Decentralized waste management plan for Bhopal

Abstract

Rapid Urbanization has led to a sudden increase in the amount of waste generation, affecting the health of all the living species and the surrounding environment, globally. More than 90 per cent of waste in India is believed to be dumped in an unsatisfactory manner. The land requirement for landfills has increased from 14 sq.km in 1997 to 88 sq.km by the year 2050 (Assocham India; PWC, 2017). To resolve the emerged issues, there is a need for a well-functioning waste management system. Development of appropriate sorting and composting solutions can decrease the environmental burden and improve the existing condition. This thesis is performed to provide a framework to develop decentralized waste management system in the city of Bhopal, India. The city has shown swift growth in population and high living standards of residents, leading to overwhelming problems to the municipal solid waste management (MSWM). The city generates 870 tonnes per day of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), which is estimated to increase to approximately 2066 tonnes per day by the year 2048. The study aims to analyse the existing MSWM practices and propose a Decentralized Waste Management Plan at sub municipal level. The study is performed using Logical framework approach, which is an objectiveoriented project planning tool. It is based on structure thinking and logical analysis, contains an array of sub-methods such as literature review, observations, study area visits, site analysis, photography and more. Interviews were conducted with officials of Bhopal Municipal Corporation to gain information regarding ground reality. The predominant waste category was determined from data collected from different transfer stations. Determining attributes of MSW (both qualitative and quantitative) along with other fundamental data was used to generate maps for the study area and perform a comparative analysis of the current scenario with imperatives mentioned in Solid Waste Management Rules (SWM) 2016. The average generation rate of MSW has been determined as 0.46 kg/c/d. High costs are incurred on the part of Municipal Corporation in transporting waste from generation points to transfer stations and then further to the dumping site located approximately 16 km away from the city.iii The outcome of the study is a waste management plan dividing the city into 5 clusters of municipal zones for organic waste and dry waste. Components of the plan are locations of decentralized composting plants (DCP), catchment areas, population served, routes and network. Locations of Dry Resource Recovery Centres (DRCC) and Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) have also been proposed.