Development of an integrated and sustainable model for solid waste management in an urban environment

Abstract

Waste management in the metropolis has become a challenging task as more intensified urbanization is happening at rapid rate. The urban local bodies without proper policies and management are finding hard to make a city clean and green. Improper waste management policies have resulted in severe health hazards among fellow human beings. Even soil, water and air are being polluted to greater extent due to carelessness in handling hazardous waste. Therefore, time has come to address the issues and gaps in waste management polices of urban local bodies through conducting studies on it. This study aimed at Developing an Integrated and sustainable model for waste management by studying the waste management practices of the Coimbatore city, an industrial district in the state of TamilNadu, India. The methodology involved is to collect the data on waste generation and its handling techniques from municipal body and after analysing the hindrances, a new model named “Decentralized model “has been proposed along with its advantages quantified in three pillars of sustainability namely social, environment and economy. Decentralized model is that in which the waste is handled near its source so that the transportation and huge landfilling is avoided which is major hindrance in Coimbatore city. The model has been designed considering all the parameters according to the population of particular neighbourhood under consideration and its costing has been done. The 3D rendering using google sketch up has been done to give the fellow researcher a good idea on how waste treatment plant shall be.