36 Municipal waste (management and handling) rules

Dr. Yogalakshmi K. N

epgp books

 

Objectives:

 

After completing this module, you should be able

  • To understand the objectives of Municipal solid waste management rules
  • To know about its present implementation status and challenges in the country
  • Revision to MSW rules 2016

 

1.0 Municipal Solid Waste Management Rule

 

Present scenario of MSW in urban India needs to be clearly understood before looking at the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) rule. Waste is a continually growing problem at global, regional and local level. With the increasing economic growth along with urbanization Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) poses a serious challenge for its management. Close to 1,30,000 (Tons per day) of municipal solid waste was generated in India during 2011-12. Out of which 70% of MSW is collected and 12.45% is processed or treated (CPCB, 2012). According to the 2011 census the total urban population in the country is more than 377 million. There are 423 class I cities that have population exceeding one lakh people. These class I cities alone contribute close to 72% of total MSW generated in Urban India (Zhu et al., 2008). Although there are no comprehensive data on waste generation rates, collection coverage, storage, transport, and disposal volumes and practices, the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO) estimated a per capita waste generation in Indian cities and towns in the range of 0.2 to 0.6 kilograms per day (ibid.). Over the years with the change in lifestyle the composition of these waste have also been changing.

 

According to the reports of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the average waste collection in India ranges from 50 to 90 percent. Around 94 percent of the collected waste is disposed of in open areas in an unacceptable manner without considering the engineering principles. This has resulted in severe degradation of groundwater and surface water through leachate, along with degradation of air through uncontrolled burning of waste. Since 1960’s, the government of India has been sanctioning loans for setting composting plants to encourage the proper management of MSW. Despite taking many initiatives and implementing new technologies and methods, the rapid urbanization has compounded the problem of MSW in India. Focused attention to solid waste management however gained momentum only after the outbreak of plague in Surat in 1994. Further due to increased public awareness of MSWM, a public litigation was filed and resulted in the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 (Ramachandra & Bachamanda, 2006).

 

The MSW rule of 2000 provides detailed
guidelines on various aspects of Solid Waste Management. Central Pollution Control board (CPCB) and the State Pollution Control boards (SPCB) are the nodal agencies to monitor its implementation directly in the various states and Union territories of India. Theses guidelines are informed by the other special waste management rules like biomedical waste management and handling rules 1998, e-waste management and handling rules 2011, etc. This rule has laid down the steps to be taken by all municipal authorities to ensure management of solid waste according to best practice. The rule directs the urban local bodies (ULBs) to establish proper systems of waste management. The responsibility of ULBs includes, collection of waste (door to door, ward based collection schedule), segregation of waste (including awareness building in the citizens for participation), storage facility (hygienic), transportation, processing and disposal. The ULBs are required to obtain authorization from the respective state pollution control board to set up waste processing and disposal facilities, and they must deliver annual reports of compliance. The state pollution control boards are directed to process the application of municipal authorities and to issue authorization to the municipalities within 45 days of the application’s submission. The CPCB is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the rules among the state boards. The municipalities were mandated to implement the rules by December 2003, with punishment for municipal authorities that failed to meet the standards prescribed.

 

 

The urban development departments of the respective state governments are responsible for enforcing the provisions of the rules in metropolitan cities. The district magistrates or deputy commissioners of the concerned districts are responsible for enforcing the provisions within the territorial limits of their jurisdictions. The state pollution control boards are responsible for monitoring compliance with the standards on groundwater, ambient air, and leachate pollution. They must also monitor compliance with compost quality standards and incineration standards as specified in the rules.

