Matrix Method for Evaluation of Existing Solid Waste Management Processes in Jalandhar City, Punjab, India

Abstract

Solid waste management is one of the most serious problems being faced by Indian cities due to increased urbanization and industrialization in India. The present study highlights the existing status of solid waste management practices in Jalandhar city, Punjab, India considering a dumpsite of Wariana village and Suchipind of Jalandhar and suggests remedial measures to the major problems being faced by the existing system of solid waste management. The waste generation of municipal solid waste in Jalandhar city was reported as 400 ton per day. A total of 350 ton of solid waste is disposed of in different disposal sites daily in the city. The per capita waste generation rate in Jalandhar is approximately 0.6 kg/capita/day. The collection efficiency of the municipal solid waste is reported about 70% in the city. The study also summarizes the ‘wasteaware’ benchmark indicators for the evaluation of the existing scenario of solid waste management in Jalandhar city and matrix method for comparing the overall score of the existing management of municipal solid waste of Jalandhar city with Chandigarh city. The overall score of the analysis of the matrix method for Jalandhar city was reported as 32% and the same for Chandigarh city was 46%. However, the quantification score of Jalandhar city was considerably lower than Chandigarh city. The analysis of matrix method suggested that the management of municipal solid waste in Jalandhar city can be categorized under the category of low index, whereas Chandigarh city was categorized under low–medium index.