Statistics show that by 2025, the value of the global waste management industry is expected to hit US $530 billion from US$330.6 billion in 2017. Rising population, economic activities and increasing urbanization have propelled the massive increase in global waste generation, which creates myriad of problems, especially in cities. The World Bank estimates that waste generation will increase to 3.40 billion tonnes in 2050, marking an approximate 70 percent increase from 2.01 billion tonnes in 2016.
By 2027, India is set to become the world’s most populous country as per projections of the United Nations with 7 new megacities. At this exponential population and urban growth rate, landfills almost 90% of the size of Bengaluru would be required for dumping if the waste remains untreated. Though, rapid urbanization presents a humungous challenge with the right policy framework and action, which can be turned into a golden opportunity.
‘Waste to Wealth’ is an effective solution to rising waste all across the globe. This unique idea of waste management brings scientific processing of waste to the forefront to build a zero landfill and zero waste nation, involving latest technology, government agencies, urban local bodies and users to seek relevant solutions. Unscientific disposal of mixed waste in open dumpsites generates harmful greenhouse emissions and contaminate soil and groundwater causing health and environment hazards. Diverting thousands of tons/year of fresh waste from entering landfill and generating valuable resources out of the waste, is the objective behind this idea. Further, showing a scientific solution for closing of open dumpsites and improvement in the living conditions of nearby settlements by preventing spread of water and air borne diseases is also a major goal of this project.
The ‘Waste-to-Energy’ and Waste Management market in India is also set to become a $14 billion opportunity by the year 2025. The population of 1.3 billion currently generates 62 million tonnes of municipal solid waste a year. The scale of opportunity may be gauged from the fact that India has the potential to generate 3GW of electricity from waste by 2050. The ‘Waste to Wealth’ mission is one of the nine scientific missions of the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PMSTIAC), which aims to identify, develop and deploy technologies to treat waste to generate energy, recycle materials and extract resources of value. The Identification and support to the development of modern technologies promises to create a clean and green environment. Now the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the eighth edition of Swachh Survekshan (SS) – SS 2023 under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 with ‘Waste to Wealth’ as its theme or driving philosophy, reiterating its commitment to move towards a circular economy in waste management while tapping the immense scope of recovering value from waste. The idea also promises to assist and augment the Swachh Bharat and Smart City projects by leveraging science, technology and innovation to create ready reckoners that are financially viable for waste management, thereby streamlining waste handling in India.
The benefits of effective waste management are immense. India presents an opportunity in numerous sub-sectors of waste management including municipal solid waste, electronic waste, bio- 2 medical waste, agricultural waste and others. Additional weightage has been given to source segregation of waste, enhancement of waste processing capacity of cities to match the waste generation and reduction of waste going to the dumpsites. Indicators have been introduced with additional weightage on emphasizing the need for phased reduction of plastic, plastic waste processing, encourage waste to wonder parks and zero waste events.
SHARE