 

 

Box 1. Role of Municipalities in MSW management as per MSW rule 2000 Collection of Solid Waste

 

 

To prohibit littering and to facilitate compliance, municipal authorities must take the following steps:

 

  • Organize collection of MSW at household level by using methods such as door-to-door, house-to-house, or community bin service. Collection must be on a regular pre-informed schedule or by acoustic announcement (without exceeding permissible noise levels).
  • Give special consideration to devising waste collection in slums and squatter areas, as well as to commercial areas such as areas with hotels, restaurants, and office complexes.
  • Segregate at the source all recyclable waste, as well as biomedical waste and industrial waste, to prevent special waste from being mixed with ordinary municipal solid waste.
  • Collect separately all horticultural waste and construction or demolition waste or debris, and dispose of it following proper norms. Similarly, waste generated at dairies will be regulated in accordance with the state laws.
  • Prohibit burning of waste.
  • Do not permit stray animals at waste storage facilities.

Secondary Storage of Waste

  • With respect to secondary storage of waste, municipal authorities must do the following:
  • Make available sufficient storage facilities in accordance to the quantities of waste generated.
  • Provide covered storage facility so that waste is not exposed to open atmosphere.
  • Ensure that storage facilities are attended daily and are emptied and cleaned regularly. Ensure that storage facilities or bins are of an appropriate design for ease in handling,transfer, and transport.
  • Ensure that manual handling and multiple handling of waste are avoided or are done with proper safety and care.

 

Transport of Waste

 

The following rules apply to transport of waste:

  • Ensure that vehicles used for transport of waste are covered.
  • Ensure that waste is not visible to public or exposed to the open environment, thus preventing the scattering of waste.
  • Attend to storage facilities daily for clearing of waste. Empty bins or containers before they start overflowing.
  • Ensure that transport vehicles are designed so that multiple handling of waste is avoided before final disposal.

Waste Treatment

 

Waste treatment rules are as follows:

  • Ensure that biodegradable waste is processed by composting, vermi-composting, anaerobic digestion, or any other appropriate biological process for stabilizing waste. Compost or any other end product must comply with the standards specified in Schedule IV.
  • Ensure that mixed waste containing recoverable resources follows the route of recycling. Incineration with or without energy recovery may be used in special cases.

Waste Disposal

 

These rules apply to waste disposal:

  • Restrict landfilling to non-biodegradable and non-recyclable waste.
  • Ensure that landfilling meets the specifications defined in Schedule III.

 

2.0 Implementation status of the rule

 

Despite the deadline for implementation of the rule by December 2003, most of the municipalities failed to do so. The municipal authorities listed numerous reasons for failing to comply with the rule that are given in table 1.

Table 1. Reasons for non-compliance to MSW rule 2000 by municipal authorities (Source:
Asnani 2004)

 

MSWM refers to the entire process chain, comprising seven steps:

 

(1)   Waste segregation and storage at source

 

(2)   Primary collection

 

(3)   Street sweeping

 

(4)   Secondary waste storage

 

(5)   Transport of waste

 

(6)   Treatment and recycling options for solid waste and

 

(7)   Final disposal

 

 

All seven steps are equally important and should be coordinated. Most urban areas of the country have yet to take the first step of segregation and storage at source. Most often it is seen that houses and business establishments throw away their waste on to the streets, in drains, in open spaces, in water bodies, and in other inappropriate places. Segregation of recyclable waste at source is also not seriously practiced. However, people most often separate materials such as newspaper, glass bottles, empty tins, plastic bags, and old clothes and resell it. This is collected by the well-established network of informal sector through Kabbadiwalas as they are popularly known. Recyclable material not reaching this group ends in trash and landfill sites which is salvaged to some extent by rag pickers.

 

Due to lack of manpower street sweeping is not well organised in India. Most often only important roads and markets are swept daily. Some streets are swept on alternate days or twice a week, and some are swept occasionally or not at all. No planning is done to ensure that all streets are swept regularly. Although several locations have been identified for secondary storage of waste these are not evenly distributed. Also they are poorly designed and because the primary collection is not well established these sites are often poorly maintained.

 

Waste in the cities and towns is not transported on a daily basis. This is usually done using open trucks and that are loaded manually. Hence this service is performed very inefficiently and in an unhygienic manner.

