Solid waste management practices and decision-making in India

One of the most significant problems in urban India is poor Solid Waste Management (SWM) systems that are leading to environmental, health and economical issues. The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into the SWMs and practices in India, and the challenges faced. The review focuses on three major areas: solid waste characteristics; SWM systems; and decision-making. The two major issues at source are the increasing amount of waste, and the changing composition of the waste streams. The issues in waste logistics are due to poor waste segregation, unregulated waste transportation, and incompatible and outdated transportation technologies. Sustainable waste processing and disposal practices are yet to be adopted and are facing numerous implementation and operational challenges. There is a need to understand the operational issues in waste processing and disposal so that better technological development and adoption at a macro level is made possible. The decision-making practices and solutions generated in India are unscientific or based on piece meal approaches. Inefficiencies in waste management systems are primarily due to poor alignment between requirements, constraints and operations in the SWM system. A scientific SWM design that meets the fundamental requirements to handle a variety of waste, to be environmentally friendly, and is economically and socially acceptable, is needed. A robust SWM system design places emphasis on active public participation in decision-making, and operational integration of its subcomponents.