CC BY
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DOMESTIC SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN DHARAMSALA, NORTHERN INDIA
© Kholiavko T.*
Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg
In this paper the current situation of domestic solid waste management in Dharamsala, Northern India is presented. In particular, collection system and disposal method and its effects to local and global environment are described.
Key words: domestic solid waste, waste management, developing countries.
The accumulation of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been greatly accelerated by the increasing population, booming economy, rapid urbanization and the rise in community living standards in recent decades [1]. It is argued that the need for solid waste management policies become especially evident and relevant when the structure of a society changes from agricultural and widespread (low-density) to urban and concentrated (high-density) [2]. For this reason, although waste accumulation is an issue of global concern, in recent times it has particularly become a topic of concern in developing countries [2]. In such countries, landfills are a very common occurrence [1]. However, although there is abundant scientific evidence for the adverse socio-economic impacts and health implications of such waste mitigation strategies [1, 2, 3], the development and implementation of technologies, policies and social practices trails behind [4].
Within the environmental domain, it is argued by Menikpura et al. [5] that waste will not only threaten local ecosystems, but also humanity’s future use of natural resources (e.g. agricultural products, clean water) due to the build-up of heavy metals in the soil and water reservoirs. In addition, on a global scale waste can also be identified as an important issue when it is not disposed of in a correct manner (e.g. landfills) [6], due to the release of methane-rich landfill gas into the atmosphere [5]. Landfill gas is one of the main products of the decomposition of organic waste, and it is argued that it is responsible for 15 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions [7]. However, despite the abundance of literature on the adverse effects of MSW accumulation, waste management systems have not been given as much attention by policy-makers as other sectors such as urban water and urban energy use [2], presumably due to lack of economic incentives. As a result, many gaps in the contemporary waste management strategies can be identified and subsequently a lot of progression in environmental management can be achieved by filling these gaps. However, although solid waste management is an issue of global concern, it remains an inherently local problem. The case used in this research is the city of Dharamsala in Northern India, which is
Student.
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experiencing negative effects as a result of long lasting waste accumulation, particularly from domestic sources.
Background information on Dharamsala, India. Dharamsala is a city with an estimated population of 20,000 (2015), situated in the Kangra district in the Himachal Pradesh state in India. The city is mostly known for being the residence of the Central Tibetan Administration (Tibetan government in exile) and the Dalai Lama. The presence of this Tibetan culture and influence in the city have also been a major tourism attraction for years. However, the development of tourism (among economic development in general) the generation of waste has been rapidly increasing. No proper waste mitigation strategy has yet been introduced in the city, and as a result most of the waste ends up on landfills. Due to this continuous waste accumulation, the city has been starting to experience several negative socio-economic and environmental effects, such as a decrease in tourism arrivals, health implications and soil contamination [3, 8]. Hietala and Singh [8] state that there currently are two service providers for waste management in Dharamsala: the Municipal Council of Dharamsala (MCD) and the Tibetan Welfare Office (TWO). These service providers contribute to the collection and segregation of solid waste in Dhar-amsala [8]. However, despite this service, waste still remains a major issue in Dhar-amsala. Hietala and Singh [8] therefore identify the processing stage as the main bottleneck in the management of waste in Dharamsala.
Scenario analysis. In this research scenario analysis is designed in order to understand how the future may evolve in terms of waste accumulation in Dhar-amsala in no-control situation. During the time span of 2011-2026 driving forces have been taken into account. For the construction of this scenario, stepwise changes in the future has been analysed, base year and time steps are established and storyline of alternatives described.
The time steps. The time horizon taken is 2011-2026, since 2011 is the last year of which demographic numbers of Dharamsala have been released. Steps of 5 years are taken, which means that every alternative will be explained in the years 2011, 2016, 2021, and 2026.
Future waste production. In order to see future implications of waste accumulation the information about the waste production is necessary. This, however, is difficult, because little is known about the current production of waste in Dhar-amsala. Therefore, it is necessary to find factors that contribute to the production of waste. The first factor is the GDP per capita, measured in USD per person, the second is the population, measured in persons. The GDP per capita indicates is the average wealth of each person, and thus how much money people can spend on products, products that will end as waste. There is also a clear relation between the total waste production and the population of cities, because more people produce more waste. However, R. Annepu [9] found that in a larger city, inhabitants produce more waste per person. The findings are presented in table 1.
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Table 1
Waste production per capita for the different city size categories
Class Population range Waste/cap Class Population range Waste/cap
[-] [Persons] [kg/person] [-] [Persons] [kg/person]
Metropolitan 5000000 500000> 0.605 Class F 200000 299999 0.427
Class A 1000000 4999999 0.448 Class G 150000 199999 0.459
Class B 700000 999999 0.464 Class H 100000 149999 0.445
Class C 500000 699999 0.487 Class 1 50000 99999 0.518
Class D 400000 499999 0.448 Class 2 20000 49999 0.434
Class E 300000 399999 0.436 Class 3 10000 19999 0.342
According to the Indian census, Dharamsala had a population of 19124 in 2001 [10] and 22579 in 2011 [11]. This means that the waste production per capita can be estimated at 0.342 kg/person in 2001 and 0.434 kg/person in 2011. In combination with an interpolation of the population between 2001 and 2011 -using the data from 1991, 2001, and 2011, and GDP per capita information from the World bank [12], it is possible to make a regression and thus calculate the waste production per capita. The final formula is:
W = 6.02 • 10-5 • GDP + 2.22 • 10-5 • P - 0.157.