 

Nearly 50% of the waste in the country is organic, which means if properly segregated it can be composted. The compost thus obtained is a good soil conditioner and nutrition enhancer which can benefit agriculture. Moreover, composting also reduces the area for landfill as the quantity of waste for landfill is reduced. However, this is not a popular practice although there are few cases of successful composting of MSW. Waste-to-energy technologies, such as anaerobic digestion, gasification, incineration, pyrolysis, and pelletization, are often pushed by vendors of waste treatment technologies.

 

However, they are yet to be proven under Indian conditions.

 

From the above discussions it can be drawn that indifference of municipal authorities, lack of community involvement and awareness, lack of technical knowledge, and inadequate financial resources are some of the major challenges that must be tackled for effective management of MSW. Authorities need to consider specialized strategies for different waste generators (households, shops and commercial establishments, industries, hospitals, and so forth) and appropriate measures for the different levels in the SWM chain (household level, neighborhood level, regional level, and so forth). They must also coordinate with the different actors in the management of waste throughout the waste management levels for proper management of MSW.

 

3.0 Revision of MSW rules 2016

 

Noting that the MSW management conditions of the country have not improved despite over 15 years of implementation of MSW rule (in 2000), a revision to this rule was enacted in 2016 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Some of the salient features of SWM Rules, 2016 include (PIB, 2016);

 

 

  1. The Rules are now applicable beyond Municipal areas and extend to urban agglomerations, census towns, notified industrial townships, areas under the control of Indian Railways, airports, airbase, Port and harbour, defence establishments, special economic zones, State and Central government organizations, places of pilgrims, religious & historical importance.
  2. The source segregation of waste has been mandated to channelize the waste to wealth by recovery, reuse and recycle.
  3. Responsibilities of Generators have been introduced to segregate waste in to three streams, Wet (Biodegradable), Dry (Plastic, Paper, metal, wood, etc.) and domestic hazardous wastes (diapers, napkins, empty containers of cleaning agents, mosquito repellents, etc.) and handover segregated wastes to authorized rag-pickers or waste collectors or local bodies.
  4. Integration of waste pickers/ rag-pickers and waste dealers/ Kabbadiwalas in the formal system should be done by State Governments, and Self Help Group, or any other group to be formed.
  5. No person should throw, burn, or bury the solid waste generated by him, on streets, open public spaces outside his premises, or in the drain, or water bodies.
  6. Generator will have to pay ‘User Fee’ to waste collector and for ‘Spot Fine’ for Littering and non-segregation.
  7. Used sanitary waste like diapers, sanitary pads should be wrapped securely in pouches provided by manufacturers or brand owners of these products or in a suitable wrapping material and shall place the same in the bin meant for dry waste / non- bio-degradable waste.
  8. The concept of partnership in Swachh Bharat has been introduced. Bulk and institutional generators, market associations, event organizers and hotels and restaurants have been made directly responsible for segregation and sorting the waste and manage in partnership with local bodies.
  9. All hotels and restaurants should segregate biodegradable waste and set up a system of collection or follow the system of collection set up by local body to ensure that such food waste is utilized for composting / biomethanation.
  10. All Resident Welfare and market Associations, Gated communities and institution with an area >5,000 sq. m should segregate waste at source- into valuable dry waste like plastic, tin, glass, paper, etc. and handover recyclable material to either the authorized waste pickers or the authorized recyclers, or to the urban local body.
  11. The bio-degradable waste should be processed, treated and disposed of through composting or bio-methanation within the premises as far as possible. The residual waste shall be given to the waste collectors or agency as directed by the local authority.
  12. New townships and Group Housing Societies have been made responsible to develop in-house waste handling, and processing arrangements for bio-degradable waste.
  13. Every street vendor should keep suitable containers for storage of waste generated during the course of his activity such as food waste, disposable plates, cups, cans, wrappers, coconut shells, leftover food, vegetables, fruits etc. and deposit such waste at waste storage depot or container or vehicle as notified by the local authority.
  14. The developers of Special Economic Zone, industrial estate, industrial park to earmark at least 5% of the total area of the plot or minimum 5 plots/ sheds for recovery and recycling facility.
  15. All manufacturers of disposable products such as tin, glass, plastics packaging etc. or brand owners who introduce such products in the market shall provide necessary financial assistance to local authorities for the establishment of waste management system.
  16. All such brand owners who sale or market their products in such packaging material which are non-biodegradable should put in place a system to collect back the packaging waste generated due to their production.
  17. Manufacturers or Brand Owners or marketing companies of sanitary napkins and diapers should explore the possibility of using all recyclable materials in their products or they shall provide a pouch or wrapper for disposal of each napkin or diapers along with the packet of their sanitary products.
  18. All such manufacturers, brand owners or marketing companies should educate the masses for wrapping and disposal of their products.
  19. All industrial units using fuel and located within 100 km from a solid waste based RDF plant shall make arrangements within six months from the date of notification of these rules to replace at least 5 % of their fuel requirement by RDF so produced.
  20. Non-recyclable waste having calorific value of 1500 K/cal/kg or more shall not be disposed of on landfills and shall only be utilized for generating energy either or through refuse derived fuel or by giving away as feed stock for preparing refuse derived fuel
  21. High calorific wastes shall be used for co-processing in cement or thermal power plants.
  22. Construction and demolition waste should be stored, separately disposed off, as per the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016
  23. Horticulture waste and garden waste generated from the premises should be disposed as per the directions of local authority.
  24. An event, or gathering organizer of more than 100 persons at any licensed/ unlicensed place, should ensure segregation of waste at source and handing over of segregated waste to waste collector or agency, as specified by local authority.
  25. Special provision for management of solid waste in hilly areas:- Construction of landfill on the hill shall be avoided. A transfer station at a suitable enclosed location shall be setup to collect residual waste from the processing facility and inert waste. Suitable land shall be identified in the plain areas, down the hill, within 25 kilometers for setting up sanitary landfill. The residual waste from the transfer station shall be disposed off at this sanitary landfill.
  26. In case of non-availability of such land, efforts shall be made to set up regional sanitary landfill for the inert and residual waste

