The document discusses waste management strategies with a focus on reducing waste at the source. It notes that municipal solid waste in cities has significantly increased in recent years due to population growth and changes in lifestyle and consumption. Most waste is biodegradable household waste. The document advocates emulating European waste management strategies that prioritize waste prevention, recycling and reuse, and improving disposal methods. It also discusses approaches being taken in India like composting and converting waste to energy. The most effective approach is argued to be reducing waste at the source by changing production and consumption patterns.

1. Title: Waste management by waste reduction at source.
Introduction:
Just in the last few years, the amount of waste generated in cities, where data is available for scrutiny
has shown that there has been a sizable rise in solid waste – 40,000 tonnes of solid waste in urban areas
per year. This phenomenon can be said to have arisen due to change in lifestyle of the people living in
cities and change in consumption pattern. More and more people are on the move from villages to cities
to look for work. Even as cities spill over and split their sides, burgeoning in numbers of people living in
their area, the local Municipal Corporation has had to buck up its boots to meet the growing heap of
waste.
The main source of Municipal waste can be catagorised as follows:
* House hold waste
* Commercials:
* Street sweeping
* Hotels and restaurants
* Clinics and dispensaries
* Construction and demolition
* Horticulture
* Sludge
Composition of Municipal Solid Waste in India
By definition of the Ministry of Environment - "municipal solid waste" includes commercial and
residential wastes generated in a municipal or notified areas in either solid or semi-solid form excluding
industrial hazardous wastes but including treated bio-medical wastes” -
(http://www.moef.nic.in/legis/hsm/mswmhr.html )
In India the biodegradable portion dominates the bulk of Municipal Solid Waste. Generally the
biodegradable portion is mainly due to food and yard waste

2. Source: National Solid waste association of India
With rising urbanization and change in lifestyle and food habits, the amount of municipal solid waste has
been increasing rapidly and its composition changing. There are different categories of waste generated,
each take their own time to degenerate (as illustrated in the table below).

3. Source: National Solid waste association of India
From the above data it is evident that it is the biodegradable part of waste which has increased
the most. Let us take a look at a city like Chennai with 2002 census as 50,00,000
Total MSW generation (MT/day) Garbage 3200 of which Quantity of domestic MSW (MT/day)
is 2516 where biodegradable content consists of 49%,
Paper (%) 6.45
Rags 4.50
Plastic (%) 2.50
Leathers and rubbers 1.45
Glass inerts (%) 37.50
Metal (%) 0.04
Others (%)1.40
(Source: National Solid waste association of India)
In 2000 Central Pollution Control Board concluded that with a population of 41.34 ( Census

4. 2001) the waste generation in Chennai at that time was (kg/c/day) 47 where waste generated was
2594 (MT/day) when total waste generated in the country was 100,000 MT (years 2000)
– Source: (
http://www.cpcb.nic.in/wast/municipalwast/Waste_generation_Composition.pdf )
Taking Chennai as an example, it is clear that most of the garbage is generated from homes and
therefore it is also probable that the waste generated while being biodegradable, may be due to
life style changes and food habit changes.
Therefore, the ideal mix and match of waste reduction would be to control/reduce waste at
source, which in this case means the home.
The problem on hand seems easy, but it is not so. Consumption patterns in urban homes with
working adults relying heavily on packed and ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch or dinner, causes
waste in terms of paper and packaging material. In homes, where this is somewhat regulated,
waste still forms part of garbage, because people waste cooked food and they throw peals and
seeds in vegetables, fruits, because they are not any more aware of what can be done with these.
Neither is the tradition of old recipes alive in homes any more. So for both lack of time and
knowledge, throwing things seems to be the pattern in homes now.
If this is to be taken as a challenge, then it is necessary to find ways to reduce waste at source.
What they do abroad:
The European Union's approach to waste management is based on three principles:
Waste prevention: This is a key factor in any waste management strategy. If we can reduce the
amount of waste generated in the first place and reduce its hazardousness by reducing the
presence of dangerous substances in products, then disposing of it will automatically become
simpler. Waste prevention is closely linked with improving manufacturing methods and
influencing consumers to demand greener products and less packaging.
Recycling and reuse: If waste cannot be prevented, as many of the materials as possible should
be recovered, preferably by recycling. The European Commission has defined several specific
'waste streams' for priority attention, the aim being to reduce their overall environmental impact.
This includes packaging waste, end-of-life vehicles, batteries, electrical and electronic waste. EU
directives now require Member States to introduce legislation on waste collection, reuse,
recycling and disposal of these waste streams. Several EU countries are already managing to
recycle over 50% of packaging waste.
Improving final disposal and monitoring: Where possible, waste that cannot be recycled or
reused should be safely incinerated, with landfill only used as a last resort. Both these methods
need close monitoring because of their potential for causing severe environmental damage. The
EU has recently approved a directive setting strict guidelines for landfill management. It bans
certain types of waste, such as used tyres, and sets targets for reducing quantities of
biodegradable rubbish. Another recent directive lays down tough limits on emission levels from

