Solid waste management has become one of the main
issues in both urban and rural areas all over the world.
With the progress of civilization, the waste generated
become more complicated in nature. It is an undeniable
fact that the environment has been engulfed in filth. This
filth comprises of the garbage and waste generated in
homes, workplace and industrial setups. Most of this
waste has found its way into the streets, gutters, in and
around the homes. Now-a-days the wastes are dumped as
landfill, in some cases some chemicals are added to it to
decompose the waste and the major problem of solid
waste disposal is plastic separation and they are separated
manually and recycled. Domestic waste collection,
sorting and disposal are major problems in many
countries.
Garbage needs to be sorted into various components and
each of such components like textile materials; polythene,
foodstuffs, metals and non-metallic would then have to be
handled separately at the disposal or recycling site. Such a
process required a certain degree of literacy, discipline
and certain basic equipment, for example separate
collector bins or sorting bags. Currently, most garbage
collection is done by depositing everything into a single
container from where they are hauled to be dumped in
landfills or burnt in incinerators. Thus sincere efforts to
handle an upcoming disaster are to be coordinated for
reducing waste generation, and also its effective disposal,
involving primary collection, segregation, recycling to the
extent possible and treatment through appropriate
technology to reduce their harmful effects to a reasonably
acceptable level. The solid waste characteristics reveals
that in India the organic fraction of the waste makes up
40-85% of the waste depending on income and lifestyle of the
population. By recycling this, a significant contribution
could be made towards reduction of volume of the waste
materials.
