According to a 2016 report by the Ministry of Environment, 62 million tonnes of waste every year is either uncollected or untreated in India. This number is estimated to rise to 165 million tonnes by 2030. This trend is fairly global - all over the world, people are producing more waste than ever. This waste is either dumped into landfills and water bodies, or is burnt. In landfills, it produces greenhouse emissions. In the seas and oceans, it kills marine life. When burnt, it releases toxic gases and particulate matter into the air, which causes respiratory diseases in humans. Although our waste consists of a myriad of things, plastic takes the centre stage in waste-related discourse. But plastic is only about 9% of the total waste, in addition to hazardous, biomedical and e-waste, etc. Environment-friendly alternatives are engineered, but fail to compete with existing materials. Municipalities and governments create laws and policy experts suggest stricter fines and rewards, but waste generation continues to grow and be a cause of worry for many.
Waste can be classified into three categories - wet, dry, and hazardous. Wet waste consists largely of biodegradable waste material from the kitchen - vegetable peels, stale food, tea leaves and coffee powder, tissues and paper towels, etc. Dry waste, on the other hand, is non-biodegradable (some of it may be compostable under ideal conditions) and consists of plastic and metal containers, tetra packs, old brushes and mats, foil, etc. Hazardous waste includes paints and thinners, broken glass, old tubelights, batteries, etc. Although per capita waste generation is influenced by multiple factors, almost half the waste (~41%) in each household is biodegradable wet waste. When trash is collected from houses, it is a mix of wet, dry and hazardous waste. Recyclables, such as plastic bottles, cardboard, etc. are segregated by middlemen, but the rate of recovery is only 10%. The rest of the mixed waste is dumped into landfills by government-appointed contractors. Here, it is allowed to rot and is occasionally burnt.
In the flow of waste, many parties suffer damage. Contractors are paid in proportion to the amount of waste they dump, which indirectly encourages less segregation. Whatever segregation does happen is carried out by waste-pickers without access to proper information, resources or protective gear. The landfills where the rest of the waste is taken are filling up rapidly, especially in metropolitan cities. The Ministry of Environment stipulated creation of new landfills, but with a booming population and migration, both humans and waste have nowhere to go. As a result, metros find it easier to send their trash to suburban areas. Lack of space also means that domestic areas and landfills are not demarcated very well. Families live and work in dumping yards, which emit methane and are breeding ground for microorganisms and insects. They also produce toxic leachate that makes the areas susceptible to natural and artificial fires. In addition to extreme poverty and malnutrition, children and adults suffer from respiratory and skin diseases, infections, and worm infestations. Waste that is dumped into water bodies affects marine life, and in turn, the livelihoods associated with it. As rivers such as Ganga and Yamuna become infested with garbage, fertility of the land around them is compromised. Take, for instance, Brahmapuram in Kerala. Known at one point for paddy cultivation and greenery, it turned into a giant dump yard and a “ghost village” due to waste from the nearby city of Kochi. Solid waste, coupled with a water treatment plant, killed the Chitrapuzha and Kadambrayar rivers. Similar stories can be found in every state in India. Our trash is affecting us in ways we fail to see. Unsurprisingly, those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder take the hardest blow, but those higher up are not spared, either. Our water comes laced with microplastics, our food, no matter how organic, is contaminated, and the air we breathe suffocates and chokes us.
There are three layers to dealing with the brewing waste management crisis - individual action, community action, and government/municipality action. The last set of waste management rules and guidelines for India came out in 2016. The need for waste segregation and landfills was acknowledged in the report. Following this, many state governments made waste segregation at source mandatory and the Supreme Court placed a ban on single-use plastic. Plastic bags are manufactured, sold and used in bulk even today. Segregation at source is poorly enforced, too. The small amount of waste that is segregated is mixed again at the dumping sites, due to callousness and a lack of awareness amongst garbage collectors. The enforcement of segregation and proper disposal in existing landfills are necessary large-scale measures. Kerala has a waste segregation success story to show - through rigorous segregation and decentralized disposal, the waste management problem is scaled down. Pipe composting and biogas plants process about 80% waste from neighborhoods and the rest goes ahead to be treated separately. New landfills are constructed to prevent the contamination of nearby land and groundwater from toxic by-products. Although not perfect or fullproof, the Kerala-model exemplifies the role of the civic administration in tackling trash. In addition to banning single-use plastic, the national government should also incentivize eco-friendly packaging for corporations. Initiatives such as Swachcha Bharat Abhiyan can target community action. Once waste disposal is decentralized, smaller communities such as residential colonies can carry out recycling and regular collection of hazardous and electronic waste. Finally, individual action is perhaps the most difficult and the most necessary. The 3 Rs- reduce, reuse and recycle are the foundation of individual action. The newly emerged zero waste lifestyle may be difficult, but reducing individual waste isn’t. Switch to no-waste or biodegradable waste alternatives (such as bamboo toothbrushes, menstrual cups, steel straws, tea leaves instead of tea bags, etc.). While giving up plastic or polythene completely can be difficult, not reusing plastic is a choice we make out of laziness. Reduced garbage production and proper segregation, coupled with composting and disposal in neighbourhoods and districts can ensure that our waste makes lands more fertile and livelihoods healthier, instead of the other way round. Together, we can reverse the waste production trends and flatten this curve, too!