Today, the garbage that is being produced from each household and or industry has increased manifold. Not just the quantity, but also the variety of the waste produced from each location has multiplied without any resolution to fight the problem. Every country is facing a different kind of trouble in managing their garbage and is trying to come up with a permanent and persistent solution. One such approach that we can follow is decentralized waste management. Decentralized Solutions, can they be the future of Waste Management?
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Well, Decentralized Waste Management is all each community, locality, or society managing and processing their waste within their premise and not sending the same to a centralised large facility or often landfill. The principles that we need to understand behind decentralized waste management are waste management at the source make waste a resource and my waste in my backyard and not in someone else’s; this means that you segregate and process the waste by taking ownership of the waste and not force it upon someone else’s and let no one is affected by it. To make this happen, we can try and implement these methods:
- Recycling Waste: The concept of recycling waste is followed by a huge chunk of the population in India to earn from the stuff sold, but when the people of India are aware of the fact that it doesn’t just help them earn money but also save them from a lot of pollution and after-effects of the ecological balance caused by the garbage. Recycling of waste is carried out by Kachrawalas, scrap dealers, etc.
- Decentralized Composting: Innovative smart technology like GoClean (earlier known as GWR)are designed by Clean India Ventures Pvt Ltd. are helping many organizations (temples, localities, etc.) take the initiative to recycle, reduce and convert organic waste at source into organic manure and liquid fuel. The process involves hiring labor to segregate the waste and put it into the machine and the result is worth the expenses, at least the environment is being saved from excessive untreated garbage that is hurting the earth.
- Vermi-Composting: This is a simple yet effective process that can be carried out in a household as the domestic waste is organic. It requires a small space to carry out vermicomposting. Organic household waste involves waste segregation, waste preparation, waste degradation, and finishing of waste for rapid degradation. Important to control the process of degradation by handling the procedure of temperature and moisture.
- Small Scale Anaerobic Digestion (Bio-Gas): This is the most environmentally friendly technology to recover energy from organic waste. Biogas plant serves as a waste disposal technology and helps to solve solid waste environmental problems. This is a decentralized solution that is extremely appropriate to maintain ecological balance and meet the economic demand of the future, as it provides pollution-free environment efficient energy for cooking and lighting. This is a very successful technology in some parts of India and should be promoted extensively.
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Conclusion:
Solid Waste Management or any kind of waste management is a critical issue in India. It is important to have departments who can manage this, who are able to find the solutions, can manage the waste. Many governments across the globe are on the lookout for a solution to mitigate this critical issue, and most of the challenges of waste management and environmental sustainability are still unanswered.
The condition of the unauthorized settlements and slums in urban areas is even worse where the municipal waste management system is absent. The first and foremost step towards a better future is decentralized waste management solutions like biogas plants, vermicomposting, decentralized composting, and what not. The decentralized approach is one of the most effective ways to manage and solve the problems of waste management in India. People are changing their mindset too but implementing these changes helps us to reduce it.