5. incinerators. The Union also wants to reduce emissions of dioxins and acid gases such as
nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxides (SO2), and hydrogen chlorides (HCL), which can be
harmful to human health. (Source: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/index.htm)
In India, some of the technologies available for MSW treatment are:
o Composting
o Vermin-composting
o Refused Derived Fuel (RDF) for utilizing in power generation
o Bio-methanation
o Landfill as a bio-reactor
A number of NGOs have been working in the area of waste management, through a process of
waste utilization. For example: Plastic waste is now used to make bags and foot mats. Cut human
hair has been sold to wig makers. Paper is recycled. Food waste is composted. However, these all
are indicative of managing waste creatively, after it is already created. The real leap frog would
be to actually reduce waste, at source, meaning reduce waste in the very process of crops and
vegetables growth, thereby, reducing waste afterwards.
Meanwhile in Karjat Janwani, an NGO in Maharashtra is working on a concept wherein the need
for dumping ground itself can be done away with. It is an administrative model supported by
value chain analysis to convert it into a commercially sustainable venture. We are talking about a
‘zero garbage ward’;wherein the ward definition chosen is that of an electoral ward - the
smallest administrative unit in the ULB (Urban local bodies).Their model works on taking a
ward in Karjat and going from house to house to educate on segregation of waste at house level,
into wet and dry waste. This waste is then picked up by rag pickers from house to house, while
wet waste is disposed by using biogas plant, composting pits at the ward level itself. This method
frog leaps the present method used across, where waste, both dry and wet are collected at one
and the same time and then segregated. This method also supports gainful employment of rag
pickers, who otherwise have no dignity for labour.
(Source: Nimal katrak Dekhan: http://www.janwani.org/images/environment/zero%20garbage
%20_concept%20note_janwani.pdf)
At a more deeper level waste must be managed from point of production itself. Thus, to speak of
Zero-waste, one cannot overlook the contribution of plantation without waste – More than 30
years after it was published, farmer sage Masanobu Fukuoka’s cult book One-Straw Revolution,
continues to inspire Indians who implement it in their own farms.
These farmers do not plough or till the land. They do not use fertilizers but rather, turn to the
waste generated in their farm, to fertilize their fields.
Picture this:
https://picasaweb.google.com/rajuktitus/UntitledAlbum#5520055805115685074
In his article “Waste to energy generation, the requirement of today”, EPC World, page 118-9,
expert and Chairman of Organic Recycling Systems Pvt. Ltd, provides another solution by

6. advocating Reduce-Recycle-Reduce dynamics. He goes on to say that if in the case of 40,000
million solid waste generated in urban areas per year, 1500 MW of power could be generated
from this waste with another 1000 MW of industrial waste too, it is worth using waste-to-energy
projects to handle our energy deficit in India.
The advantages of waste-to-energy projects he sites as:
(a) Quantity of waste is reduced by nearly 60 – 90% depending upon waste composition and
technology adopted to convert waste to energy.
(b) Land filling requires less land
(c) If the waste is generated in urban areas and land fill is also there, cost of transportation of
waste is reduced
(d) There is net reduction in environmental pollution
In the process of biomethanation, cited above, the organic waste undergoes bio-degradation
producing methane rich biogas which can be used for domestic and industrial purposes and in
steam turbines to generate motive power or electricity. The sludge from anacrobic digestion, viz,
the process by which organic waste is converted to biogas, has multiple uses thereafter.
(a) It can be used as soil conditioner
(b) Sold as manure
The advantages of this process are:
(a) It produces energy/power and compost
(b) Emission to atmosphere is ZERO
(c) Land requirement is less
(d) Produces good quality compost free of metals and pathogens
(e) There is no fear of soil/groundwater/downstream pollution
(f) Net reduction in environmental pollution is much higher compared to other technologies