Waste Management – A Growing Concern
In the country’s most urbanized state, with more than 48.5% of people living in the Urban & semi-Urban Sectors, it is essential to manage and improve the waste management activities to free up the world from waste.
The practices of Waste Management transformed with the use of tech-stack waste clearing technologies to repurpose the waste efficiently.
Waste management is not collecting and dumping waste into landfills. It Implies a lot.
Waste Management is the process that involves
- Collection
- Transportation
- Segregation
- Disposal
- Treatment
All the Above waste management practices need smart monitoring and regulation systems to prevent waste flaws.
Smart Waste Management in Tamil Nadu
Waste management practices stood up high around Tamil Nadu over the recent years.
Waste evolves in all forms. Dealing with each type of waste varies to transform the waste into a valuable resource.
Seamless Smart waste management practices involve,
- Prevention of Waste
- Source Segregation
- Reuse
- Recovery
- Recycle and
- Proper Collection
With 15 Corporations, 152 Municipalities and 561 town panchayats, Tamil Nadu is striving hard to get the waste rid of streets and roads.
Effective Solid Waste Management in Tamil Nadu
To Confront the solid waste generation, the Tamil Nadu government plans to deploy a separate substantial waste management corporation like Goa. Due to the recent increase in solid waste deposition paved the way to look into solid waste management seriously.
Continuous Increases in population and the per capita income resulted in the deposition of large amounts of solid waste, causing an unavoidable threat to environmental quality.
Municipal Solid Waste management has become a major mystery for the urban, semi-urban and rural sectors.
General Composition of Municipal Solid waste collected,
Biodegradable waste – 50%
Inert Materials – 30%
Paper – 5%
Rags – 5%
Glass – 4%
Plastic – 3%
Metal – 1%
Leather and rubber – 1%
Household hazardous waste – 1%
More than 14,600 tonnes of Municipal solid waste is generated in Tamil Nadu daily. Managing the Complete municipal solid waste is the principal goal for the urban local bodies & frontrunners of Municipal waste management.
With minimum technical facilities, financial restrictions and a lack of action plan against waste management, the ULBs are facing persistent challenges in minimizing the waste deposition.
As per the Ministry of environment, the government of India enacted the solid waste management rules in 2016, that the solid waste is either reliable end-of-life products or semi-solid waste, sanitary waste, Institutional waste, commercial waste, residential waste, market, agricultural waste, bio medical waste, construction and demolition debris, e-waste, radioactive waste and non-residential waste to undergo waste treatment methods to extract optimum resource from the trash.
At Present, a major part of Tamil Nadu’s Municipal solid waste is managed and disposed of Unscientifically.
Decentralized system for Solid waste management
As an Initiative Government of Tamilnadu onboarded a group of members to protect the environment from Municipal solid waste. Board of Municipal solid waste measure and monitor complete solid waste management practices from collection to treatment and disposal.
Authorized higher officials will lead the team to frame the waste policies and take action against improper solid waste management.
Solid waste management policy comprises downscale waste deposition’s two most beneficial features.
- To perceive the Decentralized waste processing method
- Bio-mining to address the difficulties faced in waste management
A key feature of their implementation strategy has been building community awareness about this new and more effective waste processing method.
Detailed micro-planning at each stage of waste collection, transportation, and processing has ensured that solid waste management boards collect unmixed waste from door to door and ensure that it remains unmixed throughout all phases of collection, transportation, and processing.
The problem of adequate waste management cannot be solved so long as collection and transportation remain in the traditional role of civic bodies. Decentralized processing has been a key feature of our strategy for waste management.
Plastic Waste Management
While the responsibility to manage plastic waste has been spread across various sectors and institutions in India, waste management policies are still at an early stage. In the 2016 plastic waste management rules, the local authority was responsible for establishing the necessary infrastructure to segregate, collect, store, transport, process, and dispose of plastic wastes locally.
The environmental problems arising from indiscriminate use and disposal of throw-away plastics have been recognized. An intensive awareness campaign has been launched by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. This campaign focuses on preventing the use of throw-away plastics and eco-friendly substitutes for plastic items.
The crackdown on E-waste Management in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu: The second-largest producer of E-waste in the country after Maharashtra, is likely to have E-waste Inventory to monitor the Illegal dumping crisis of E-waste.
India produces over 2 million tons of E-waste, around which only 4.38 lakh tonnes are recycled and reutilized. The remaining e-waste is buried or dumped into the landfills, polluting the land and water bodies.
In India, Maharashtra produces 19.8% of India’s E-waste. Tamil Nadu stands second with 13%.
The largest E-waste producing states in India are,
Maharashtra – 19.8%
India – 13%
Uttarpradesh – 10.1%
West bengal – 9.8%
Delhi – 9.5%
Karnataka – 8.9%
Gujarat – 8.8%
The E-waste Inventory in Tamil Nadu will quantify the regulations of E-waste generation from collection centers, dealers, manufacturers, producers, Bulk suppliers, retailers, refurbishers and recyclers.
Waste – The Infinite resource
Proper Waste Management practices in Tamil Nadu scale up with effective waste prevention methodologies by the government, Municipal corporations and field workers.
All local bodies have started preparations for the construction and operation of compost plants on identified sites. They have also begun to identify secure land areas for building landfills. To prevent water pollution, the municipal commissioners have been instructed to take action against non-segregated municipal solid waste disposal in low-lying areas and water bodies.
Municipalities have started source segregation of solid wastes generated within their limits partially or fully.
“Zero Waste Landfill” in Tamil Nadu is closer than you think.