Environmentally Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management - A Case Study of Kolhapur, India

Abstract

Municipal Solid Waste Management plays an important role in sustainable development. The concept of waste to resource is a latest one for confounding waste problems of our society. The expansion of urban areas, industrialization and changing patterns of consumption results in increased Municipal Solid Waste generation which deteriorate the quality of environment, posing risk to the sustainable development. The authors of the present paper address the issue of Municipal Solid Waste by taking the case of Kolhapur, India. It discusses the present municipal waste management system, technologies, projected population, projected solid waste generation and transforming the waste into value added product. In an evolutionary approach, it points out the challenges that the sector is facing and makes an attempt to suggest a way forward through technologies and estimation of value-added products that can be produced from the solid waste. Such an approach attempts to achieve environmentally sustainable municipal solid waste management with economic model put in place.