GHG emissions in the municipal waste sector are quantified based on the sampling of 1967 households in Greater Bangalore chosen through multistage, stratified random sampling. The outcome of the analysis showed the daily solid waste generation from 1967 residential households in surveyed area of Greater Bangalore was about 772.2 kg and the per capita of 91.01 ± 45.52 g/day. The analysis revealed that the organic fraction (82%) constitute a major portion of household wastes. The total organic waste is 632.92 ± 0.210 kg/day with the per capita organic waste generation of 74 ± 35 g/person/day. This emphasise the need for appropriate treatment option to minimise GHG emissions.
Most of the households (64%) in the study area have the facility of door to door collection of solid waste and about 78.34% of city population do not segregate the waste at source (household level). The decision makers should bring awareness among citizens and pourakarmikas (BMP staff) through capacity building workshops highlighting the importance of segregation at source level and promotion of recycling and reuse methods. This will reduce the quantity of waste and burden on landfills while ensuring the sustainability of natural resources. Further the study has revealed the relationship between waste generation and socio-economic factors. The family income and family size are positively related and the education status is negatively related with per capita waste generation at household level. The average carbon dioxide equivalent emission from household is 307.50 ± 205.51 kg/year and per capita emission is 66.33 ± 36.61kg/year. Further research is necessary to evaluate the seasonal variation in solid waste generation and composition as well as relationship between household waste generation and socio-economic factors at household level during different time period. The implementation of functional elements (such as segregation at source, storage, treatment of organic fractions, etc.) would aid in reducing GHG emissions.