mumbai. See the table below :-

Decentralised Waste Disposal Centres, Mumbai NO | Organisation | Method of Disposal | Quantity of waste disposed (TPD) | 1 | M/S Excel Industries Ltd at Chincholi Dumping Ground* | Converting to organic manure | 240.0 | 2 | 200 active ALMs through out the city | Vermi-composting (Individualor Community based) | 50.0 | 3 | 5 T plants at Dadar (market waste), Versova and colaba | Vermi-culture | 15.0 | 4 | Stree Mukti Sangathan’s (SMS) composting units | Composting | 21.0 | 5 | Waste collected by Parisar Bhaginis of SMS | Recyclable dry waste | 1.0 | 6 | Approx. 30- 40 Municipal Gardens | Composting | 1.5 | 7 | Hotel Orchid | Vermi-Composting | 0.15 | 8 | Composting units under Force Foundation | Vermi-Composting | 20.0 | 9 | Churchgate Plaza | Composting | 0.6 | 10 | Units belonging to Force Foundation | Composting/ Vermi-culture | 20.0 | | TOTAL | | 369.25 |

(pg 5)
Budget Allocation for Solid Waste Management:-
The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) had spent Rs. 400 crores in
2000-01 and Rs. 385 crores in 2001-02 on SWM (Table 6). Of this, as per Jain (2004), more than Rs. 250 crores, that is 62.5 per cent, are spent on just wages total of 25,000 employees are deployed largely for sweeping of the streets and collection of waste.
According to Jain (200s4), the number of sweepers is disproportionately high in number in the island city area.

Annual Budgetary Expenditures for Solid Waste Management
Year Cost (crore Rs)
1996-97 250
1997-98 247
1998-99 314
1999-2000 350 2000-01 400
2001-02 385

As per calculations done by the SWM Cell at All India Institute of Local Self
Government, by 2003 prices, cost of SWM per MT of waste generated came to Rs. 1,500 and per capita, it came to Rs. 265 per year in the same year. Of the total expenditure on the SWM incurred by the MCGM, in the same year, 38 per cent is on sweeping activities,
57 per cent is on collection and transportation and remaining 5 per cent is on disposal activities (SWM Cell 2003)

Scale of project:-
The scheme started in July 1997 with only one locality as its participant. Later the number of societies registered in ALM scheme crossed 1000 (Modi et al 2002). Presently there are almost 375 societies (Jain 2000) registered in different areas in Mumbai catering to 3.27 million population. But, according to another source (Table 7), there are 578
ALMs in the whole city, with the highest numbers in two wards in western suburbs, wards H and K, which has high income groups. These two wards have the highest vermin-composting units. The main target of the ALM system is the individual households and most of these are middle to high income households.

Distribution of ALM Groups Zone | Wards | ALMs present | Vermi-composting Units | 1 | A-E | 88 | 33 | 2 | F/North, F/South, B/North, B/South | 71 | 38 | 3 | H/ West, H/East, K/West, K/East | 181 | 86 | 4 | P/South, P/North, R/South, R/North, R/Central | 67 | 42 | 5 | L, M/East, M/West | 80 | 31 | 6 | N, S, T | 90 | 31 |
References:
Main source :- http://envis.maharashtra.gov.in/envis_data/files/MSW_.pdf
1. http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/estdir/pub/msw/
2. http://www.cpcb.nic.in
3. http://www.mcgm.gov.in/
4. http://edugreen.teri.res.in/

References: Main source :- http://envis.maharashtra.gov.in/envis_data/files/MSW_.pdf 1. http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/estdir/pub/msw/ 2. http://www.cpcb.nic.in 3. http://www.mcgm.gov.in/ 4. http://edugreen.teri.res.in/