Journal of Global Resources
Volume 6 (01)August 2019-January 2020
Page 58-63
UGC–CARE Listed Journal in Group D
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

09
STUDYING THE MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMIN MEERUT CITY, UTTAR PRADESH
Usha Rani1 and B. W. Pandey2
Research Scholar, 2Associate Professor,
Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Email: ushar489@gmail.com, bwpdsegeo@gmail.com
1

Abstract: Solid waste is the unwanted and discarded solid materials generated from different
places such as household, residential, industrial and commercial; activities in a given area.
Meerut is the second largest city in the National Capital Region (NCR) after Delhi. Meerut
Municipal Corporation (MMC) also known as Meerut Nagar Nigam (MNN) is sole agency forcollection, transportation and disposal of solid waste management. The purpose of the paper is
to analyse the status of municipal solid waste in Meerut city. Data was collected from different
organisations and through primary survey. Out of total municipal wards, 250 respondents fromdifferent income groups (HIG, MIG & LIG) have taken into account in order to know the groundrealities and their perception. Observation method and discussion was conducted with the MNN
officials. The total amount of waste generation is directly related to the density of population,
economic status and land use pattern of the particular area. There is positive correlation between
waste generation and socio-economic development. Per capita of municipal solid was 0.46 kg
per capita/per day in 2006 which touched the figure of 0.53 kg per capita/per day. All the highpopulation density wards have high rate of waste production and low density of population zones,
corresponding with low quantity of waste generated. The street sweepings and collection of
garbage from the receptacles are carried out by the sanitary workers of civic agencies in
Meerut. In this stage, collection is not very efficient even though large numbers of private
sweepers are engaged in waste collection from door to door at a nominal charge, particularly in
big apartments and group housing societies.
Key word: Solid Waste, Generation, Collection, Dustbins, Disposal, Meerut
Introduction
Land resources are the most important features of environment which is utilized for thesatisfaction of human wants (Pandey, 2014). Urban environmental sustainability assessment isincreasingly a part of urban planning, from the perspective of mitigating local and global
impacts. Today, 54 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, which is expected toincrease to 60 per cent by the year 2030. The urbanization has several negative impacts onenvironment in which urban solid waste management is considered as one of the most serious
and challenging issues confronting municipal authorities in developing countries (Bhat and B.,2018). Waste is an unavoidable by product of most human activities. (Anand, 2010).Nowadays,
solid waste management is a problem of major relevance for all local and national authorities.
Solid waste management fall under the sustainable development goals 6 and 7 about the cleanwater and sanitation and affordable and clean energy. In urban area, there are several
problems such as lack of adequate housing facilities, large scale unplanned haphazard urban
sprawl and illegal encroachments, increasing no of vehicles leading to vehicle congestion andcrowding, Lack of access to treated water supply and depletion of water level, Inadequate
health and sanitation facilities, limited land space and increasing pressure on ecologicalservices, lack of comprehensive solid waste management systems. Many cities face theproblem of uncollected municipal solid waste littered. Tourists are many problems including
solid waste management in Dharamsala town. Wastes generated from different activities
concentrate human health hazards and have negative implication on the man and environment(Anand and Singh, 2012). Markandey (2016) prepared a report of the work which has been
done during the 2012- 2016 on urban geography, including the waste disposal. She found that
researches in India connect the issues at global problems in urban areas. Saxena and Khan
(2016) have found that quality of life (QOL) determined by various factors including the waste
disposal facilities. They have done a research to find the out spatial pattern of environmental
58degradation and its impact on QOL, taking the case studies of Sriganganagar, Bharatpur,
Bikaner, Kota and Tonk cities of Rajasthan. It is found that in all the cities, chosen for study,
waste collection and disposal facilities are unsatisfactory. Improper disposal of municipal solid
waste creating unsanitary conditions, and these conditions in turn can lead to environmental
pollution and to outbreaks of vector-borne disease, spread by rodents and insects.
Managing the solid waste is one of the necessary services provided by civic agencies in
the country to keep urban areas clean. In India, cities and towns generate on an average 300- 500 grams of solid waste per capita per day, which is approximately 80,000 metric tonnes perday. About ¾ of the MSW generated in urban India is collected and disposed off in nonscientifically non – proper managed dumping grounds. Spreading the waste is leading toinsanitary living conditions.
Study Area
The district Meerut lies between 28º 54’ and 29º 15’ north latitudes and longitude 77º 77’ and78º14’ east longitudes. On the north it is surrounded by the district of Muzaffar nagar and on
the south by Ghaziabad, in the east by district Bijnor and Jyotiba Phule Nagar, in the west by
district Baghpat. As per Census of India 2011, Uttar Pradesh has 199.6 million inhabitants,having 75districts in state and these are grouped into 18 divisions, which includes Aligarh,
Azamgarh, Allahabad, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Chitrakoot Dham, Jhansi, Devi Patan,
Faizabad, Bareilly, Basti, Vindhyachal (Mirzapur), Moradabad, Meerut, Lucknow, Varanasi
and Saharanpur. It is about 70 kilometres away from Delhi. Meerut is rectangular in shape.
Meerut Nagar Nigam covers an area of 142 square kilometres (District Census Handbook
Meerut, 2011). According to Census of India, it is having 13,05429 population in 80 municipal
wards but at present the number of wards are 90.
Data Sources and Methodology
Keeping in mind the aims and objectives of this research study, it is based on primary as well
as secondary data sources. The ground trotting of the research cannot be achieved without
intermingle the primary data in the investigation. A number of studies have concluded that there
is dire need to conduct the research on status of management of solid waste in Meerut city.
Present paper is based on primary as well as secondary data sources. Secondary datacollected from government, semi-government and private publications from Meerut Statistical
Handbook, and Census of India etc. Required data and comprehensive information andpublished available materials related to municipal solid waste management collected from
Meerut Municipal Corporation (MMC), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), State Pollution
Control Board (SPCB), and others. Data and information taken from Meerut nagar nigam,
regional centre for urban & environmental studies, Lucknow. In order to know the groundrealities, field work and primary survey was conducted in study area. Out of eighty municipal
wards, nine have been selected on random basis, selecting three from each group (HIG, MIG &LIG). Total 250 respondents from different municipals wards from different incomes groups
have been taken into account. Observation and PRA methods have been used to know theexisting situation. Discussion was done with the MMC officials. The processing of collected
data was taken up with various tabulation, mapping and graphical representation work like line
and bar graphs, flow charts and pie diagrams.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Generation of Urban Municipal Solid Waste
Municipal solid waste management includes the steps: collection, segregation, storage,transportation and disposal of the waste materials. The urban population in India generated
about 1,14,576 tonnes per day of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the year 1996, which ispredicted to increase four-fold to about 4,40,460 tonnes per day by the year 2026. The
composition and generation of solid waste influence by the land use, population size, family
size, socio- economic conditions, dietary habits, lifestyle of the people. Floating population also
contributes to waste generation in the city as a big percentage of population come for jobs andgo back after short period of time; generally, they buy packaged food items. In 2006, thegeneration amount of municipal solid waste was recorded 554 metric tonnes per day from thearea under the Meerut nagar nigam, which has been proposed to be increased to 865 metrictonnes/day in 2019, so, 56 per cent (311 tonnes/day) increased during the 13 years, and further
this amount is increasing at fast rate. Per capita of municipal solid was 0.46 kg per capita/per59

