Question : Solid Waste Management

(a) whether almost all municipal authorities deposit solid waste at a dump yard within or outside the city haphazardly and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether informal recycling industry plays major role in solid waste management in the country, which is a flawed system of waste disposal and management;
(c) if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government proposes to manage solid waste through formal recycling industry which in turn will also provide huge employment opportunities to youths in the country; and
(e) if so, the details thereof and the initiatives taken by the Union Government in this regard during the last three years?

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

(a) As reported by the Central Pollution Control Board, there are approximately 3135 dump sites in the country out of which 37 are either reclaimed or capped. Further, there are 8 dump sites which are converted to sanitary landfill sites. To streamline the problem of solid waste, including addressing the issue of dump yards, the Ministry in supersession of Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, has notified the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The Rules mandate the waste generators to segregate the waste at source and hand over the segregated waste to authorized waste pickers or waste collectors. As per the provisions of the Rules, only the non-usable, non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, non-combustible and non-reactive inert waste and pre-processing rejects and residues from waste processing facilities are allowed to go to sanitary landfill sites. The rules further stipulate that every effort shall be made to recycle or reuse the rejects to achieve the desired objective of zero waste going to landfill.

(b)to (e)Substantial quantity of waste is being recycled throughthe informal recycling industry comprising waste pickers who collectplastic and other material from the discarded waste.This is a major source of livelihood for them and due to them the sector is able to achieve very high collection rates,thereby increasing the efficiency of the waste management ecosystem as a whole and contributing to the diversion of wastes from landfilling.

To formalize the informal sector, the Rules mandate the local authorities to establish a system to recognise organisations of waste pickers and promote and establish a system for integration of these authorised waste-pickers and waste collectors to facilitate their participation in solid waste managementincluding door to door collection of waste. Further the Rules prescribesettingup of material recovery facilities for sorting of recyclable materials to enable informal waste pickers and waste collectors to separate recyclables from the waste and provide easy access to waste pickers and recyclers for collection of segregated recyclable waste such as paper, plastic, metal, glass, textile from the material recovery facilities.

For proper regulation and sound recycling of plastic, provisions have been made for registration of all plastic recyclers with respective State/UT Pollution Control Boards/Committees. Every Urban Local body has been made responsible for setting up of infrastructure for collection, segregation and processing, including recycling and disposal of plastic waste. The local bodies have also been mandated to create awareness among all stakeholders about their respective responsibilities. As per the information provided by the States/UTs, total 1268 registered recyclers are present in India having recycling capacity of 7,56,152TPA.

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