Pic courtesy – https://wastewarriors.org/home/garbage-crisis-india/
As all of us know that grass produces its food from sunlight and the soil. A rabbit eats the grass. A fox eats the rabbit. When the fox dies, bacteria break down its body returning it to the soil. There it provides nutrients to plants and grass. There’s no wastage in the perfect cycle of nature or the concept of waste does not exist in nature. Each of these living things can be a part of multiple food chains. All of the interconnected and overlapping food chains in an ecosystem make up a food web.
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So, the question is when nature has designed such a perfect system, then where, when, and how this waste comes from? Organisms in food chains are generally divided into the category of producers (the grass), consumers (rabbit and the fox), and decomposers (bacteria). Till the time there is a balance between all three, there’s no waste on this planet. But unfortunately, today every part of the earth is filled with waste, garbage, trash, and junk. Leaving aside our cities where garbage is piling up in the form of mountains, even our villages are not free from this waste. Let’s try to understand what this waste is when it started on earth, what is its source, what is the current status of waste and what are its impacts on all living beings.
Waste is the material that loses its inherent value to such a degree that permanent disposal is the most viable option or perhaps the only option or solution we have with us. Waste or wastes are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance that is discarded after primary use or when it becomes worthless, defective, and of no use. Waste that can’t be broken down by other living organisms comes under non-biodegradable waste. In fact, in biological cycles, whatever is discarded by one organism, becomes a resource for other beings, so that nothing is wasted and everything is transferred. This is a well-designed system of nature.
Up to the last century, humans behaved very much like nature, rather was an integral part of it. Due to limitations of resources of human use, everything was utilized and nothing was thrown as long as it was useful. Majorly things were handmade, so, all that used to be thrown was organic and generally got decomposed with time, by the decomposers in nature.
The advent of the industrial revolution opened the gates of mechanization. It increased the availability of a variety and quantity of goods in society. Gradually there was an increase in consumption and therefore increase in the amount of waste. Increased supply of products developed an addiction more and more. We didn’t stick to the need and switched over to an unfathomable depth of choice, competition, and greed. Now, waste is generated by us during our daily consumption and by the industries that produce the products. Only In the national capital Delhi, do we have three landfills to accommodate the waste generated by the people. Here are the details of some of them.
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A. Ghazipur. It has 1.4 MT of total waste spread over an area of 70 acres.
B. Bhalswa. It has 80 lakhs MT of waste, spread over an area of 36 acres.
C. Okhla. It has 60 lakhs MT of waste, spread over an area of 46 acres.
Approximately three crore MT of untreated waste is lying in these three landfills of the capital. In the 46 metro cities in India, waste generated is 65000 TPD as per the 2015-2016 report. It is estimated that the total generation of solid waste is 1,50000 TPD. Out of this if we assume 90% (1,35000MT) is collected and out of this 20% (27000MT) is processed, then almost 1,15000MT daily goes to the dumping sites. These dump sites are like time bombs because they constantly generate explosive gases like methane. Of course, methane in general is a stable gas, but a mixture of air with methane content between 5 and 14% by volume becomes highly explosive.
In addition to the metro cities, our small towns and rural areas have also started getting affected by the menace of this waste and garbage. Not very long back, we used to have fresh air and water in our rural areas. But now the situation has changed. Generally, waste generated in the villages remains indisposed. And when it is coupled with the excess utilization of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides, have severally and adversely affected the whole environment including the water table. Consequently, the quality of life in our villages has deteriorated. In north India, we have observed an instant spurt in cancer cases. It’s also taking the shape of a time bomb.
Now there’s an awakening in the people about the environment. People are aware of the problem of waste. In cities, people know about the importance of segregation of it also. But the real problem is, when segregated waste is collected and people see the garbage truck taking all of it together, they feel the effort is futile. Recent studies including one done by AIIMS have found that because of the waste dumps, bugs are entering into the water bodies, and through the water bodies, it goes into the food system, and then into the humans. Moreover, no concrete steps have been taken to stop untreated industrial waste and sewage thrown into the rivers. We are lacking at all levels from people awakening to their participation and government policies to their implementation. And the result is the quality of our water, be it in rivers or in the water table, which has deteriorated to the extent beyond repair.
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What are the solutions then? There can’t be short-term solutions to waste management in the country. We need to adjust our consumption pattern to move towards a sustainable lifestyle. We need to come out of the perception of “disposing of waste means, it being the out of sight only”. We must adopt the four Rs along with the circular economy.
Refuse. Don’t buy anything which we don’t need and abandon the habit of accumulating more and more.
Reduce. Alter lifestyle, so that minimum garbage is generated.
Reuse. Make secondary use of all the possible articles.
Recycle. Convert the recyclable waste into other products of utility.
Citizens should be more actively involved in their participation at all levels. Every effort will be effective only when all of us individually feel the responsibility of making the environment clean. Waste management is a litmus test of society’s environmental consciousness and responsibility.
Tags: #environmental, #food, #getgreengetgrowing, #gngagritech, #greenstories, #nature, #responsibility, #soil, #waste, #wastemanagement
Some really good info , Gladiola I found this. “So long as little children are allowed to suffer, there is no true love in this world.” by Isodore Duncan.
Why can’t these huge piles of waste be converted into fuel ! or any way to put into some use. Is there not any remedy! The large population is bound to generate waste how little it may be. The problem will still remain!
Every household or colony can be given the fastest way to put their garbage into some sort of converted use! Water harvesting has to be implemented by law- why can’t garbage disposal conversation be put to productive use become a law.