Protests by people affected by landfill for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) at Mandur have rudely woken up the city fathers to the political risks which this kind of disposal of MSW poses around Bangalore. They were aware of the environmental risks long ago, but those were not sufficient to propel them into action. The problem is not Bangalore-specific. Not much thought has been spared within the country to the task of tackling the monumental problem of solid waste that is accumulating around our cities. The mountains of garbage will not go away by simply pushing the issue under the carpet. Certain policy imperatives are called for to tackle the problem on a national scale.
Landfills and incinerators (or combustors as they are known at some places) suffer from a poor public image. Both these solutions — if they are at all solutions — have fallen out of favour in most countries of the developed world.
The abandoned quarries or ravines that were often used as landfills are susceptible to surface-water runoff or to chemicals leaching into the groundwater. A survey of the 850 municipal landfills in the U.S. had revealed that three-quarters of them polluted groundwater, two-fifths were polluting surface water and one-sixth violated air emission standards. But even in the American context, the political risks of landfills and combustors are rated higher than the environmental risks.
Safer optionsIt is where local composting, waste-to-energy plants and recycling are considered safer options for dealing with MSW issues. In 1986, only three States in the U.S. had mandated local recycling programme but by 1990, 28 States had made it so. A number of measures have been initiated to encourage recycling. One among these is procurement preferences for recycled goods. Some of the States allow five to ten per cent higher price allowance for office or computer paper or similar State purchases that make use of recycled material. This implies that markets for products made from the recycled material and State must chip in to jump-start such industries.
Studies by business schools in the U.S. reveal that aluminium enjoys a high recycling rate — between 25 and 40 per cent — because collection and recycling of aluminium works out cheaper than mining and processing bauxite. Paper and paperboard are also recycled at a rate between 20 and 28 per cent. Some States require that newspapers with daily circulation of over 15,000 must use newsprint with recycled content of 10 per cent and reaching 50 per cent by 2025.
Advance disposal fee is also common, especially for beverage containers. It is also applied in case of pesticide containers, lead acid batteries, used oil and tyres. Eleven States have adopted handling fee or deposits. Deposit system discourages illegal or improper disposal.
Waste products that are discarded improperly have higher social costs than those disposed of properly. As such, discarded waste can become an eyesore or an environmental threat. Secondly, it diverts the recyclable items from the waste stream and enables the recovery of the useable resources at cheaper cost.
There are certain policy imperatives to be understood clearly. First among these is to understand that central objective of MSW Management should be to protect public health and welfare. The policy should not be guided by the economics of the recyclability. Public health is predicated upon protection of environment.
Secondly, cost-effectiveness is the first principle of MSW Management because resources are finite and they must be allocated to their most productive users.
Market considerationsAnother very important point to be understood while laying down a policy is that potentially everything is recyclable, but everything is not economicallyrecyclable . Only such market considerations will attract private partners into the process. Ignoring these market signals will actually lead to waste of other valuable resources e.g., energy, water, or human and physical capital. Thirdly, the cost of MSW management must be passed on to waste generators i.e., households, industries and commercial enterprises on a pay-as-you-throw basis. Only such an approach would send out the appropriate signals to those who can alter their purchasing patterns and consumption styles and reduce the amount they dispose of.
Finally, the local governments or civic bodies are the only agencies that can think of effective ways of tackling solid waste. The State or the Union Government can be merely facilitator or disseminator of the information.
