Solid Waste Management

The book highlights the role of the civic bodies in the field of solid waste management in
the Capital city of Delhi. It discuss that the future of the emerging urban society lies in
management of wastes not in more disposal.

Silent Features:

 It deals elaborately with the problem of solid wastes in Delhi.

 It highlights the difference between solid waste disposal and management.
 It extends valuable suggestions to take to management of wastes instead of their
disposal so as to make Delhi environmentally a safer place to live in.
 Language of the book in simple, lucid and comprehensible.
 Detailed Bibliography containing Public Documents, recent books journals etc. Will
be useful for advanced research in the field.
 Comprehensive Index facilitates easy reference and accessibility to the scholars.
 The book will be useful for policy makers administrators, research scholars and
other stakeholders.

Introduction

Waste is defined as any unwanted residual material which cannot be discharged directly or after
suitable treatment to the atmosphere or to a receiving water.1 These residuals are ultimately
released to the environment. Rapid urbanisation, increasing industrialisation and growing
consumerism have led to manifold increase in volume and types of wastes in recent decades. Due to
the nature of economic activities, habitat and settlement patterns and limitation of space,
management of wastes is relatively more difficult in cities than in rural areas. So much so that
municipal and other management agencies entrusted with urban wastes the world over, are finding
it difficult to cope with the problem.

The problem is, however, more acute in the developing countries. These countries have, in recent
years, shown faster rate of urbanisation than the developed world.

Cities are growing in volume at a rate in the less developed countries at which infrastructure and
amenities are not growing. This tremendous growth has resulted in straining urban services and
making the waste management much more difficult. For, municipal agencies in these countries lack
resource, expertise, sophisticated equipments and wherewithal to manage the waste.

Waste Disposal and Management :

Waste disposal and management are qualitatively different from each other. Waste disposal means
simply removing the waste from one place, disposing it off at another without proper treatment,
whereas waste management has larger connotation. It not only includes proper treatment to the
waste before disposal in order to check environmental hazards, but also segregating different kinds
of wastes, treating and disposing off toxic wastes, recycling non-degradable wastes, converting bio-
degradable wastes into compost or energy and so on.
A pertinent question arises as to why wastes need to be managed today rather than disposed off?
The volume of waste has increased manifold and consequently removal and disposal of waste has
become an impossible task. Further, there are different varieties of wastes, like non-bio-degradable
wastes, toxic industrial wastes, nuclear wastes etc., whose disposal has become problematic for
municipal bodies. Without a management approach, whereby at least parts of the wastes are turned
into assets, urban solid wastes will pose problems of gigantic proportions.

Types of Wastes :

Urban wastes over the years have acquired variety. Till about middle of this century, most of the
wastes were bio-degradable which made their disposal much easier. Not so any more. Wastes like
plastics, which are not bio-degradable, have been increasing over the years. Moreover, increasing
industrialisation means increasing industrial wastes. Due to low industrial safety standards in most
developing countries, hazardous wastes could be, and in some countries they indeed are, dangerous
to the habitat.
David Gorden Wilson2 has classified wastes into the following types:

(i) Domestic Wastes

(ii) Commercial and Institutional Wastes

(iii) Street Cleansing Wastes

(iv) Industrial Wastes

(v) Nuclear Wastes

(vi) Agriculture Wastes

(vii) Wastes from Recreational Areas

Industrial Wastes:

Like municipal wastes, industrial wastes have also increased manifold over the years due to rapid
industrialisation. Greater care is required in disposing industrial wastes for, unless properly treated,
some of them could be hazardous. Joseph L. Pavoni, John E. Hear and D. Joseph Hegerty4 suggest
the following methods for disposal of industrial wastes:

(i) Waste Reduction

(ii) Recovery of Resources

(iii) Incineration

(iv) Biological Treatment

(v) Land Disposal

(vi) Sea Disposal

About Author:

This book written by Dr.Surendra Kumar is a lecturer in the University Department of Political
Science, VKs University, Ara Bihar. A Ph D from University of Delhi. Dr Kumar is a recipient of
prestigious Un Scholarship in International Law and Affairs. His two other books viz.,
Environmental Protection and Environmental Policies in India are under publication. He has also
published many articles in reputed journals and presented papers in National and International
Conferences and Seminars. His field of specialization are Environmental Studies and Public
Administration. He is actively associated with International Political Science and Association,
Indian Institute if Public Administration, India Political Science Association and Indian Society of
Gandhian Studies.

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