This is my post on the
Global WTERT Council (GWC) Blog.
Some countries have achieved considerable success in solid waste
management. But the rest of the world is grappling to deal with its
wastes. In these places, improper management of solid waste continues to
impact public health of entire communities and cities; pollute local
water, air and land resources; contribute to climate change and ocean
plastic pollution; hinder climate change adaptation; and accelerate
depletion of forests and mines.
Compared to solid waste
management, we can consider that the world has achieved significant
success in providing other basic necessities like food, drinking water,
energy and economic opportunities. Managing solid wastes properly can
help improve the above services further. Composting organic waste can
help nurture crops and result in a better agricultural yield. Reducing
landfilling and building sanitary landfills will reduce ground and
surface water pollution which can help provide cleaner drinking water.
Energy recovery from non-recyclable wastes can satiate significant
portion of a city's energy requirement. Inclusive waste management where
informal waste recylcers are involved can provide an enormous economic
opportunity to the marginalized urban poor. Additionally, a good solid
waste management plan with cost recovery mechanisms can free tax payers
money for other issues.
Solid waste management
until now has only been a social responsibility of the corporate world
or one of the services to be provided by the municipality and a
non-priority for national governments. However, in Mumbai, the
improperly managed wastes generate
22,000
tons of toxic pollutants like particulate matter, carbon monoxide,
nitrous and sulfur oxides in addition to 10,000 grams of carcinogenic
dioxins and furans every year. These numbers are only for the city
of Mumbai. This is the case in cities all across the developing world.
There are numerous examples where groundwater is polluted by heavy
metals and organic contaminants due to solid waste landfills. Solid
waste management expenditure of above
$ 1 billion per year competes with education, poverty, security and other sustainable initiatives in New York City. Fossil fuels for above
500,000 truck trips covering hundreds of miles
are required to transport NYC's waste to landfills outside the city and
state. Similarly, New Delhi spends more than half of its entire
municipal budget on solid waste management, while it is desperate for
investments and maintenance of roads, buildings, and other
infrastructure.
Solid waste management is not just a
corporate social responsibility or a non-priority service
anymore. Improper waste management is a public health and environmental
crisis, economic loss, operational inefficiency and political and public
awareness failure. Integrated solid waste management can be a nation
building exercise for healthier and wealthier communities. Therefore, it
needs global attention to arrive at solutions which span across such a
wide range of issues.
