Management of municipal solid waste in emerging mega cities: A case study of Delhi

The concept of sustainable development has created more concern on environment among the people in recent years. In the urban cities higher disposable income and changed pattern of life has resulted in high rate of consumption. Cities are now growing under the problem of air pollution and handling of solid waste. India is the second fastest growing economy and the second most populated country in the world. The population of India is expected to increase from 1029 million to 1400 million during the period 2000 to 2026, an increase of 36 percent in 2026 at the rate of the 1.2 percent annually (Census of India, 2001). About 742 million people live in rural areas and 285 million live in urban areas. The level of urbanization of the country has increased from 17.6% to 28% in the last 50years and is expected to rise to 38% by the year 2026. The urban population in India generated about 114,576 tonnes/day of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the year 1996, which is predicted to increase 4-fold to about 440,460 tonnes/day by the year 2026 (Talyan et al. 2008). This tremendous increase in the amount of MSW generated is due to changing lifestyles, food habits and living standards of the urban population. The collection efficiency is below 50 percent (CPHEEO, 2000).

An important feature of India's urbanization is the phenomenal concentration of the population in Class I cities (metropolitan cities), urban agglomeration/cities having a population of more than 1 million, as depicted by the increase in the number of metropolitans from 23 to 35 in the last decade. Among these metropolitan Greater Mumbai is India's largest city, followed by Delhi with 13.8 million populations. This Increase in population levels, rapid economic growth and higher community living standards have greatly accelerated in the generation rate of municipal solid waste. Presently, management of municipal solid waste is one of the crucial and important part of urban management in developed and developing countries because of its impact on public concern for the environment. It is an issue of day to day life and involves each and every citizen. The solid waste management process includes all the six functions from generation to disposal. In Delhi the municipal solid waste generated is 6000–8000 metric tonnes per day and among the Indian metropolitan cities, it is on the top in terms of generation of municipal solid waste. The purpose of Municipal Solid Waste management (MSW) system is to improve the present practices of MSW in that prevail in many developing countries where it has received sufficient attention. This paper describes the present scenario of the SWM practices carried out in the NCT of Delhi. It also describes the solid waste collection, transportation, treatment and disposal methodology adopted in Delhi. The Present study also describes the correlation between population and waste generation, population and dustbins/dhalaos and population and safai-karamcharies.