Solid waste management, in some of the Asian countries, is being oriented towards resource generation through inclusion of material and energy recovery systems under the strong impetus of several regulations. The sustainability of recycling sector depends on the cost-effectiveness which is governed by the economic status of a society. Hence in order to assess and analyze the status of recycling; the Asian countries could be well divided into two groups i.e. developing economies like India, China etc. and developed economies like Japan. As far as the municipal solid wastes is concerned, in the developed countries, there exists an organized method for collecting and processing some of the recyclables like paper; however; the commercial viability of such recycling technologies is not very certain. In case of developing nations like India, the recovery and recycling of various ingredients, like paper, glass and metals, has been practiced by the informal sector. However the percentage of these recyclable ingredients is very less in the municipal solid waste. On the other hand the economics does not permit the recycling of recyclables available in huge quantities in the solid waste. Hence the technologies for biological and thermal processing are being established through private sector participation. In case of industrial wastes every attempt is made to reuse or recycle the material discarded from the process provided it is economically feasible as the industries are always profit oriented concerns. Otherwise a least expensive path is adopted for the disposal. On industrial scene there is an awareness to incorporate recycling and waste minimization technologies to reduce load on otherwise expensive secure landfills.
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