 

Since the amendments are new, we need to wait and watch if the implementation of this revised rule will bring respite to the present state of municipal solid waste management.

 

 

4.0 Summary

 

This lecture familiarizes about:

  • MSW rule of India
  • The implementation status of this rule
  • Steps involved in MSW management
  • The amendments to this rule made in 2016

 

you can view video on Municipal waste (management and handling) rules

References

 

  1. CPCB (2012), Status report on municipal solid waste management in India http://cpcb.nic.in/divisionsofheadoffice/pcp/MSW_Report.pdf
  2.   Ramachandra,  T.V.,  Bachamanda,  S.,  2006,  Environmental  Audit  of  Municipal  Solid  Waste Management, CES technical report 112, http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity/pubs/ces_tr/TR118_SPoonancha/Index.htm
  3. Zhu, D., Asnani, P. U., Zurbrugg, C., Anapolsky, S., & Mani, S. (2008), Improving municipal solid waste management in India. World Bank, Washington, 1-8
  4. Census 2011, http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov results/paper2/data_files/India2/1.%20Data%20Highlight.pdf
  5. Asnani, P. U. 2004. “Status of Compliance of Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2000 in 127 Class 1 Cities in India as on 1-4-04.” Paper presented at the National Training Programme on Design, Construction, and Operation of Sanitary Landfills, jointly organized by the Government of India, the Central Pollution Control Board, the United States–Asia Environmental Program, and the Water and Sanitation Programme of the World Bank, at Panaji, Goa, India, May 24–28
  6. PIB, 2016, http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=138591
  7. United Nations Environmental Program (2013). “Guidelines for National Waste Management Strategies Moving from Challenges to Opportunities”