City needs waste management system, say experts

Mumbai needs to develop an efficient solid waste management system, and fast. According to experts from The Energy and Resource Institute, Delhi, The Environment Management Centre and the National Waste Association, the city's dumping grounds are running out of space.

Mumbai city generates nearly 10,000 million tonnes of garbage each day that is unsegregated and toxic. Prime minister Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and 100 Smart Cities initiatives have only served to increase the need for an efficient waste disposal system that will have the technology that can also process e-waste.

Shantanu Roy, senior vice-president, Environmental Management Centre, said that most waste disposal solutions across the country are either partial or complete failures. He added: "What is required now is for us to begin again. For waste disposal to be successful and holistic, it must be taken up as a business. Only then will the right amount of research and development be devoted to the problem."

About the problems with the current system, he said, "India is a country with 6 different climatic zones, it's unrealistic to believe that what will work in Delhi's hot, dry climate, will also work in Kerela's humid climate. Therefore, it's important that a system needs to be implemented which is area specific."

Explaining that blindly imitating the systems adopted in Europe and America won't work, GS Gill, advisor, TERI, said: "Even policy-wise, there needs to be some amendment; the last amendment to the waste disposal policy was made in 2009 and even this policy is unclear."

These points were brought up at a panel discussion organised by TERI. The panelists also discussed the growing importance of the rightful disposal of e-waste and the dangers of using maltreated waste used as compost.