day in 2006 which touched the figure of 0.53 kg per capita/per day (Fig. 1). As per one
estimate, by year 2021, there will be 1150 metric tonnes of solid waste in the city.
There are spatial variations in the quantity of the municipal solid waste generation in thearea under MMC but one thing is clear that highest waste quantity comes from highly populated
wards. During the field work, it was noticed that amount of waste generation per capita washigher in the high developed areas such Civil Lines, Shastri Nagar, Saket. Segregation of wet
waste from dry waste is important and the household practicing segregation depicts thethoughts, behaviours and willingness of family member on importance of waste segregation.
Composition of waste includes both degradable and non-degradable, degradable includes thewaste from kitchen, garden, restaurant, and non- degradable consist recyclable such as paper,
plastic, board, metals, but at present majority of the households in Meerut city give mixed waste
to waste collectors. As per JANNURM City Development Plan for Meerut the moisture content
of was 45 per cent, which indicates the waste is feasible for composting. People were not using
two different bins in their houses for the segregation of waste such as bio-degradable and nonbio- degradable waste category. At household level majority of families use only one dustbin for
disposal of waste with minimum segregation. The waste collectors also segregate only
recyclable waste from dustbins and dump all the remaining waste at unauthorized spots. There
should be enhancement of awareness regarding the segregation process of waste at source(household) level, because low level of awareness causes low participation of people.
Figure 01: Per Capita Generation of Municipal Solid Waste in Meerut City

