Page 1 of 34
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 5
May 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 1
The Situation of Solid Waste Management in India: Case
Study of Amritsar City
Hardeep Singh Sekhon, Rajesh Puri
Guru Ramdas School of PlanningGuru Nanak Dev Univ ersity, Amritsar, India
jimmisekhon2k7@yahoo.com
Abstract
The solid waste management is one of the important
and obligatory functions of the Urban Local Bodies
in India. It is also the primary responsibilities of the
municipal authorities. According to MSW Rules 2000
MSW mainly includes commercial and residential
wastes generated within a municipal or notified areas
in either semi solid or solid form. Waste generation
encompasses activities like materials which are
identified as no longer being in existing form and
also in either thrown away or gathered for disposal.
Solid waste management is one among the basic
essential services provided by municipal authorities
in the country to keep urban centers clean. There has
been a significant increase in MSW (municipal solid
waste) generation in India in the last few decades.
This is largely because of rapid population growth
and economic development in the country. The
annual rate of growth of urban population in India is
3.09%. The proportion of population living in urban
areas has increased from 17.35% in 1951 to 36.15%
in 2011(CPCB, 2011). The number of Class I cities
with population exceeding 1,00,000 has increased
from 300 to 800 during 1981 to 2011. (CPHEEO,
2011)
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has
estimated that waste generation will exceed 260
million tons per year by 2047 – more than five times
the present level. Cities with 100,000 plus population
contribute 72.5 per cent of the waste generated in the
country as compared to other 3955 urban centers
that produce only 17.5 per cent of the total waste (P
U, 2006). The average collection efficiency for MSW
in Indian cities is about 80% (60-90 percent) and
around 20% of the cities lack adequate waste
transport and disposal capacities.
1. Relevance of the Study
The Municipal Solid Waste Management value
chain can be unbundled into various components,
including source segregation, collection,
transportation, cleaning & sweeping, secondary
storage, processing and disposal. (IMACS, 2009)
Solid Waste Management is the responsibility of
Local Government and it comes under the purview of
State Government. Waste management services have
certain common characteristics: they are expensive to
set up (associated with high sunk costs). In India it is
becoming increasingly difficult to meet the growing
demand for Waste Management Services, especially
by the growing population and economy. Most Civic
bodies are yet to take initiatives to comply with the
Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling)
Rules 2000.
Page 2 of 34
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 5
May 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 2
The ULBs are exploring and implementing various
ways and models to cope up with the increasing
demand of infrastructure and efficient service
delivery in solid waste management sector with the
increasing population. The Ministry of Urban
Development, Government of India has initiated a
number of steps to address policy, capacity building
and financing challenges that are faced by ULBs. It
recognizes Public Private Partnerships (PPP) as an
important element to improve service delivery in
Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM).
The larger cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai,
Hyderabad, Ahmedabad etc. have adopted different
methods for Municipal Solid Waste Management.
The cities in India have been recently observed to
progress well and achieve over 90% efficiency even
with the growing population. In this background
there is a need of research to understand the various
Modernization aspects followed in solid waste
management taking examples from other cities in
India.
2. MSW Generation
Generation of MSW has an obvious relation to the
population of the area or city, due to which bigger
cities generate more waste. The metropolitan area of
Kolkata generates the largest amount of MSW
(11,520 TPD or 4.2 million TPY) among Indian
cities. Among the four geographical regions in India,
Northern India generates the highest amount of MSW
(40,500 TPD or 14.8 million TPY), 30% of all
MSW generated in India; and Eastern India
(23,500 TPD or 8.6 million TPY) generates the
least, only 17% of MSW generated in India.
Among states, Maharashtra (22,200 TPD or 8.1
million TPY), West Bengal (15,500 TPD or 5.7
million TPY), Uttar Pradesh (13,000 TPD or 4.75
million TPY), Tamil Nadu (12,000 TPD or 4.3
million TPY) Andhra Pradesh (11,500 TPD or 4.15
million TPY) generate the highest amount of MSW.
Among Union Territories, Delhi (11,500 TPD or 4.2
million TPY) generates the highest and Chandigarh
(486 TPD or 177,400 TPY) generates the second
highest amount of waste.
Figure 1. Share of States and Union Territories in Urban MSWG & Share of Different Classes of Cities in Urban
MSWG
3. Amritsar
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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 5
May 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 3
The city of Amritsar, one of the important city of
north India and that is very famous in religious &
heritage. The location coordinates of Amritsar city
lies between 31°29’ and 32°03’ north latitudes and
between 74°29’ and 75°23’ east longitudes. It is the
third largest border district of the state after
Ferozepur and Gurdaspur. Tarn Taran is the smallest
among the four border districts. Besides being the
District Headquarter and an important tourist
destination (due to the existence of Golden
Temple, Durgiana Mandir, Jallianwala Bagh,
etc.), The close proximity to the Indo Pak Border has
given a great set back to the development of the city.
The border on one hand restricts growth in the
North West direction of the city and on the other
hand makes it a point of tourist attraction being
an “International Border”. Amritsar is the second
largest city of Punjab and a great centre of learning
and literature. It has number of educational
institutions of regional importance, such as Guru
Nanak Dev University, Khalsa College, ten Degree
Colleges, two B. Ed. colleges, two Engineering
Colleges, nine Nursing Colleges, two
Polytechnics/Industrial Training Institutes, one
Medical College, one Ayurvedic College, two
Dental Colleges and four distance education
centers. Presence of strong regional linkages, two
National Highways namely NH 1 and NH
15,three State Highways, four M.D.R’s and twenty
four O.D.R’s places it at a very strategic position
with respect to the other districts by providing
connectivity to the other parts of the state and
country as well. Apart from the extensive road
network, it also enjoys good rail and air connectivity
with the other parts of the country.
3.1 Land use and Waste Generation
Most of the contribution of solid waste is from the
residential area and more than 69% of waste
percentage contains at least 60% of waste is organic,
which acquires for recovery under treatment and
other are going to composting or Dumping sites. The
total waste generation of solid waste is 650 tons in
2015 according to Municipal Solid Waste
Corporation. So sanitary land fill sites or we can say
the land use planning is required to be in corporate in
the solid waste management practices. Further action
is required to be initiated to shift the existing dairies,
small scale industries etc to outstrip with proper
collection, transportation, and disposal facilities of
waste generated by these activities.
Table1. Land use of Amritsar City
S. no
Land use Category
Percentage
1. Residential Area
51.4
2. Commercial Area
12.4
3. Public & Semi-Public
8.7
4. Industrial Area
5.6
5. Transport & Communication
13.7
