Reasons behind the bad waste management in India

If you're living in big cities like Delhi, Mumbai or Ahmedabad, you'd be well aware of the fact that these cities are suffering from garbage and waste. The municipalities have tried to find solutions but these solutions have short lives.

The most common way to get rid of the waste is to dump it in landfills. And yes, you read it right! Everyone just wants to get rid of the waste. No one thinks beyond the garbage bin or bag. Throw it away in the municipal truck and forget about the waste!! Is this the right thing to do? Absolutely not! And people don't do this purposefully but these things have been like this for years.

The main issue with the waste treatment is lack of awareness among the waste generators. It includes individuals like me and you, offices, institutes, small shops, big malls, industries and pretty much everything. We, at home, generate food waste, household waste like paper, plastics etc. and then throw it into the dustbin. This is the very basic step where we do one of the biggest mistakes. Waste segregation should be done at this stage but most of us are not aware of waste segregation at all. This makes the waste treatment really hard.

You can read more about source segregation here

The non-segregated waste is then taken away by the municipal truck and goes to the primary recycling centre where most recyclable items like metal and plastic bottles etc. are collected out of waste and sent for recycling. Remaining waste is then sent to landfill where it is compressed and dumped to make huge mountains of garbage.

Pirana Dumping site, Ahmedabad

Due to improper segregation, recyclables in the lost their value and becomes the part of the mountain of the garbage. The similar thing happens with food waste when you throw it out along with other waste. Although food waste is degradable, when it gets mixed with plastic and other non-biodegradable waste, it prevents the degradation and it adds more waste to the dump site. If it would have been treated separately,  it could be degraded into manure.

Apart from public awareness, there is lack of infrastructure and funding for the waste management. While in most part of Europe and  America, countries are using waste-to-energy programs, most of the Indian cities are still relying on landfilling. More than half of the annually generated waste ends up in landfills here. The waste recycled is more because of the disorganised sector consist of rag-pickers who collect recyclables from waste and sell it.  They help a lot in segregation. 

Local ragpicker selling his recyclables.

The "Swachh Bharat mission" has started spreading awareness about cleanliness but it still lacks the awareness about waste. The major issue of segregation of waste has been included in the new waste management policy, 2016 but the implementation of the policy is very poor. People are finding difficulties following the rule as many municipalities have not the proper system to collect the segregated waste.  

Government of India's Swachh Bharat Mission

The government and other organisations around us are working on making our waste management system more efficient and eco-friendly. We can help for the same by segregating our waste, reducing the amount of waste generated and by choosing reusable things over use-and-throw stuff.