New Approach to Solid Waste Management in India: Use of Economic Instruments

Urbanization and rapid economic growth in India has led to the problem of burgeoning solid waste in Indian cities. This problem of solid waste is very acute in metropolitan cities due to growing material wealth, high concentration of population, limited financial, technical and managerial resources for waste management and nonavailability of land for waste disposal. Cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru have landfills which have crossed their capacity and the urban local bodies are unable to start new landfills. There are numerous stakeholders involved in solid waste management but the nodal responsibility lies with the urban local bodies. Urban local bodies due to inefficiency and technical, managerial and financial limitations have not been able to provide the service efficiently. In India, the instruments used for reducing waste are of command and control type and flat user charges, with no incentives for the household to reduce the waste. It is now the importance of innovative management approaches and instruments have been realized and more and more countries are adopting these approaches for a sustainable solid waste management. With the Swachh Bharat Mission, there is now an enhanced focus on cleanliness and managing solid waste has become a priority. In this paper, I will be looking at the importance of economic instruments for a sustainable solid waste management in Indian cities.