A Review on Recent Advancement in Solid Waste Management Concept

Abstract

Solid waste is the major concern observed now days in entire world. The reason for developed and under developing countries facing this problem is different. For developed countries it is due to excessive packaging along with high generation rate. While in developing countries improper handling and treatment is a major threat. The purpose of this paper is to focus on advancement in treatment options, handling and management of Solid Waste in recent times. Solid waste generation in metro cities found in 1995 was 0.64kg in Kanpur, 0.52kg in Lucknow, 0.4kg in Varanasi, 0.59kg in Ahmedabad and 0.44kg in Mumbai. Currently total solid waste generated in India is around 42 million tons annually. Waste generation varies from 200-600 kg/capita/day and collection efficiency ranges from 50-90%. Presently, advance treatment options provided for solid waste are: Incineration, Pyrolysis and vermin composting. Along with that reuse and recycling of waste materials also possess high opportunity. Segregation is still done by only rag pickers or scavengers at the disposal site only, which is highly hazardous to those people who involve in this and is also impracticable. The best option found to combat this problem is source segregation. The paper emphasizes on formal and organized system of segregation like segregation of wet waste, dry waste, plastic waste and hazardous waste, as per rule their generation because at the end of the cycle it becomes difficult to treat the solid waste because of its various characteristics.