Solid waste legislation in India: An outline

摘要

India is the first country in the world to amend its Constitution to add a clause for protecting the environment (Bhave and Kulkarni, 2015). In Indian cities particularly in metropolitan areas, land is a constraint due to which establishing transfer stations and landfill sites become a problem. The charges paid by the citizens are not in proportion with the amount of waste generated by the individuals. This discourages recycling and composting of waste. Such kind of low or non-involvement of stakeholders has been identified as a major problem in implementation of solid waste laws in India. The low awareness of the local governing bodies and the citizens towards solid waste management is also one of the reasons. Moreover, since India is a developing country, recent technological developments are often unavailable. A system similar to Green Dot system in European countries, where manufacturers are important stakeholders in recycling process, needs to be established.