Domestic Waste

Population growth, rapid urbanization and other development  activities during the past few decade have been responsible for environment pollution  and resources degradation. The  rapid urbanization has seriously aggravated the problem of municipal or domestic garbage disposal & management. Municipal solid waste consists of kitchen waste, fruit and food waste, house sweeping, glass, paper, plastic, metal, rags, packing material, etc. 

A large volume of domestic solid waste is generated in  both urban , as well as rural areas. It includes organic and inorganic waste. Local bodies are responsible for its management within a city. In Punjab, there are total 138 local bodies which includes 4 municipal corporations, 100 Municipal committees( A, B,C), 30 nagar panchayats, 3 cantt. board and 1 BBMB. As per the latest data from PPCB (2003), 3017.05 tones of municipal solid waste is generated daily in Punjab. Out of this, the 4 municipal corporations ( Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala) account for 1830 Tones per day(TPD) generation of MSW in Punjab.  All the other districts of the state generate the remaining 1137.5 TPD municipal soild waste. The Ludhiana alone generates 29% of total MSW generated in the state. The percentage generation of MSW in Punjab from various cities is shown in the pie chart.    

 In urban Punjab, the  household, shopping centre, offices, street waste, etc  is generally dumped outside houses or at some collection site, and is left for municipal authorities for taking it to a common dumping ground.  It is common to find solid waste dumps near towns and cities. These dumps are mostly in depression or in open grounds. Wide spread land, air and water pollution is caused from these dumps. The dumping sites are not properly managed nor  have been planted with suitable plant species to help in quick degradation of solid waste by way of creating conducive for the growth of micro- organism besides providing greenery. Appropriate post dumping practices are also seldom performed causing perpetual problem of air and water pollution. The physical and chemical composition of the urban waste is given below: 

                      Physical Composition of MSW generated in Punjab 

               Chemical Composition of MSW generated in Punjab 

                                                       Source: PPCB 2003

 There are 12729 villages in Punjab according to 2001 census. In rural Punjab garbage , which includes household waste, cattle dung, agro waste, etc, is being managed by personal efforts of the residents. The household  waste, as well as cattle ding is generally collected outside the house/ village at earmarked places for the whole year.  the most part of the cattle dung is made into dung cakes for use as fuel, the rest is collected for subsequent use in agricultural fields as manure. The characteristic feature of rural solid waste is that it is generally free from glass, metal or other non-biodegradable material.  Although this garbage is getting managed year after year, still there is a lot of scope and need for improvement. The garbage & dung pits create an unpleasant sight and odour if not covered properly and contribute to slush during rainy season. 

The MSW exert specific environment and health impacts including spread of epidemics and therefore, required to be properly managed and disposed of following precise procedures, arrangements and measures to prevent environment degradation and health hazards. MSW is, however, not being appropriately managed due to inadequate finances, inadequate training of personnel, lack of performance, monitoring, inadequate emphasis on preventive maintenance, etc. At present most of the solid waste is being disposed off in an unscientific manner.