With W the waste/cap and P the population. The R2 of this regression is 0.99. Table 2 shows the results at the selected time steps.
Table 2
Waste production per capita for the base year and each time step
Waste/cap/day GDP Population Total waste
Year [kg/person/day] [us dollar/person] [Persons] [tonne/year] [Tonne/day]
2011 0.425 1339 22579 3506 9.6
2016 0.505 2229 23760 4381 12.0
2021 0.629 3710 25325 5816 15.9
2026 0.815 6176 26994 8027 22.0
Open dump site, business as usual. Open dumping (landfilling) is the most common method of disposal in developing countries. Uncontrolled dumpsites tend to remain for a long time and give rise to serious environmental degradation. Moreover, landfilling harms public health and in turn depletes earth’s natural resources. As no segregation of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) at the source takes place, all of the wastes including infectious waste from hospitals and industrial is also deposited at the landfill sites meant for domestic waste [13, 14].
Unmonitored landfills often catch fires due to methane and heat generation. This results in uncontrolled burning of wastes, releasing gases that are harmful to human health. In addition to these impacts, open dumping contributes to Climate Change by releasing methane [9].
In Dharamsala, one landfill is available. This landfill is not properly managed; the garbage in the fill keeps on growing causing environmental and health problems. The tourism industry is also negatively impacted [8].
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CO2 equivalent emissions. One tonne of landfilled municipal solid waste results in around 160 to 250 m3 of gas. This consists of around 55 % methane, 44 % carbon dioxide, and less than 1 % of other chemical and environmental degrading gasses [15]. Therefore, one tonne of solid domestic waste produces approximately 88 to 138 m3 of methane. Which is equal to 1212 to 1901 CO2 eq.
Damage to local environment. Damage to local environment occurs mainly due to the replacement of oxygen by landfill gas. As such an uncontrolled landfill has no gas control measure, plant roots are exposed to high concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide which replace oxygen, causing damage and possible eventual death of plants. A large threat to especially soil and water quality is the occurrence of leachate. This leachate appears when rain water drains through the compiled waste material into the soil, groundwater and streams [16].
Costs. No specific costs are bound to developing or to the maintenance of an uncontrolled landfill. After landfilling, domestic solid waste disintegrates to a smaller volume over time. This process happens automatically and needs no further maintenance. Uncontrolled landfills often start off as illegal dumping areas, and end as a recognized landfill area.
Space requirements. An estimation of waste increase has been made, as explained under the heading ‘future waste production’. Yearly amount of solid waste produced in Dharamsala can be found in table 1. In 2016, estimated is that 4381 tonnes of solid, domestic waste will be produced in Dharamsala. In 2021 this will be 5861, and in 2026 it is going to be 8027 tonnes of domestic solid garbage. Assuming an average landfill height of 20 m, and a waste density of 0.315 tonne/m3, an area of 696 m2 is required in 2011 and 1274 m2 in 2026. This can be seen in the following graph.
References:
1. Guerrero, L. A., Maas, G., & Hogland, W. (2013). Solid waste management challenges for cities in developing countries. Waste management, 33 (1), 220-232.
2. Song, Q., Li, J., & Zeng, X. (2014). Minimizing the increasing solid waste through zero waste strategy. Journal of Cleaner Production.
3. Ray, M. R., Roychoudhury, S., Mukherjee, G, Roy, S., & Lahiri, T. (2005). Respiratory and general health impairments of workers employed in a municipal solid waste disposal at an open landfill site in Delhi. International journal of hygiene and environmental health, 208 (4), 255-262.
4. Gupta, S., Mohan, K., Prasad, R., Gupta, S., & Kansal, A. (1998). Solid waste management in India: options and opportunities. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 24 (2), 137-154.
5. Menikpura, S. N. M., Gheewala, S. H., & Bonnet, S. (2012). Framework for life cycle sustainability assessment of municipal solid waste management systems with an application to a case study in Thailand. Waste Management & Research, 0734242X12444896.
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6. Spokas, K., Bogner, J., Chanton, J. P., Morcet, M., Aran, C., Graff, C., & Hebe, I. (2006). Methane mass balance at three landfill sites: What is the efficiency of capture by gas collection systems?. Waste Management, 26 (5), 516-525.
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9. Annepu, R. K. (2012). Sustainable solid waste management in India. Columbia University, New York.
10. Indian census 2001, 2001. Available at http://www.censusindia.gov.in/ townsZHP_towns.pdf.
11. City population, 2015. Available at http://www.citypopulation.de/php/in-dia-himachalpradesh.php?cityid=0240202000.
12. World Bank, 2015. Available at http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY GDP.PCAP.CD?page=6.
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15. Humer, M., & Lechner, P. (1999). Alternative approach to the elimination of greenhouse gases from old landfills. Waste Management and Research, 17 (6), 443-452.
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