Waste Generation Per Capita (2006-2019)
Waste Generation Per Capita(Kg/Day)

0.54
0.52

Waste Generation Per Capita Kg/Day

Linear (Waste Generation Per Capita Kg/Day)

0.5

0.48
0.46

0.44
0.42
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Collection and Transportation of Municipal Solid Waste
In all the municipal wards of Meerut, waste is being collected by the door to door collection
methods through the Tata vehicles. Waste collectors start the work since in morning 9 am to 1
pm. Apart from MMC workers, private sweepers are also working in the area. Even somefamilies give their garbage to private sweepers. It has been observed that highly populatedareas have less number of dustbins and dhalos as compared to low population density areas in
Meerut. As per MMC officials, people steal and sell the iron made dustbins to the junk dealers
in the night time in LIG area. Highly populated areas have narrow street, where door to door
collection system through Tata vehicle is being hindered. The people throw their waste outside
the house or on road, street, drains or nearby vacant plots. There are found many heaps ofsolid waste at various places, it was lying on streets, roads creating the hurdles for the people.
During the field work, it has been found that people of Low Income Group (LIG) areas havemore grievances for the collection and disposal of solid waste as compared to High Income
Group areas. The difference between HIG and LIG is clearly observed in terms of availability of
waste infrastructure and management in the Meerut city. 31 and 33 per cent respondents toldthat there is Trice a day and Daily waste collection from dustbins by the MMC respectively.
Most residents drop the waste outside their residence, which in-turn is swept away by street
sweeping and lifted by means of handcart rickshaw trolley by Nagar Nigam workers to the
nearby opens dumps. 85 per cent respondents also argued that there is prevailing of
unhygienic insanitary conditions in the study area.
60

Solid Waste Disposal System
After the collection of waste next process is disposal of the solid waste. Proper waste collection
and disposal is a great challenge for the concerned civic agencies in the Meerut city. Due topoor collection and inadequate transportation the accumulation of MSW is a major problem inhighly populated areas of city. Management of municipal solid waste is critical due tounavailability of treatment and disposal facilities for MSW which is generated regularly inmetropolitan cities. Landfill methods have been practiced since ancient period but landfill liner
will leak, allowing hazardous waste to percolate and contaminate the groundwater (Bhat andB., 2018). The unscientific waste disposal has adverse effects on all components ofenvironment i.e. air, water, soil and land etc. and even to human health. The waste of city is
increasing but land for disposal is decreasing, therefore, the problem of management ofmunicipal solid waste will be acute in coming future. About ¾ respondents reported that now
waste disposal has become a critical problem in the Meerut city (Fig. 2).
Figure 02: Respondent’s view of on Criticality of Waste Problem

