Municipal Solid Waste Management in Bhubaneswar, India - A Review
Municipal Solid Waste Management in Bhubaneswar, India - A Review
U. Mishra
Department of Civil Engineering, NIT, Agartala, India
P.R. Beuria
Airport Authority of India, Bhubaneswar, India
Abstract-In view of fast paced economic growth accompanied with rapid urbanisation, management of municipal solid
waste has emerged as one of the major environmental challenges of present times. Indian cities are often characterized by
poorly rendered services including waste management-the most ignored of all basic services, on account of various
reasons. The situation worsens with increasing population pressure in urban centers. Bhubaneswar is one such city of
Eastern India, having an inefficient, outdated and unscientific waste management system. This paper attempts to assess
the existing state of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in Bhubaneswar city with the aim of identifying the
main obstacles to its efficiency and the prospects for improvisation of the solid waste management system in the city. The
existing solid waste management system in the city is found to be highly inefficient. Primary and secondary collection,
transportation and open dumping are the only activities practiced that too in a nontechnical manner. This paper
systematically assesses the obstacles in the existing solid waste management system in Bhubaneswar city and also tries to
assess the potentials for its improvisation.
I. INTRODUCTION
Solid waste has been produced since the beginning of civilization. During the earliest periods, solid wastes were
conveniently and unobtrusively disposed of in large open land spaces, as the density of the population was low.
However, today, one of the consequences of global urbanization is an increased amount of solid waste. About 1.3 x
109 t of municipal solid waste (MSW) was generated globally in 1990 (Beede and Bloom, 1995), and, at present, the
annual generation is approximately 1.6 x 109 t. The urban population in Asia generates around 760 x 103 t of MSW
per day, and this is expected to increase to 1.8 x 106 t by 2025 (Pokhrel and Viraraghavan, 2005).
Fast paced economic growth accompanied with rapid urbanisation, although a global phenomenon, their
ramifications are more pronounced in developing countries. These are likely to account for 90% of the growth in
urban population estimated to double between 1975 and 2015. Such rapid, unplanned and haphazard urbanisation
brings challenges in the form of expansion of slums and additional pressure on the already overburdened urban
infrastructure. One direct outcome of growth in urban population is the corresponding increase in the generation of
municipal solid waste (MSW). At present, Indian cities generate an estimated 0.115 million metric tonnes of waste
per day and 42 million metric tones annually (3iNetwork, 2006). The per capita waste generation ranges between 0.2
and 0.6 kg per day in the Indian cities that is lower than that in developed countries. However, lifestyle changes due
to economic growth and fast rates of urbanization have resulted in per capita waste generation increasing by about
1.3% per year. The Tata Energy Resources Institute (TERI) has estimated that waste generation will exceed 260
million tones per year by the year 2047-more than five times the present level (3iNetwork, 2006; Metin et al. 2003;
Sakai, 1996).
It is also a fact that bigger the size of the city (population and density wise) generates more quantity of waste (Petts
and Edulijee, 1994; Aakeson and Nilsson, 1994). This is the phenomenon observed world over and India is no
exception to this. Cities with population more than 0.1 million generate a major portion of this generated waste
(Table 1). These contribute 72.5% of the waste generated in the country against the other 3955 urban centers
producing only 17.5% of the total waste. Improper disposal of waste has huge social costs due to the spread of
communicable diseases and increased treatment costs for pollutants, and is an issue of increasing concern (Assmuth
and Strandberg, 1993).
Table - 1 Waste generation in urban centers in India
Sl.No. Type of cities Tonnes/day Percent of total garbage
Mayer
Dy. Mayer
Commissioner
City Engineer Dy. Commissioner Secretary S.I.O PO. JNNURM CMMO CHO CFO
Env. Officer
III. METHODOLOGY
This study is based on both quantitative and qualitative data from primary and secondary sources. To investigate the
issue, a case study approach has been adopted by studying the situation in Bhubaneswar city in the state of Orissa,
India. The selection of Bhubaneswar for the purpose of this study was based on basic criteria: it is a fast developing
city in the state of Orissa and both, the city as well as the state have not been covered by existing literature on MSW.
