Waste management is the collection, transportation, processing and responsible disposal of waste materials.

What are the rules and regulations guiding waste management in India? There are 3 different sets of rules for different categories of waste that are produced by us: The latest set of rules related to SWM (Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2016) can be found here. This rule makes it mandatory for all the residents/companies/SMEs/commercial complexes/malls, etc., to segregate their waste and treat the wet waste at source.

The commonly practised technologies for SWM can be grouped under three major categories, i.e., bioprocessing, thermal processing and sanitary landfill. The bioprocessing method includes aerobic and anaerobic composting. Thermal methods are incineration and pyrolysis. Sanitary landfill is generally used to dispose of the final rejects coming out of the biological and thermal waste processing units

Aerobic composting (in the presence of oxygen) is the creation of fertilising compost using bacteria that thrive in an oxygen-rich environment. Aerobic composting is considered the fastest method of composting but involves more work in interms of rotating the organic material periodically.

Only a handful of us are using at least one of the above mentioned techniques, we generally just get rid of the waste instead of processing, treating or managing it!

It lands in the dump yard, where it reaches after burning tonnes of fossil fuel. This results in unwanted leachates (pollutants to soil and underground water) and dangerous gases (SOₓ & NOₓ), which cause air pollution. These factors have negative health effects on society, especially on kids and senior citizens (blue baby syndrome). Many a time the waste is illegally dumped in our ponds, mangroves, etc., thus challenging the ecosystem.