Focus on Andhra Pradesh (AP) & AP Pollution Control Board uses Data from this Research

This research has found that Andhra Pradesh state (urban) generates about 11,500 tons per day (TPD) solid waste, which is about 9% of all solid waste generated in India. I'm glad to see this data put to use by The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) on their website. On an average, every person in Andhra Pradesh generates 570 grams per day of waste, compared to Tamil Nadu (630 g/day) and Jammu & Kashmir (600 g/day). Andhra Pradesh is among the southern Indian states which together generate 560 g/day per person, the highest waste generation rate compared to East, North and West India.

Conveyor belt to transport Refuse Derived Fuel into the Waste-to-Energy boiler at the Plant (in Elikatta village) near Hyderabad

 Greater Hyderabad, which is the largest metropolitan area in Andhra Pradesh generates about 5,000 TPD of waste (1.83 million tons per year), followed by Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, which generate 1,200 TPD (440,000 tons per year) and 700 TPD (250,000 tons per year) respectively.
Andhra Pradesh has been a leader in applying waste management technology
with the help of its special technical wing called Andhra Pradesh Technology Development and Promotion Centre (APTDC). Andhra Pradesh state was the first to host two Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants, one near Hyderabad and the other between Vijayawada and Guntur.

Hyderabad & Vijayawada

The RDF combustion plant for Hyderabad is built 50 km away in a village called Elikatta in the district of Mahabubnagar and receives RDF from the processing facility inside the city, whereas the  combustion facility at Vijayawada receives half of the RDF from the processing plant situated nearby and the other half from the plant in Guntur, 40 km away. Both these combustion plants are designed to handle 700 TPD of RDF and supplementary biomass to produce 6 MW of electricity.
The author visited the plant at Hyderabad in which the waste is dumped at ground level and fed into a traveling grate, stoker fired boiler by inclined  conveyors (Figure  34). Both facilities generated above 6.6 MW (more than design power) during their initial years of operation. Even though the plant at Hyderabad is not running, the boiler is still working and is operated twice every month to maintain the machinery.

The reasons for the failure to operate the plant are mechanical problems in the  condenser and leaks in the piping, which if replaced will get the plant running. A condenser is a common component in process industries and is not unique to WTE plants.

Halting operations of these projects increased the solid waste management woes of the respective municipalities. Improper waste management all over India impacts public health, results in environmental degradation and wastes valuable resources. Andhra Pradesh alone buries 4.7 million barrels of oil every year due to the absence of waste-to-energy plants which can use this renewable* source of energy. The state also loses 830,000 tons of compost which can be used as a fertilizer due to the absence of source separation and composting facilities. It also loses 625,000 tons of recyclables each year, which is an economically valuable secondary raw material in industry.

Visakhapatnam

Landfill fires at the Kapuluppada Village dumpsite near Visakhapatnam

A beautiful valley in Kapuluppada village near Visakhapatnam is now a 80 acre landfill, which burns continuously, emitting particulate matter, and other pollutants like dioxins and furans. This landfill has been operating since 2002/2003 and is about to reach maximum capacity. Finding more land for waste disposal will be next to impossible for the municipal corporation, considering the geographical location of Visakhapatnam, with the Bay of Bengal on one side and fertile agricultural lands all around it and the booming real estate sector. While Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) still has to design a comprehensive waste management plan, the GHMC, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has to facilitate the implementation of the integrated solid waste management contracts it has already signed with private enterprises.

The silver lining is that there are more integrated waste management contracts and WTE plants in discussion than earlier. One such is a new RDF - WTE project, which is under development near Hyderabad by RDF Power Projects Ltd. This plant is expected to generate 11 MW of energy by combusting waste.

* Refere to Section 4.7 here.