Respondents

Waste Disposal a Critical Problem

200
150
100
50
0
yes

no

can't say

The entire waste is dumped in out skirts of city. The solid waste is dumped in landfills
without sorting or treatment leading to air, land and water pollution/foul odour. The collectedmunicipal waste from the city is landfilled at Lohia Nagar Hapur road, near Gaushi Pur village
and Gawdi. These sites pose unhygienic condition to local people. In future, proposed land for
disposal of waste can be finding out in other directions in the Meerut district. One MNC official
told that it is matter of great concern that Meerut city generate huge amount of municipal waste
and but so far we have not installed any composting plant whereas like a Municipality in
Ghaziabad installed a composting plant while it generate only 250 tonnes of waste.
Availability of Infrastructure for SWM
In urban local bodies (ULBs) solid waste management sector occupies primary focus but
suffers from lack of adequate community involvement and constraints with required funding
and respect to safe disposal. The drains of Meerut city play very significant role as bigger sinkof solid waste. There is different waste infrastructure which is engaged for the management ofmunicipal solid waste. Under the area of MMC, total 315 drains are there. In order to clean thedrains, porklane/fassi machines uses for the big drains while small drains cleaned by JCB.
Presently, 9 JCB are working for the cleaning the drains. There are 24 big drains, having the45.9 kilometres length which are generally cleaned by JCB, Big porklane and fassi machines
while 195 drains with 142 kilometres distance are cleaned by the small porklane and remaining
are 53 of about 51 kilometres long which are cleaned by sanitary workers of Nagar Nigam(MMC, 2018). Out of total 314 machines which includes JCB, loader, R.C., D.P., Truck, Tractor
trolley, Tata ACE, porklane, fassi etc. for using the garbage cleaning. 136 are in Suraj Kund
depot, 121 in Delhi vehicle depot and remaining are Kankar Khera depot (Table 1). There are
160 Tata vehicles which are being used for the collection of garbage from door to door in all themunicipal wards of Meerut Nagar Nigam.
As per the information received from the MMC, There are two categories ofsafaikaramcharis (SKs) permanent and outsourcing, 945 are permanent safaikaramcharisand approximately 50 per cent are working in 33 municipal wards while only 101 SKs areworking in Kanker Khera zone, all the safaikaramcharis mark their attendance through the61biometric. It is realized that there is pressing need of requirement of recruitment of morenumber of staff and vehicles in collection, transportation, disposal, treatment process.
Table 01: Availability of Resources for Sanitation Management in Meerut city#

Vehicles Names

Suraj Kund
Vehicle Depot
1.
JCB
4
2.
Loader
3
3.
R.C.
2
4.
D.P.
4
5.
Truck
15
6.
Tractor Trolley
28
7.
Tata ACE
66
8.
Robot
3
9.
Large Pork lane3
10. Small Porklane (jeep)00
11. Small Porklane (Chain)
5
12. Dozer
1
13. Fassi Machine
14. Fassi Machine (Small)1
15. Sweeping
1
Total
136
Source: Meerut Municipal Corporation, 2018

