India’s generates 3.5 million tons of plastic waste every year, but only 30% of it gets recycled. In cities like Delhi, waste generation per person (as of 2020-2021). Yet, despite rising numbers, many of our waste management practices remain outdated or underused.

According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the amount of waste dumped in landfills has decreased by 25% between 2015-2016 and 2020-2021. While this drop might seem positive at first glance, the lack of proper alternatives has led to dumping in fertile and productive lands, worsening land degradation and pollution.

What Is Waste and Why Should We Manage It?

Waste is a substance discarded after use—often detective, worthless or simply unwanted. It’s not just a physical burden but also a psychological one, tied to habits of overconsumption and poor disposal.

The Basel Convention (1989) defines waste as any substance or object that is discarded, intended to be discarded, or required to be discarded under national law.

Types of Waste Management

There are five main categories of waste and corresponding management strategies:

1. Liquid Waste: dirty water, wash water, and organic liquids
2. Solid Rubbish: jars, glass bottles
3. Organic Waste: food waste, garden waste
4. Recyclable Rubbish: masonry, metal, paper                                                     

     5.Hazardous Waste: toxic chemicals, electronic rubbish.

Why Does Waste Management Matter?

Effective waste management is essential for:

Environmental Protection:

If there will be effective waste management it may prevent pollution of air, water, and soil. It will help in reducing its impact on ecosystem and biodiversity.                                                                                                          

Resource Conservation:

By using waste management methods such as recycling and reusing materials, reduces the need of raw material. It helps in conserving natural resources and energy.

Energy Savings:

Practices such as recycling and waste-to-energy technologies help in saving the energy we get from fossil fuels, such as carbon, petroleum, which directly reduces pollution as well.

Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

Proper waste management helps in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases like methane, which highly affect climate change by trapping heat.

Health and Safety:

Dumped waste in open areas causes various problems for the people living there. It can lead spread of various hazardous diseases, water contamination, air pollution and a rise in the population of insects. So, waste management can save us from all these problems.

Economic Benefits:

It generates job opportunities in industries and organizations that work for waste management

Sustainable Development:

Waste management helps in various energy productions, which saves the use of non-renewable resources, and it also saves land resources. It helps in reaching various sustainable development goals and ensures the well-being of the current and future generations.

How to do Waste Management?

Due to various environmental factors and the type of waste, different types of waste methods or techniques are used. They are as follows:

Recycling

This technique includes a collection of waste from different places then according to their form of matter, they are recycled. In various places all around, waste is recycled through various companies such as Veolia of France, Waste Management Inc. of North America, SEUZ Recycling and Recovery, which is a worldwide leading corporation in waste management, operating in 70 countries.

Composting

In this method, organic wastes are separated from other waste and are settled in a pit for decomposition by various microorganisms for a long period. This technique also helps in maintaining the fertility of the soil since the decomposed matter works as natural manure for the soil. There is another type of composing method that is Vermicomposting, which helps in balancing the environment.

Landfilling

Dumping the waste in the solid waste is known as landfilling. The wastes are arranged systematically on the lined-up base with a protective layer. This technique is highly used in China and various other countries to dump various chemical, biological, industrial, and municipal wastes.

Incineration

In this method, the waste is burnt at a high temperature. It is done with the proper use of air filters to avoid air pollution. Degradation technologies such as plasma, hydrothermal and biodegradation are proven as effective resources of MSWI fly ash (Zhang, Zhang & Liu).

Bioremediation

The process of using various microbes, such as bacteria, for removing the impurities, pollutants and poisons from soil, water and other resources is called bioremediation. It is effective in reducing waste.

Waste-to-energy

This is the process in which waste is used to create different types of energies, such as heat, electricity, from the primary treatment of waste. In November 2022, India had 12 operational and 8 non-operational WTE (waste to energy) plants. GOBARdhan plant is Asia’s largest municipal and solid waste-based plant that produces 17,000 kg of Bio-CNG every day.

Roadmap for Progress:

Region based awareness campaigns:

Since India is a diverse country with various cultural practices and languages so, we can conduct waste management campaigns which can include street plays, visual representations and many more according to the region we are addressing to connect with the emotions of the audience.

Government Initiatives:

The government can take initiatives by creating few strict laws for making people aware about the importance of waste management. They can also take initiatives by generating employment in the sector which includes jobs such as different types of waste collectors, e-waste recycling etc.