title: Challenges and opportunities associated with waste management in India.
abstract: India faces major environmental challenges associated with waste generation and inadequate waste collection, transport, treatment and disposal. Current systems in India cannot cope with the volumes of waste generated by an increasing urban population, and this impacts on the environment and public health. The challenges and barriers are significant, but so are the opportunities. This paper reports on an international seminar on 'Sustainable solid waste management for cities: opportunities in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries' organized by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute and the Royal Society. A priority is to move from reliance on waste dumps that offer no environmental protection, to waste management systems that retain useful resources within the economy. Waste segregation at source and use of specialized waste processing facilities to separate recyclable materials has a key role. Disposal of residual waste after extraction of material resources needs engineered landfill sites and/or investment in waste-to-energy facilities. The potential for energy generation from landfill via methane extraction or thermal treatment is a major opportunity, but a key barrier is the shortage of qualified engineers and environmental professionals with the experience to deliver improved waste management systems in India.
authors.affiliation: CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg , Nagpur , India.
authors.forename: Sunil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering , Imperial College London , London , UK.
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering , Imperial College London , London , UK.
authors.forename: Geoff
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.affiliation: School of Civil Engineering , University of Leeds , Leeds , UK.
authors.forename: Costas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Velis
authors.affiliation: Andhra Pradesh Technology Development and Promotion Centre, Confederation of Indian Industry , Hyderabad , India.
authors.forename: S Jyoti
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg , Nagpur , India.
authors.forename: Shashi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arya
authors.affiliation: CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg , Nagpur , India.
authors.lastname: Rena
authors.affiliation: CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg , Nagpur , India.
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering , Imperial College London , London , UK.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9123-706X
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheeseman
keywords: India; population growth; resource recovery; sustainable development; waste management; waste to energy