Introduction

1 Introduction

Solid waste generation is a continually growing problem at global, regional and local levels. Solid wastes are those organic and inorganic waste materials produced by various activities of the society, which have lost their value to the first user. Improper disposal of solid wastes pollutes all the vital components of the living environment (i.e., air, land and water) at local and global levels. Urban society rejects and generates solid material regularly due to rapid increase in production and consumption. The problem is more acute in developing nations than in developed nations, as their economic growth as well as urbanisation is more rapid. This necessitates management of solid waste at generation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing, and disposal stages in an environmentally sound manner in accordance with the best principles of public health, economics, engineering, conservation, aesthetics and environmental considerations. Thus, solid waste management includes all administrative, financial, legal, planning, and engineering functions (Ramachandra, 2006; Ramachandra and Varghese, 2003).

The environmentally sound management of solid wastes issue had received the attention of international and national policy making bodies and citizens (Subramanian, 2005). At the international level, the awareness regarding waste began in 1992 with the Rio Conference, where efficient handling of waste was made one of the priorities of Agenda 21 (http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/agenda21.htm). The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 focused on initiatives to accelerate the shift to sustainable consumption and production, and the reduction of resource degradation, pollution, and waste (http://www.un.org/esa/ sustdev/csd/aboutCsd.htm). Priority is being given to waste minimisation, recycle and reuse, followed by the safe disposal of waste to minimise pollution.

The government of India has taken many initiatives and implemented new technologies and methods by giving loans for setting up composting plants to encourage proper management of solid waste since the 1960s (MoEF, 2005). The MSWM problem was compounded with rapid urbanisation. Due to increased public awareness of MSWM, a public litigation was filed in the Supreme Court, which resulted in the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000. Government, for the first time, now has included private organisations in providing this public service (DPCC, 2002). New methods of storage, collection, transportation, processing and disposal are being explored and implemented. It is necessary to evaluate the current process at this stage to understand if the methods being implemented are suitable for the Indian scenario and to identify the lacunae in the adopted methods. This requires an auditing of all functional elements of MSWM, considering the environmental constraints. An environmental audit of MSWM in Bangalore city was undertaken apart from evaluating the Indian MSWM scenario to understand the shortcomings.

Environmental auditing first began with the principle of ‘polluters pay’, to prevent liabilities towards the government. The companies voluntarily carried out audits of their operations and processes to prove that their products are environment friendly, with the increasing awareness of the public about environmental protection. Waste audits are undertaken for a variety of reasons, which is to

ensure regulatory compliance
compare actual practices to best practice guidelines
develop baseline generation data
identify waste minimisation opportunities
establish sustainable development indicators or bench marks (Ashwood et al., 1996).

In general, there are three different approaches for conducting a solid waste audit, namely

the back end approach, which measures the material generated by the entire facility, i.e., no attempt is made to assess the manner in which the wastes and recyclables are generated within the facility
the activities approach, which tracks the waste and recyclables as they are generated throughout the facility, by performing waste audits within each activity area, e.g., an office, warehouse, or cafeteria
the input/output approach, which tracks the material input and output associated with each activity area (CCME, 1996; Dowie et al., 1998).

Environmental audit was introduced in India to minimise generation of wastes and pollution. In this regard, a gazette notification was issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on March 13th, 1992 and later amended on April 22nd, 1993. This applies to an industry, operation or process requiring consent to operate under Section 25 of the water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 or under Section 21 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 (14 of 1981), or both, or authorisation under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986 (29 of 1986) (Srivastava, 2003). The notification requires that an Environmental Statement for the financial year ending on 31st March be submitted to the concerned State Pollution Control Board, on or before 30th September of the same year.

The improvement of solid waste management is one of the greatest challenges faced by the Indian Government. The Government and the local municipal authorities have taken many initiatives towards the improvement of the current situation (The Expert Committee, 2000). The private sector has been included in the management of the MSW recently. To understand the level of success in the initiatives, it is necessary to carry out an audit. An audit will identify and bring out the lacunae and the loopholes in the current system with respect to the compliance with environmental regulations, occupational health, resource management, pollution prevention systems and occupational health and safety. This could be one of the best ways to increase awareness about the most suitable approaches to MSWM, the issues likely to be faced and the alternative measures that can be adopted, considering the local scenario.

Developed countries have provided technical assistance in SWM to developing countries focusing on SWM as a technical problem with the assumption that the solid waste problem can be solved with mechanisation (Lardinios and van de Klundert, 1997). The ‘blind technology transfer’ of machinery from developed countries to developing countries and its subsequent failure has brought attention to the need for appropriate technology (Beukering et al., 1999) to suit the conditions in developing countries (type of waste, composition, treatment, etc.). Composition of the waste provides a description of the constituents of the waste; this varies widely from place to place as is evident from Table 1. The most striking difference that can be seen is the difference in organic content which is much higher in the low income countries than the high income countries, while the paper and plastic content is much higher in high income countries than low income countries. This shows the difference in consumption pattern, cultural and educational differences. In higher income countries disposable material, magazines and packaged food are used in higher quantities; this results in the waste having higher calorific value, lower specific density and lower moisture content. In the case of lower income countries, the usage of fresh vegetables to packaged food is much higher and mostly materials that are reusable are used. This results in a waste composition that has high moisture content, high specific weight and low calorific value.

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