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The Importance of Waste Management to Environmental Sanitation: A Review

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DOI: 10.15515/abr.0976-4585.9.2.202207

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Advances in Bioresearch
Adv. Biores., Vol 9 (2) March 2018: 202-207
©2018 Society of Education, India
Advances
Print ISSN 0976-4585; Online ISSN 2277-1573
Journal’s URL:http://www.soeagra.com/abr.html
in
CODEN: ABRDC3
DOI: 10.15515/abr.0976-4585.9.2.202207
Bioresearch
REVIEW ARTICLE

The Importance of Waste Management to Environmental

Sanitation: A Review
1Jaspal
Singh, 1Richa Saxena, 1Vandana Bharti, and 2Anita Singh
1Departmentof Environmental Science, Bareilly College, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 243005, India
2Department of Teacher Education, Bareilly College, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 243005, India

Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Within the past few years we have been suddenly awakened to the dangers caused by the mismanagement of wastes. We
are now faced with dealing with past accumulations of wastes, and also with the tremendous task of establishing new
guidelines and solutions to combat with ever increasing amount of waste [1].There are various types of waste but
municipal waste can be properly managed without causing any pollution. Municipal solid waste is now called ‘solid
waste’ [2]. Increasing solid waste management problems and its disposal strikes environment and health hazards. An
integrated waste management in sustainable approach is presented as a response to necessary waste management
strategy needs. Waste minimization in the form of proper waste segregation and utilization, the importance of pre-
treatment of organic waste and combustible waste fraction does not only manage the waste but also generates products
such as compost and renewable energy. Direct land filling of commingled waste in Asian countries should be discouraged
due to its high organic waste fraction which causes potential environmental emissions.
Keywords: Dangers, integrated waste management, sustainable, segregation, environmental emissions

Received 04.09.2017 Revised 18.09.2017 Accepted 16.01.2018

How to cite this article:
J Singh, R Saxena, V Bharti, and A Singh. The Importance of Waste Management to Environmental Sanitation: A
Review. Adv. Biores., Vol 9 [2] March 2018.202-207.

INTRODUCTION
Human activities always generate waste. This was not a major issue when the human population was
relatively small and nomadic, but became a serious problem with urbanisation and the growth of large
conurbations. Poor management of waste led to contamination of water, soil and atmosphere and to a
major impact on public health. The characteristics of waste material evolved in line with changes in
lifestyle and the number of new chemical substances present in the various waste streams increased
dramatically. The long-term health effects of exposure to substances present in the waste or produced at
waste disposal facilities are more difficult to measure, especially when their concentrations are very small
and when there are other exposure pathways (e.g. food, soil) [3]. Waste management and disposal is an
alarming problem encountered by many of the urban and industrial areas in developing economies in
Asian countries. Waste generation has witnessed an increasing trend parallel to the development of
industrialization, urbanization, and rapid growth of population. The problem has become one of the
primary urban environmental issues. Sometimes it is burnt to reduce its volume and to minimize
attraction of animals and also to retrieve recyclable items. Despite the degradation of valuable land
resources and creation of long-term environmental and human health problems, uncontrolled open
dumping is still prevalent in most developing countries which indeed desperately need an immediate
action due to the associated harmful impacts (Table1). Moreover, in South and Southeast Asia, more than
90% of all landfills are non-engineered disposal facilities [15].

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 Singh et al

Table 1: The three landfills in Delhi occupy a total of 150 acres (approx.) and are a fire hazard, say
experts (Source: Delhi faces fire risk from overflowing landfill sites as tall as a 10-storey building, By
Baishall Adak, Published: 2 February 2016).
OVERFLOWING DANGERS
Area Waste Received Catering To Delhi Year of
Landfill Site
(In acres) In metric tonnes per day Population Commencement
Ghazipur 70 2100 30.8% 1984
Okhla 32 1200 18.9% 1994
Bhalswa 40 2700 50.3% 1993
Total 142 6000
Total waste generated by Delhi daily is 8360 tonnes per day Status of all 3 landfills : Saturated in 2006

Aside of the concern on increasing waste generation, and inefficient collection and transportation
infrastructure system, the composition of waste (high organic matter and high moisture content) and
climatic condition were among the other factors that need to be considered in waste management.
Moreover financial constraints and weak implementation of waste management policy with poor
cooperation of government, public and private sector, educational institutions, and civil society
complicates the issues [15].