Yet another critical reason for the selection of this city for case study is the fact that the city through its private
service provider is keen on developing a robust waste management plan in the near future. Therefore findings from
this research will feed into the process and facilitate taking informed decisions. As a methodology, in the absence of
any existing information on MSW in Bhubaneswar, a citywide profiling was taken up to understand the solid waste
characteristics, collection system, treatment processes, disposal methods and other management issues. The profiling
was based on the primary information collected during interviews with stakeholders namely Bhubaneswar
Municipal Corporation (BMC), Private Service provider, NGOs, Service Users, Informal Recycling sector, District
Administration, and Regulatory Agency. Information about policy, legislation and general information on waste
management was collected from various government reports and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. Information
about waste quantities and characteristics was collected from the Corporation, based on a survey conducted by the
I.I.T-Roorkee. The information was supplemented with observation visits to the wards and other sites and field
studies were also conducted by the Authors to understand the various issues regarding collection, transportation and
disposal of municipal waste.
Survey research method is employed to collect data at the household level. The city is sub-divided into five zones
for administrative purpose. All the five zones have their own special features. These five sub-divisions together have
60 wards. An attempt was made to select households from selected wards from all five zones.
Purposive sampling technique has been employed for the selection of 12 wards. Wardwise list of households were
obtained from the Municipal Corporation and simple random sampling technique was employed for the selection of
300 households from the selected wards.
IV. MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT OF BHUBANESWAR
Urbanization and industrialization influence the quantity of city garbage produced. In India, Mumbai, with a
population of 13.8 million, is the largest (8,000 t d-1) MSW generator. Delhi generates 6,000 t d-1 of MSW for a
population of 10 million, Chennai generates 4,000 t d-1 for a 5.8 million population, and Hyderabad produces 2,200
t d-1 for a 4.2 million population (Chattopadhyay et al., 2007). The MSW generation rate in Bhubaneswar is about
360 g per capita per day (gpcd) and the total generation is about 3,00 t d-1 .
Source: BMC
To analyze the physical and chemical composition of wastes in Bhubaneswar city, wastes generated from different
sources, such as, different income-groups, commercial waste, waste from industries, waste from vegetable markets,
collection depots and disposal site have been considered. Variation of physical composition of MSW in
Bhubaneswar is presented in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. It has also been observed that the average density of municipal
wastes in the city based on test results is found to be 480 kg/m3 & 600 kg/m3 wet & dry weather respectively. This
average density is close to that in other Indian cities of comparable size whose average waste density is 425 kg/m3
(MOUDPA, 2000). However the possible reasons of variation in density of wastes might be due to the small sample
size, and secondly due to the higher amount of cow dung, wet waste and inert materials in the containers at the time
of sampling.
180
160
140 BD
Waste Quantity in Tons
NBD
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Domes
tic nal rcial nts s
Temple Marriage Hall
s
Instituio Comme Hotel/Restura
Figure 3. Comparision of Bio-degradable (BD) and Non-biodegradable (NBD) Waste at different sources in Bhubaneswar
350
Physical Compsiton of Waste in gm per 1000 gm
Wet
Dry
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
table er tile tics tible ss al le ous
Pap Tex Plas bus Gla Met stib ane
men mbu cell
Fer Com Inco Mis
Figure 4. Physical composition of different type of wastes in MSW (Wet and Dry condition) in Bhubaneswar
Table 3 shows the chemical composition of MSW. The carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio is within the ideal range (26–31)
for composting (CPHEEO, 2000) except the residential area.
