The market of waste is dumped into landfills or other areas to get rid of from the domestic or after the commercial purpose is over. The large dumping of such unsued products leads to water, land as well as air pollution.
In India, due to a large population, anybody can estimate the amount of waste collected per hour daily. And finally dumping at a nearby location without taking any major action results in uncleaned areas and streets.
One of the primary actions taken by the government is to introduce a tax for dumping in landfills or the major steps by the Indian government to reduce the GST and other taxes on products from recycled materials to 5%. Hence, recycling the waste.
As per the report published on ‘Circular Economy in Municipal Solid and Liquid Waste’: “ Disposing of recyclables in landfills/dumpsites not only leads to loss of valued resources but also causes environmental pollution.”
The determination to find a solution for the untreated and unprocessed municipal wastes being dumped into water bodies and large pits led to the idea of generating Rs.30,000 crore revenue per annum by treating those municipal solid, wet, and construction wastes. It also generates employment for more than one crore people by 2025.
Some of the waste management companies generating revenues across the world are, Cleanway Waste Management Limited, Covanta Energy Corporation, Waste Connections, Inc., Republic Services, Inc., and Waste Management Inc.
In India, around 1.45 lakh tonnes of solid waste and 35% of dry waste are generated daily. Plastic is the major issue in dry waste. As stated in TOI, the research experts from IITs, the dry municipal waste itself can recover Rs. 17,023 crore by 2025. And in the case of wet waste processing, around Rs.2,460 crores can be earned by using the bio-methanation process. The revenue can be earned only by treating 50% of the wet waste.
The dry waste itself got the potential of generating 40 lakh man-days of employment during construction and 80 lakh man-days in perpetuity for operations and maintenance of the facilities.
The wet waste can generate one crore man-days in constructing treatment plants and 60 lakh man-days for facilities operation and maintenance in perpetuity.
The construction and demolition waste of 120 lakh tonnes are generated annually with 95% of the waste being capable of reuse or recycled with scientific treatments.
The recommendation for the use of recycled materials are:-
- 25% of the recycled materials are in non-food grade packaging.
- 25% of cement kilns in non-recyclable combustible dry waste (RDF) by coal replacement.
- Reduction of GST for products from waste by around 18% to 5%.
- Assigning collection points for a 5 sq. km of coverage area with a 25,000 population.
You can also read about the TerraCycle recycling stories and the recycling purposes at home, school, and different facilities.
As the famous Pete Seeger, Folk Singer & Social Activist says, “If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, designed or removed from production.”Well, it’s something every manufacturer, user, buyer, or purchaser should think about.
Source:- TOI, Opengrowth