Solid Waste Management: Adopting Green Indigenous Approaches | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

ABSTRACT

The paper focuses on describing the importance and efficient ways of Solid Waste management. According to the Ministry of Urban Development. Solid waste comprises the garbage that is simply discarded by the public ranging from biodegradable waste, recycled waste, domestic waste, Construction and Demolition Waste, Inert waste, Toxic waste, etc. The accumulation of Solid waste results in piles of garbage making mountains and landfills. This is creating a hazardous health situation not only for humans but for other organisms as well.  Diseases like Tuberculosis (TB), pneumonia, diarrhea, tetanus, cough, viral fever is more prominent than ever due to lack of waste management. Solid waste management is the need of the hour for living a sustainable life. Solid waste management is an initiative to use the waste that can be Recycled, Reused, Refused(3R). With the increasing industrialization, urbanization, the heaps of garbage or waste are touching the sky, for example, Deonar's Rubbish Mountain (Mumbai), Gazipur Landfills (U.P), etc. This paper also throws light on the solutions that can be opted at the national level like – Elimination waste in Gorai Dumping ground experiment by Birju Mandra and S.R Maley or at the Institutional level like Mumbai TATA institute, Mumbai opting for a biogas plant in their campus canteen. And at the local level -Vengurla in Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra, and Chotta Narena in Ajmer district, Rajasthan are setting examples for managing waste efficiently. Lastly, A humanistic approach has been adopted where the life of a sanitation worker is used as a case study. The aim is to promote the idea that "cleanliness starts from home". The story of Ashwin Malwade and Nupur Aggarwal, an eco-conscious couple has been included to justify that not only the proper implementation of institutional policies is required but active participation by citizens is the prime need. It highlights that responsibility is not one-sided. At the primary level, waste is generated from home first which makes us think about what we are doing as a human to manage the waste.