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SUSTAINABLE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Development depends on the economic growth, standard of living and education. To have more economic growth, industrialization is considered to be an important determinant. An area associated with industries is bound to be urbanized and hence bound to generate either degradable or non degradable waste. This has been a major cause of concern in the world. At the same time, the economical resources are limited and solid waste management put a significant pressure on the local economies. There is a need for a sustainable waste management which offers solutions to issues of social-, economical- and environmental aspects. Development is taking place at the cost of environment degradation. There is little provision for solid waste management in every urbanized towns and cities. This has led to many problems faced by people living near the dumping sites and also in the towns.

It consists of all waste in solid or semi solid form and is either biodegradable, non biodegradable or recyclable. Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal of waste materials, usually ones produced by human activity, in an effort to reduce their effect on human health or local aesthetics or amenity. There are various health risks in solid waste management. It involves risks. The income of the waste pickers is so low that they are not able to make their daily subsistence need which automatically leads to their poor health condition, e.g. explosions, fires, allergenic, infectious diseases, accidents, odour, noise etc. The deprived or the poorer section of the society are the ones mostly affected. Apart from health problems, there are environmental problems associated with it too. Air pollution, water pollution, global warming, climate change are all negative impacts of solid waste management. Hence, the lack of poor health management is proving a health hazard in every urbanized place.

Sustainable development is development in the present generation without compromising the development of future generation. To have a sustainable solid waste management system, the three R’s Reduce Reuse and Recycle must be adopted. Efficiency of waste collection must be improved. Crude and open dumping must be avoided and discouraged, private sector participation must be encouraged, separate collection of hospital waste should be looked upon, every local government must actively participate and plans to improve and above all people’s participation must be encouraged to keep cities clean and green.

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