Management of Municipal Solid Wastes

Collection of Municipal Solid Wastes

Littering of municipal solid waste shall be prohibited in cities, town and in urban areas notified by the State Governments.  To prohibit littering and facilitate compliance, the following steps shall be taken by the Municipal Authority, namely:-

Organising house-to-house collection of municipal solid wastes through any of the methods, like community bin collection (central bin), house-to-house collection, collection on regular pre-informed timings and scheduling by using bell ringing of musical vehicle (without exceeding permissible noise levels);

Devising collection of waste from slums and squatter areas or localities including hotels, restaurants, office complexes and commercial areas;

Wastes from slaughter houses, meat and fish markets, fruits and vegetable markets, which are biodegradable in nature shall be managed to make use of such wastes;

Bio-medical wastes and industrial wastes shall not be mixed with municipal solid wastes and such wastes shall follow the rules separately specified for the purpose;

Collected waste from residential and other areas shall be transferred to community bin by hand fdiven containerised carts or other small vehicles;

Horticultural and construction or demolition wastes or debris shall be separately collected and disposed off following proper norms.  Similarly, wastes generated at dairies shall be regulated in accordance with the State laws;

Waste (garbage, dry leaves) shall not be burnt;

Stray animals shall not be allowed to move around waste storage facilities or at any other place in the city or town and shall be managed in accordance with the State laws.

The Municipal authority shall notify waste collection schedule and the likely method to be adopted for public benefit in a city or town

It shall be the responsibility of generator of waste to avoid littering and ensure delivery of wastes in accordance with the collection and segregation system to be notified by the municipal authority as per para 1(2) of the Schedule.

In order to encourage the citizens, municipal authority shall organise awareness programmes for segregation of wastes and shall promote recycling or reuse of segregated materials.  The  municipal authority shall undertake phased programme to ensure community participation in waste segregation.   for this purpose, regular meetings at quarterly intervals shall be arrange by the municipal authorities with representatives of lacal resident welfare associations and non-governmental organisations.

Municipal authorities shall establish and maintain storage facilities in such a manner as they do not create unhygienic and insanitary conditions around it.  following criteria shall be taken into account while establishing and maintaining storage facilities, namely:-

Storage facilities shall be created and established by taking into account quantities of waste generation in a given area and the population densities.  A storage facility shall be so place that it is accessible to users.

Storage facilities to be set up by municipal authorities or any other agency shall be so designated that wastes stored are not exposed to open atmosphere and shall be aesthetically acceptable and user-friendly;

Storage facilities or 'bins' shall have 'easy to operate' design for handling, transfer and transportation of waste bins for storage of bio-degradable wastes shll be painted green, those for storage of recyclable wastes shll be painted white and those for storage of other wastes shall be painted black;

Manual handling of waste shall be prohibited.   If unavoidable due to constraints, manual handling shall be carried out under proper precaution with due care for safety of workers.

Transportation of Municipal Solid Wastes

Vehicles used for transportation of wastes shall be covered.  Waste should not be visible to public, nor exposed to open environment prevention their scattering.  the following criteria shall be met, namely:-

The storage facilities set up by municipal authorities shall be daily attended for clearing of wastes.  The bins or containers wherever placed shall be cleaned before they start overflowing;

Transportation vehicles shall be so designed that multiple handling of wastes, prior to final disposal, is avoided.

Municipal authorities shall adopt suitable technology or combination of such technologies to make use of wastes so as to minimize burden on land fill.  Following criteria shall be adopted, namely:-

The biodegradable wastes shall be processed by compositing vermicomposting, anaerobic digestion or any other appropriate biological processing for stabilization of wastes.  It shall be ensured that compost or any other end product shall comply with standards as specified in Schedule-IV;

Mixed waste containing recoverable resources shall follow the route of recycling.  Incineration with or without energy recovery including pelletisation can also be used for processing wastes in specific cases.   Municipal authority or the operator of a facility wishing to use other state-of-the-art technologies shall approach the Central Pollution Control Board to get the standards laid down before applying for grant of authorisation.

Land filling shall be restricted to non-biodegradable, inert waste and other waste that are not suitable either for recycling or for biological processing.  Land filling shall also be carried out for residues of waste processing facilities as well as pre-processing rejects from waste processing facilities.  Land filling of mixed waste shall be avoided unless the same is found unsuitable for waste processing.  Under unavoidable circumstances or till installation or alternate facilities, land filling shall be done following proper norms.   Landfill sites shall meet the specifications as given in Schedule-II