The Management of Hazardous Solid Waste in India: An Overview

Leelavathy Karthikeyan,Terry Tudor,Vedha Varshini,Vignesh Krishnan,Venkatesan Suresh

doi:10.3390/environments5090103

Leelavathy Karthikeyan, Terry Tudor + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/environments5090103

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Journal: Environments	Publication Date: Sep 7, 2018
Citations: 35	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Madras, University of Northampton

Abstract

Due largely to economic development, industrialization, and changing lifestyles, quantity of hazardous waste in India is rising significantly. This is particularly true in mega cities, where populations are large and growing. Due to a range of factors including limitations in governance systems, inadequate treatment facilities, limitations in compliance and regulation, and limited trained and skilled stakeholders, the management of hazardous solid waste in the country is largely ineffective. One exception to this is the State of Gujarat, which has sought to implement a number of strategies to better manage the rising quantities of hazardous solid waste being produced. This article highlights the management of solid waste in the country for an effective mitigation of various hazards. Further, this article focused on adaptive technologies for the hazardous waste management all over the country more specifically in the state of Gujarat.

Highlights

Ineffective solid waste management is a significant problem in India, especially in urban centres [1,2]
hazardous wastes (HW) generation rates estimated from plant capacity in Indian industries are available and will help in identifying any misappropriate data and corrections in the database [7]
The rise in economic development in India within recent decades has resulted in a significant increase in the generation of hazardous waste [5,10]

Summary

Introduction

Ineffective solid waste management is a significant problem in India, especially in urban centres [1,2]. The problems of solid waste management in the mega cities are rising [3]. About a third of the population lives in urban areas. By 2050, it is expected that about 50% of India’s population will be living in urban areas, and waste generation will grow by 5% per year [5]. It is anticipated that by 2021, 2031, and 2050, waste arising will be around 101 million metric tons (MMT), 164 MMT, and 436 MMT per year, respectively. The rise in the generation of solid waste is mainly due to population growth, economic development, and changing lifestyles. Municipal solid wastes which are hazardous are often collected, transported, and dumped without treatment or processing

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Conclusion