Foreword
As per 1991 Census, urban India constituted about 26% of the country's population. It is estimated, that by the turn of the Century, about 1/3rd of the country's population will be in urban areas. The rate of urbanisation has gone up from 10.84% in 1901 to 25.85% in 1991. According to census figures of 1991, the number of Class-1 cities and Class-11 towns was around 650, and following this trend by the end of 2001, there will be about 850 Class-1 cities and Class-11 towns. One of the conspicuous features of urbanisation in India is the skewed distribution of population with as much as 32.5% of the urban population in 23 metropolitan cities. Unregulated growth of urban areas, particularly over the last two decades, without infrastructural services for proper collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of domestic waste water and solid wastes has led to increased pollution and health hazards.

To asses the status of municipal solid waste generation, collection, treatment and disposal, a study was commissioned by the Central Pollution Control Board. The field investigations were conducted by the Environmental Protection, Training and Research Institute (EPTRI), Hyderbad. The present report is the outcome of the study in 23 metro cities of the country. .