Waste Management Policies in India: Can we address the implementation challenges?

摘要

Government of India (GoI) initiated efforts for proper management of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) during the 4th five year plan (1964-74) by providing financial supports and later in continuation, an expert committee was set up to review the problems related to MSW sector especially in urban India. Further, National Scheme of Solid Waste Disposal (1975-1980) by GoI proposed the setting of composting plants. GoI also constituted a high-powered committee on urban waste, which made 76 recommendations, covering eight important areas of waste management. National Waste Management Council (NWMC) was constituted in 1990 and proper management of MSW was one of its priorities. In continuation "Bajaj committee (high powered)" was constituted in 1995 to review the urban Solid Waste Management practices. Bajaj committee come up with number of recommendations including the need of source segregation, door-to-door collection, involvement of NGO and private agencies and proper design of transporting vehicles and composting of waste. In 1999, "Burman Committee" also stressed on the composting of solid waste, as it is considered easiest and most appropriate technology to deal with a majority of our waste.