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Environmental Implications of Mismanagement of Municipal Solid Waste |
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1Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences [CES],
2Centre for Sustainable Technologies, 3Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP),
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560012, India.
*Corresponding author: cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Unauthorized dumping locations and quantity: There were 270 large recorded open dumpsites around the outskirts of the city. These dumps were located in all four zones (North-East, South-East, South-West and North-West) of the city periphery as given in Table 1. South-East zone was having largest number of open dumps, followed by North-East zone of the city. These open dumps include plastics, organics, construction wastes, fresh indeterminate, old waste and rejects from recycling units. Waste quantity was also determined based on visual size of the dump as exact measurement at all theses sites are risky and time consuming. Average density of waste was computed at lab scale experiment to convert waste volume to waste quantity. A large part of it appears to be from the recycling units rejects. About 83557 t wastes is scattered around Bangalore city, which is significantly a large quantity. Construction waste was second highest quantity disposed in illegal dumpsites of Bangalore, it was around 9490 t. As per Municipal Solid Waste (management an handling) rule, 2000, construction waste is not supposed to mix with municipal solid waste, but in most of the places wherever municipal waste was there, there was accumulation of construction waste. A change from centralized waste management to decentralized waste management planning can help to avoid unauthorized waste dumping.
Table 1: Zone wise unauthorized waste disposal sites based on survey
| Waste categories |
Zone wise occurrence of waste disposal sites and waste volume |
Total volume (m3) |
Total quantity (tons) |
| NE |
SE |
SW |
NW |
| No. |
Volume (m3) |
No. |
Volume (m3) |
No. |
Volume (m3) |
No. |
Volume (m3) |
Mixed Fresh
(Indeterminate) |
9 |
108.3 |
16 |
2512.1 |
8 |
1066.2 |
4 |
401.1 |
4088 |
1656 |
| Wet Organic |
20 |
451.3 |
26 |
34.9 |
2 |
1.1 |
6 |
121.4 |
609 |
247 |
| Construction Waste |
28 |
2305.0 |
16 |
1361.1 |
19 |
5203.8 |
13 |
620.1 |
9490 |
9490 |
| Plastic |
16 |
94.5 |
49 |
90.4 |
7 |
105.7 |
10 |
169.7 |
460 |
41 |
| Old |
1 |
200.1 |
1 |
10.6 |
0 |
0.0 |
2 |
51 |
262 |
157 |
| Other |
5 |
112.7 |
5 |
159.8 |
3 |
420.3 |
2 |
57.3 |
750 |
338 |
| Recycling |
3 |
159126 |
2 |
48.1 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0.00 |
159174 |
71628 |
| Total |
82 |
162398 |
114 |
4217 |
38 |
6797 |
36 |
1420 |
174832 |
83557 |
Blockages of drainage channels: Total of 97 points around the drain were observed and this observation during floods gave a detailed understanding of the extent of the problem. Among the study locations, 37 was slow flowing, 47 were moderate flow and only 9 locations had rapid flow patterns. The slow and moderate flow streams observed were all encroached upon and were substantially silted and littered with solid wastes. Waste was observed in almost 95% locations, which include plastic and cloths blocking the path of drainage channels. However at a few places Styrofoam, building debris and organic wastes along with plastic and cloth were choking the flow path. Urban flood has become regular phenomenon in Bangalore city, where collection of waste is unsatisfactory. Drains adjacent to slums are prone to dumping of wastes regularly, suggesting of poor or absence of collection facility. Availability of efficient collection and treatment can only minimize illegal dumping of wastes
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Citation : Shwetmala, Chanakya H.N. and Ramachandra. T.V, 2012. Environmental Implications of Mismanagement of Municipal Solid Waste., Proceedings of the LAKE 2012: National Conference on Conservation and Management of Wetland Ecosystems, 06th - 09th November 2012, School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, pp. 1-6.
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