B. Waste collection-
Source-separated collection means that the generated waste is first classified and stored separately as biodegradable
and recyclables of different types and collected separately for further treatment/reuse/recycle/disposal. However, in
the study area segregation of waste is absent at generators level and collection level. The collection of generated
waste and its overall management is shown in Fig. 5.
Reuse
IWBs/Kabadiwalas Local
Recyclers
To other
Districts/states
Rag Pickers
(a) Residential: Households throw the daily waste generated on the roads or nearby containers (collection depots-
reinforced concrete containers, open depots, etc.) from where it is collected and taken in hand carts by the municipal
sweepers to the secondary storage points or directly transported to the dump site. Door-to-door collection is
practiced in few wards.
(b) Commercial and market waste: Commercial waste is dumped at various collection points or just thrown away
along roadside. Market waste and waste generated by the street-food vendors, which is highly organic in nature is
littered. The clearance of such waste is the responsibility of the Corporation.
(c) Bio-medical: All the biomedical wastes from the hospitals and nurshing homes are being collected , treated
and disposed by a biomedical waste processing facility which has been authorized by Orissa Pollution Control
Board Bhubaneswar. However some non-hazardous bio-medical waste along with the municipal waste is collected
by by the municipality.
(d) Industrial: Hazardous industrial waste though comes in separate category and is not included in municipal waste.
However, it is observed that in the study area industrial units discard their hazardous and nonhazardous waste along
with the municipal waste.
(e) Institutions: These organizations also throw the waste generated in nearby collection depots/storage points from
where it is collected by the municipal crew for further transportation and disposal.
(f) Road clearing and public places: Municipal sweepers collect the road clearing waste in handcarts and waste from
public places to the nearest secondary collection depot for further transportation to disposal site.
(g) Construction waste: The city is littered with huge heaps of construction waste like ballast, sand, bricks, or other
leftover materials, which the owners feel may come in handy sometime. It lies unattended for days and months
together or is lifted by the private contractors on payment basis. Thus, currently all the waste is collected in a mixed
state.
Primary collection
Primary collection of wastes comes under the purview of the Health department of BMC. The primary waste
collection of the city is headed by a Chief Health Officer. Twelve Sanitary Inspectors are assigned to different
zones, reporting directly to the Chief Health Officer. Each Sanitary Inspector presides over Zamadars. The
Zamadars are assigned to a number of wards. The sweepers and loaders are assigned to beats and report to the
Zamadars.
Four different types of containers with varying capacities are used for waste storage. BMC has provided cylindrical
bottomless and lidless concete waste bins of 91.5 cm height and 83.9 cm diameter having 5 cm thickness. In
addition to that opentype containers with capacity of 1.0 m3, 3.0 m3 and 4.5 m3 have been provided on wide roads
sides which are taken by dumper placer to the transfer station or disposal sites. The civic body has also 30 big bins
for waste collection. The research study reveals that there are 348 collection points available in the city. At present,
only one sweeping machine is operating in the city.
Secondary collection
The Sanitation department of the Municipal Corporation looks after also the task of secondary collection and
disposal of wastes. Various types of vehicles such as trucks of 6 MT capacity, minitrucks of 4MT capacity and
tractors with trailers of 3MT capacity are used for secondary collection and disposal of wastes in Bhubaneswar city.
At present, the civic body has six mechanized vehicles (hook loader lorries) for disposal of solid waste.
D.Disposal-
There is no sanitary landfill in Bhubaneswar city. The city does not have even controlled dumps. Waste is simply
dumped at two designated sites (Tulasadeipur and Salia Sahi) without compaction where no soil cover is used. No
visual or environmental barriers and no provision for leachate checking is available. Besides the above official dump
sites, it is observed that the city is also having few unofficial dumpsites. Burning of waste in containers, on
roadsides and small dumps is often practised by the residents and also by the municipal sweepers.
