Municipal Solid Waste Management in Salem City, India

Salem City in Tamilnadu is an ancient city and one of the selected Smart Cities of India facing a serious environmental threat due to improper disposal of the 335 MT per day of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation. The entire solid waste generated from the city has been dumped in an unscientific manner nearly for four decades in Erumapalayam land fill area (28 acres) which is located 12 km away from the city and presently it overflows with heaps of daily accumulation of MSW. Hence, in the present study an attempt has been made to convert the MSW of the city into bio-compost through vermicomposting technique and thereby aimed to implement waste to wealth practices in the city judiciously. The experimental works in the field on vermicomposting of MSW and the Cost Benefit Analysis of the same revealed that the vermicomposting process of MSW is an eco friendly, economical way of disposing the MSW of Salem City and upon implantation of the same in Salem City, it would yield a net revenue of Rs 450/MT/day over and above the routine operational expenses of Rs.706/MT/day to the Salem city municipal corporation.