Author(s)

A. Purandare & J. Purandare

Abstract

After the historic directive of the Supreme Court of India, the Ministry of Environment formed legislation in year 2000 regarding the handling and disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) to be followed by all the Municipal Corporations in India. In 2002, citizens lodged a complaint in the Bombay High Court against the Pune Municipal Corporation for non compliance of the law. This Corporation, which handles 1000 tons of MSW daily, appointed our firm to design and supervise the closure of the existing waste dump and to carry out a short-term and long-term landfill site development. This was the first scientifically designed and executed landfill and closure work in India. Apart from landfill development, a system was also designed for the segregation and recycling of waste in a manner that is unique to the Indian setting. The treatment of biodegradable organic waste by vermi-composting and composting has also been carried out by individuals and at the landfill site respectively. This model of waste management will be replicated at numerous places in India. A detailed cost analysis has been worked out for each section of the waste handling process to give guidance to more than 400 cities which have to incorporate the modern system of handling their MSW. Details of each of the stages provided could be beneficial in the development of MSW systems in developing countries. Keywords: landfill, solid waste, MSW, disposal, handling, cost, India. 1 Introduction Urbanisation is taking place at a very fast pace in India. The migration of people from villages to cities is putting a tremendous pressure on the infrastructure in all

Keywords

landfill, solid waste, MSW, disposal, handling, cost, India.