Delhi Road
Vechicle Depot
3
2
4
10
22
66
3
3
1
5
1
1
121

Kankar Khera
Vehicle Depot
2
1
1
3
4
10
28
2
1
1
4
0
57

Total
9
4
5
11
29
60
160
8
7
2
14
2
1
1
1
314

Conclusion
During the primary data collection it was also observed that the socio- economic conditions
play an important role in waste composition and generation. Mixed waste is reaching at landfill
sites as the residents throw garbage improperly without segregation and even all the houses
are not in the services for door to door collection in the study area. The present infrastructure
for collection, storage and transportation of waste is not as per requirement of the people; itneeds repairs, enhancement in capacity and up gradation. Spreading the waste is leading toinsanitary living conditions. At present, there are found many hotspots, mainly in low
income area where proper collection and disposal of waste is needed. Having analysed, it is
now realized that there is urgent need to have a healthy and resource-efficient society inwhich wastes are prevented, re-used, reduced and recycled wherever feasible andbeneficial, and disposed-off safe. In order to overcome the problems in solid waste
management sector, segregation, composting and waste to energy project should bepromoted. For this purpose, Out of the collection and disposal funds, MMC should allocate
special fund 5-10 per cent. Side by side public awareness and community participation throughsocial media needs to be encouraged. For achieving healthy, hygienic and liveable
environment and sustainability in the Meerut city, municipal waste processing should betechnically sound, financially viable, eco-friendly.
Acknowledgements
Both the authors are thankful to the Professor R.B. Singh, Secretary General and Treasurer ofInternational Geographical Union (IGU) and the Department of Geography, University of Delhi
and University Grants Commission for valuable suggestions and guidance and funding for the
pursuing the research on solid waste management.
References
1. Anand, S. and Singh, A. (2012) Tourism and Solid Waste Management In Singh, R. B. andHietala, Reija (eds.) Livelihood Security in Northern western Himalaya, Springer, Japan, pp
189-202.
2. Anand, Subhash (2010) Solid Waste Management in Delhi, Mittal Publication, New Delhi.
3. Anand, Subhash (2014) Emissions From Landfill Sites and Solid Waste Management: An
Approach to Mitigate Urban Climate Change in Delhi, India, The Horizon: Journal of Social
Sciences, No. 1, Volume, V, pp. 100-105.
4. Bhat, Komala and B. Anil. (2018) Site Suitability Analysis for Solid Waste Disposal By Using
Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques : A Case Study of Sirsi Town, Uttarakannada District,
62

The Deccan Geographer, Vol. 56, No. 1&2, June and December, pp. 47-54
5. Darshini, Mahadevia, et al. (2008) Solid Waste Management in Indian Cities (Status andEmerging Practice). Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, p. 45.
6. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/population_enumeration.html
7. http://www.meerutnagrnigam.in
8. http://www.rcueslucknow.org/publication/NewsLetter
9. Jain, A. and Singhal, M. K. (2014) Waste Minimization in Mishra, G.C. (Ed) Environmental
Sustainability: Concepts, Principles, Evidences and Innovations, Excellent Publishing
House, New Delhi, pp. 11-18.
10. Jain, M.C. (2004) Urban Waste Environmental Threat and a Source of Energy, NISTADS
News, vol.6 No.1.
11. JANNURM (2006) Consultancy Services for Preparation of the City Development Plan
(CDP) for Meerut in the State of Uttar Pradesh under JNNURM, City Development Plan
Final Report, Meerut.
12. Markandey and Kalpana (2016) Urban Geography In: R. B. Singh (Ed) Progress in Indian
Geography, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, pp. 105-121.
13. Pandey, B.W. (2014) Land use change, Sustainability, Planning and Technology for Land
Resource Management, In Pandey, B.W. (Ed.) Dynamics of Land Use Change;
Sustainability and Management, Research India Press, New Delhi, pp.1-15.
14. Raisinghani, H. (2015) Solid Waste Management Planning Using GIS: A Case Study for
Aurangabad, India, Geosphere, An International Journal of Geography, Vol. 2 Issue 2,
October 2015, pp. 82-90.
15. Raman, E. Kumar, P. and Anand. S. (2019) Health Hazards of Bhalaswa Landfill Site in
Delhi, Indian Journal of Geography, Vol. XXII, January, pp.27-40.
16. Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies (RCUES) (2008) Detailed Project
Report for Solid Waste Management in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow.
17. Saxena, H.M. and Khan, M.Z.A. (2016) Urbanization, Environmental Degradation & Qualityof life, Rawat Publications, New Delhi.
18. Singh, R.B. and Anand, Subhash (2008) Current Status of Municipal Solid Waste
Management Practices in Delhi”, NAGI, Annals, Vol. XXVIII, No. 1, p-36-49.
19. Vij, Dimpal and Aggarwal, Babita (2012) Domestic Solid Waste Management: A Case Studyof Ghaziabad District of UP., In Bhatt, M.S. and Illiyan, Asharaf (Eds.) Solid Waste
Management: An Indian Perspective, Synergy Books India, New Delhi, pp 228-238.
20. Yadav, K. Bansal, M.L., Kaushik, S.P. (2014) Managing the Municipal Solid Waste:
Comparative Study of Faridabad City with other Cities of India, Annals of the National
Association of Geographers, India, Volume XXXIIV, No. 2, pp. 137-145.

63