Municipal solid waste: Opportunities, challenges and management policies in India: A review

Abstract

Sustainable management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is the utmost importance not only because of the health and environmental concerns but also due to its disposal issues of large quantities of waste generated and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Improper management of MSW causes hazards to inhabitants. Environmental and economic implications linked with the proper eco-friendly disposal of modern-day waste, has made it essential to come up with alternative waste management practices. Several studies revealed that approximately 90% of MSW disposed of unscientific manner as open dumps and landfilling, and created severe enigma to human health and the environment as well as contaminating the food chain cycle. It has been observed that urban local bodies (ULBs) in India have a big challenge in handling huge quantities of MSW; due to high density of population and insufficient infrastructure. Door to door collection of waste, methodologies for recycling MSW, and scientific treatments are some of the challenges. Considering these facts, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) India notified the new Solid Waste Management Rules (SWM), 2016 which would be revamped solid waste management in the country. Several steps of waste management/treatments are being adopted, i.e., incineration, pyrolysis, bio-refining and biogas plants, recycling and composting, composting is a sustainable low-cost option for MSW management, however, very less amount 6–7% of MSW was recycled through it. The present study emphasized a comprehensive review of the characteristics, production, collection, disposal and effective treatment technologies of MSW practiced in India.