Lok Sabha Question No. 1122 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-07
Subject: Solid Waste Management
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: S.R. Parthiban

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1122

TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.02.2020

## Solid Waste Management

## 1122. SHRI PARTHIBAN S.R.:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is implementing any scientific technique to tackle the evergrowing solid waste in various cities of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether any progress has been made to move landfill sites, far away from the main cities; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

(a) to (d) In  order  to  ensure  environmentally  sound  management  of  solid  waste  in  the country, the Ministry, in supersession of Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, has notified Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016. The Rules prescribe that no waste generator shall throw, burn or bury solid waste, on the streets, in open public spaces  outside  his  premises  or  in  the  drain  or  in  the  water  bodies.The  Rules,  inter  alia, prescribe  the  waste  generators  to  segregatewaste  at  source  and  hand  over  the  segregated waste to authorized waste pickers or waste collectors.

The  Rules  provide  for  scientific  methods  of  segregation,  collection,  transport,  processing, material  recovery  and  disposal  of  such  waste.  The  local  bodies  in  the  State/UTs  are responsible for setting up of  material recovery facilities with sufficient space for sorting of recyclable materials; collect waste from vegetable, fruit,flower, meat, poultry and fish market and promote setting up of decentralized compost plant or bio-methanation plant at suitable locations;  facilitate  construction,  operation  and  maintenance  of  solid  waste  processing facilities and associated infrastructure including the following:

- i. bio-methanation, microbial composting, vermi-composting, anaerobic digestion or any other appropriate processing for bio-stabilization of biodegradable wastes;
- ii. waste  to  energy  processes  including  refused  derived  fuel  for  combustible  fraction  of waste or supply as feedstock to solid waste based power plants or cement kilns;

The Rules stipulate specific criteria to encourage the use of solid waste in the waste to energy plants such that

- i. non recyclable waste having calorific value of 1500 K/cal/kg or more shall not be disposed of on landfills and shall only be utilised for generating energy,
- ii. High  calorific  wastes  shall  be  used  for  co-processing  in  cement  or  thermal power plants.

Plastic waste forms a part of solid waste. Therefore, for management of plastic waste, key technologies  prescribed  are  (i)  Utilization  of  plastic  waste  in  road  construction,  (ii)  Coprocessing of plastic waste in cement kilns, (iii) Conversion of plastic waste into liquid RDF (Oil) and (iv) Disposal of plastic waste through Plasma Pyrolysis Technology (PPT).

Above  provisions  in  the  Rules  are  aimed  to  ensure  scientific  processing  of  waste  in  the country.  Regarding the existing landfill  sites,  the Rules  specify  the criteria for  closure  and rehabilitation  of  old  dumps  sites.  The  solid  waste  dumps  which  have  reached  their  full capacity have to be closed and rehabilitated by reducing the waste by bio mining and waste processing followed by placement of residues in new landfills or capping. The local bodies in association  with  the  state  urban  development  departments  have  been  mandated  to  ensure compliance of the provisions of the SWM Rules 2016.

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