Solid waste management is one among the basic essential
services provided by municipal authorities in the
country to keep urban centres clean. However, it is
among the most poorly rendered services in the basket—the
systems applied are unscientific, outdated and inefficient;
population coverage is low; and the poor are marginalized.
Waste is littered all over leading to insanitary living conditions.
Municipal laws governing the urban local bodies do not
have adequate provisions to deal effectively with the evergrowing
problem of solid waste management. With rapid
urbanization, the situation is becoming critical. The urban
population has grown fivefold in the last six decades
with 285.35 million people living in urban areas as per the
2001 Census.Community participation has a direct bearing on efficient
SWM. Yet, the municipal authorities have failed to mobilize
the community and educate citizens on the rudiments of
handling waste and proper practices of storing it in their own
bins at the household-, shop- and establishment-level. In the
absence of a basic facility of collection of waste from source,
citizens are prone to dumping waste on the streets, open
spaces, drains, and water bodies in the vicinity creating
insanitary conditions. Citizens assume that waste thrown on
the streets would be picked up by the municipality through
street sweeping.
For the general public, which is quite indifferent towards
garbage disposal etiquette, the onus of keeping the city
clean is entirely on the ULBs. This mind set is primarily
responsible for the unscientific systems of waste management
in the country