Evaluation of Existing Solid Waste Management System in Una Town, India

Abstract

Municipal solid waste management is an important function of the urban local body (ULB) of any city or town in India. The present study reports the existing prevalent MSW management system being carried out in Una, Himachal Pradesh. The total waste generation in Himachal Pradesh is about 350 tonnes per day (TPD) of which the total waste generation in Una town is about 6 TPD with per capita generation of 0.42 kg/day of which 5.5 TPD is disposed in an open dumpsite in Lalsinghi about 5 km from town with a collection efficiency of about 90%. The study uses the “wasteaware” benchmark indicators for evaluating the existing municipal solid waste (MSW) management practices. The “wasteaware” benchmark parameters incorporate both quantitative and qualitative methods for determining the competency of the existing systems. Further, a matrix method has been utilised to complement the “wasteaware” benchmark indicators in evaluating the existing techniques. From the results, it was observed that the collection efficiency in the study area is good categorised as M/H, while transportation, disposal and recycling facilities are lacking (low). The overall score for the Una town is 38% after evaluation from matrix method. Thus, the study showed that there is an immediate need in the improvement of the existing MSW management practices and certain suggestions have been provided in this context.