GENERATION OF WASTE
Over the years, there has been a continuous migration of people from rural and semi-urban areas to
towns and cities. The increase in the population in class I cities is very high as compared to that in class II
cities. The uncontrolled growth in urban areas has left many Indian cities deficient in infrastructural
services such as water supply, sewerage and municipal solid waste management. In many cities nearly
half of solid waste generated remains unattended, giving rise to insanitary conditions especially in
densely populated slums which in turn results in an increase in morbidity especially due to microbial and
parasitic infections and infestations in all segments of population, with the urban slum dwellers and the
waste handlers being the worst affected [16]. Waste Management is a part of public health and sanitation,
and according to the Indian Constitution, falls within the purview of the State list. It is estimated that the
total solid waste generated by 300 million people living in urban India is 38 million tonnes per year. The
proper disposal of urban waste is not only absolutely necessary for the preservation and improvement of
public health but it has an immense potential for resource recovery [5].
Table 2 MSW Generation from The Metropolitans City of India
Urban Population in
State/Union Territory City MSW Generated (MT/Day)
Lakhs (2001)
Hyderabad 3829753 957
Andhra Pradesh
Visakhapatnam 982904 246
Bihar Patna 1961532 588
New Delhi 350000 272
Delhi
Delhi 13363471 6000
Ahmedabad 4215497 1265
Gujarat Surat City 2433835 730
Vadodara 1491045 447
Karnataka Bangalore 1304008 326
Kerala Kochi 275225 69
Mumbai 11914398 7500
Maharashtra Nagpur 2040175 700
Pune 2540000 1000
Bhopal 1482718 445
Madhya Pradesh
Indore 1550880 465
Punjab Ludhiana 1429709 500
Rajasthan Jaipur 1870771 561
Chennai 4343645 1086
Tamil Nadu Coimbatore 1501373 375
Madurai 1233083 308
Kanpur 2725207 954
Uttar Pradesh Lucknow 2262369 792
Varanasi 1250039 438
West Bengal Kolkata 4572876 1143
Grand Total 70924513 27167

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 Singh et al

A large metropolis such as Mumbai generates about 7000MT of waste per day, Bangalore generates about
5000MT and other large cities such as Pune and Ahmadabad generates wastes in the range of 16001600-35—
MT per day. Collecting, processing, transporting and disposing this waste is the res
responsibility of urban
local bodies in India. The national and state governments have provided an impetus to improve the waste
management in urban areas under various programmes and schemes [6]. action from metropolitans of
India. Waste generation in major cities,
c 2015, CPCB [18].

Figure 1 Data source: Assessment and quantification of plastics

Urban
rban India is now the world's third largest garbage generator. But the amount of waste generated is not
as much of an issue as the fact that over 45 million tonnes (or 3 million trucks worth) of garbage is
untreated and disposed of by municipal authorities each year in an unhygienic manner (Figure 1).
Cities like Pune, Mumbai,, Ahmadabad, Agra, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur,
Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Nagpur and Surat, among others have an estimated waste generation of more
than 500 tonne per day (Table 2). Out of the total municipal waste collected, 94 pe per cent is dumped on
land and only five per cent is composted. In India, around 3 million trucks worth of garbage is untreated
and disposed of by municipal authorities every day in an unhygienic manner [7].
Poorly managed waste serves as a breeding ground for for disease vectors, contributes to global climate
change through methane generation and even promotes urban violence.

PRODUCTION OF SOLID WASTE ON WORLDWIDE SCALE

The mass of waste produced in the world has been growing considerably for many decades especially in
affluent countries. In 2006, the USA produced more than 228 million tonnes of MSW or 750 kg per capita.
The quantity of MSW generated in the OECD area in 2006 was more than 619 million tonnes or 580 kg
per inhabitant. As developing countries such as China and India industrialize and their population
urbanised, huge amounts of municipal waste are disposed of, though the production per capita (less than
0.5 kg/day/capita in India and less than 0.9 kg/day/capita in China) is still relatively smal
small compared to
the production in most individual OECD countries (up to 2.1 kg/day/capita in the USA) [14].

HEALTH ISSUES
Health issues are associated with every step of the handling, treatment and disposal of waste, both
directly (via recovery and recycling activities or other occupations in the waste management industry by
exposure to hazardous substances in the waste or to emissions from incinerators and landfill sites,
vermin, odours and noise) or indirectly (e.g. via ingestion of contaminated water,
water, soil and food) [20].
Pointed out that the frequency of landfill failure in the UK was quite high, resulting in surface and
groundwater pollution, despite the fact that about one third of 4000 sites surveyed had a clay liner.
Despite important technological
gical advancements, improved legislation and regulatory systems in the field
of waste management and more sophisticated health surveillance, the public acceptance of the location of
new waste disposal and treatments facilities is still very low due to concern
concern about adverse effects on the
environment and human health [9].
Emissions from incinerators are associated with respiratory sickness. Acute and chronic symptoms of
respiratory failure are associated with incinerator emissions. There is association betwe
between developing
certain cancers symptoms in people living close to incinerator sites. Specific cancers include primary liver