E.Problematic areas -
1. Improper disposal practice: Identification of the site(s) for landfill and dumping is currently being practiced in
Bhubaneswar purely on the basis of easy availability of open spaces, without any scientific land-suitability
considerations at all. Landfills do not exist and give way to more dangerous and polluting open dumps. The current
practices of open dumping often leads to a number of problems like air, water and ground pollution, spread of
diseases through rodents and other vector carriers, increased risk of respiratory diseases, increased emission of
greenhouse gases, loss of real estate value of adjacent land, poor esthetics and built environment. All these problems
pertaining to open dumping is observed in the study area.
2. No treatment facility for MSW: There is no treatment facility for the processing of collected waste in the study
area.
3. Ineffective collection system: The existing collection system in Bhubaneswar city suffers from many problems.
Some of them are illustrated as under:
(a) It is observed that collection points are not conveniently located and the surroundings of containers are very dirty
as heaps of garbage is seen lying all around them. The problem is compounded by residents’ apathy on their role in
waste management. Throwing of waste on the streets and outside home, shops, etc., is a common practice.
(b) The walls and floors of the concrte containers are mostly damaged or broken, which makes the lifting of waste
by loader difficult. Besides, the depots become inaccessible during monsoons.
(c) Municipal workers, especially sweepers are found to be ill-equipped. The handcarts are usually in poor shape due
to lack of maintenance. Besides, it is extremely difficult for women sweepers to handle the handcarts due to its poor
design and small capacity.
(d) Rag-pickers who collect recyclables from the secondary storage containers often result in spreading of waste
outside the waste collection points leading to further littering.
(e) Field studies show that there is shortage of vehicles resulting in low collection of wastes.
(f) There is also shortage of manpowers such as sanitary staffs, sweepers etc.
(g) Route planning is not observed.
(h) Only day shifts is practiced in Bhubaneswar city, which often results in road blockages and longer time for waste
collection in busy and congested areas.
(i) Waste transportation in open trucks result in lot of littering.
V.RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Segregation of waste at source: Source-segregation of the waste under various heads-biodegradable, recyclables
and hazardous should be implemented immediately. To improve awareness among the residents about the
importance of source-segregation, a proper Information Educational Campaign to sensitize the people through print
and multi-media, educational campaigns in schools and colleges, etc., and through religious leaders, is
simultaneously required.
2. User-fee system : Owing to the poor financial status of the Corporation and to make SWM more economically
sustainable, it is required to introduce a user-fee for waste collection and management. However, the fee must be
charged in accordance with the income-groups so that the poor section is not deprived of the facilities, as most of the
people are willing to pay user fee if the waste collection facility is improved.
3. Improving the collection system: There is an immediate requirement to improvise the primary and secondary
collection system with or without the participation of private contractors.
4. Adoption of an integrated waste management system: There is an urgent need to appoint SWM expert to look for
optimal solutions for an integrated SWM plan of the city. Use of geographic information system (GIS) facility in the
Corporation is recommended for optimal route planning and networking of collection and transportation of waste.
5. Database generation: Formation of database on the waste quantity, quality from various sources separately is
also recommended in the study area with regular updating to keep a track on the achievements/obstacles. The
corporation requires computerized weighbridges to weigh the quanity of wastes collected & disposed per day.
6. Participation of all stakeholders: Stakeholders in an integrated SWM include participation of residents, Resident
welfare associations (RWAs), Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Community-based organizations (CBOs),
private contractors/ organizations, government authorities and the informal waste-recycling sector. Stakeholder’s
participation is strongly recommended for better implementation of various programs and policies and improvement
in waste management in a cost-effective manner.
7. Decentralized treatment plants: Under the existing conditions, composting is the most recommended method for
treatment of organic wastes in the study area.
8. Compliance of MSW rules: To achieve better compliance of MSW rules by people, powers need to be given to
the Corporation to levy spot fines on the polluters. Increase in awareness among the people about the ill-effects of
mismanagement of solid waste can also result in better compliance and cooperation for implementing various
programs and is therefore, recommended.