PRESENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES :

Collection of Garbage
Garbage is generated from residential and commercial complexes. Current practices in residential areas for collection of garbage differ from city to city and even within the city. Door to door collection is not widely practiced. A few residential societies hire private scavenging staff for door-to-door collection of solid waste.

The local authorities do not have proper provision to collect waste from narrow residential and commercial lanes, and in areas with high traffic.

The slums and squatters in cities also create in sanitary conditions. Open defecation and disposal of sewage and garbage from such settlements need proper attention. Similarly, operation of dairy related activities in residential areas cause nuisance. Cow-dung and other waste is not properly managed. Vendors selling eatables, vegetables, fruits etc. also thro their wastes recklessly, which need to be regulated

Collection Centres
The findings of survey carried out by CPCB indicate that in some of the cities, no norms/guidelines have been followed in setting up of waste collection centers. Each city has its own system for setting up of waste collection centers, which are still using primitive methods. In some cities, both the collection and transportation of waste id done by using mechanized bins. At primary level, the waste is collected from communities in a smaller bin, which is then transported, to larger bins known as secondary collection facility. Maintenance of such waste collection centers is also an important aspect which needs proper attention.

Transportation of Garbage
Transportation of waste from collection centers to final disposal site is another important step in the management of garbage. It has been estimated that approximately 60% of waste is collected for transportation to the disposal sites and the main constraints are: non-availability of sufficient transportation fleet; frequent breakdown of vehicles; and absenteeism of crew etc. The garbage during transportation to the disposal site is exposed to the open conditions thus causing public nuisance. The vehicles carrying garbage should be covered.

Loading of garbage for transportation is done manually. Workers are exposed to the garbage. During manual loading, 6-8 workers are deployed on each truck. In smaller towns, tractor-trailers are commonly used and at times, animal drawn carts are also being used. In some cases, front-end loaders are also used, though; the receptacles are not well designed to suit such system.

Transportation of waste should be done on everyday basis throughout the year. Vehicles and equipment, to transport the waste should synchronize with primary and secondary collection centers. In smaller towns, either tractor-trailer or tricycle or any indigenous vehicle should be used for the transport of waste from the community bins to transfer stations. In the areas where large sized waste collection centers are difficult to place, waste collection vehicle of appropriate size may be introduced. Such system has been practiced in Ahmedabad.

Disposal of Garbage
The disposal of garbage in a well-managed land, adopting scientific methods of operation is termed as sanitary land-fill (SLF). Most important aspect relating to landfill is, identification of a suitable site. Landfilling is a slow and time-consuming process. Therefore, careful operations are required throughout the period.

Most of the landfill sites in India are uncontrolled dumps and are not sanitary landfills where domestic, commercial; industrial and hospital wastes are dumped together. The garbage on such sites is not properly speedy and compacted. Thus, sites identified for filling are not properly maintained. As per information collected by CPCB through EPTRI, the average disposal by landfill is about 91%.