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 Singh et al

cancer, laryngeal cancer, soft-tissue

tissue sarcoma and lung cancer, excess of bladder, lung and leukaemia and
stomach cancer. Reports of increased
ncreased risk of respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal illness are based
mainly on self-reported
reported symptoms [21]. There is a gradual Increase in risk of adverse health effects near
landfill sites and in some multisite studies and although biases and confounding
confounding factors cannot be
excluded as explanations for these findings, they may indicate real risks associated with residence near
certain landfill sites (Figure 2).
). A general weakness in the reviewed studies is the lack of direct exposure
measurement. More interdisciplinary
nterdisciplinary research can improve levels of knowledge on risks to human health
of waste disposal in landfill sites [10].
Waste management issues are a highly emotive topic. Their disposal costs need to be balanced against
environmental impact, which often ten results in heated public debate. Disposal options such as incineration
and landfill, whilst unpopular with both the public and environmental pressure groups, do not pose the
same environmental and health risks as, for example, recycling plants [11].

Figure 2 Landfill Effects on The Environment & Human Health [19].

WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AT GLOBAL LEVEL AND FUTURE WORKS
A number of serious and highly publicized pollution incidents associated with incorrect waste
management practices, led to public concern about lack of controls, inadequate legislation, environmental
and human health impact. In many countries, a large percentage of waste cannot presently be re re-used, re-
cycled or composted and the main disposal methods are land-
land filling and incineration.
ion.
WASTE INCINERATION
Incineration of waste (with energy recovery) can reduce the volume of disposed waste by up to 90%.
These high volume reductions are seen only in waste streams with very high amounts of packaging
materials, paper, cardboard, plastics and horticultural waste. Typically, incineration without energy
recovery is not a preferred option due to costs and pollution. Waste incineration is expensive and poses
challenges of air pollution and ash disposal. Incineration requires waste placed outsi
outside for collection to
be containerized to stay dry and much of the waste stream is not combustible [12]. It can be used to
reduce the original volume of combustibles by 80 to 95 per cent and this is its one of the most important
feature. Air pollution
ution control remains a major problem in the implementation of incineration of solid
waste disposal. Incineration is used to lessen medical and municipal waste. Unfortunately, approximately
one ton of carbon dioxide results from one ton of municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration; however, if
the same amount was land-filled,
filled, 62 cubic meters of methane would be produced. This is possibly twice
the global warming potential than one ton of carbon dioxide. Heat and electrical energy can be produced
from the incineration
cineration process: 600 tons of waste per day will produce 17MW of electrical power and
1200MWh of district heating per day [17].
LAND FILLING
Landfills are a common final disposal site for waste and should be engineered and operated to protect the
environment
ment and public health. Landfill gas (LFG), produced from the anaerobic decomposition of organic
matter can be recovered and the methane (about 50% of LFG) burnt with or without energy recovery to

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 Singh et al

reduce GHG emissions. Proper land filling is often lacking, especially in developing countries. Prevention,
re-use and recycling should be promoted over disposal. Materials should not be land filled if an
alternative option is available that is practically, economically and environmentally more sensible. There
are some types of waste for which landfill are the best waste management option. Moreover, treatment of
waste results in residues for which there is very often no option other than landfill available. Landfill is
also a ‘safety net’ for other waste management operations experiencing a lack of capacity. Landfill will
continue to play role in future waste management systems [13].

CONCLUSION
This exercise look over the present status of waste management practices in India, its effects on public
health and on environment, and also the probability of introducing improved means of disposing solid
waste in India. The techniques include Recycling, Composting, Anaerobic Digestion, Incineration and Land
filling etc. The objective was to study and find out the ways in which the enormous quantity of solid
wastes currently disposed of. Since 2008, the numbers of composting facilities are increased from 22 to
40. Currently, India has more than 80 composting plants. During the same period, the number of landfills
has increased from 1 to 8. Up to 60% of the input waste is discarded as composting rejects and land filled
the rest consists of water vapour and carbon dioxide generated during the composting processes. All
municipalities have a waste plan which covers all types of waste, specifying the measures needed to deal
with it in a sustainable, resource-efficient manner. Waste plans often include strategies for various waste
flows, although they focus on household waste too. Waste Management organization can provide
important benchmarking data that can help and control the generation of waste this is known as
benchmarking and goal setting.

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Copyright: © 2018 Society of Education. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
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original work is properly cited.

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