Itegrated solid waste management - a case study on Hosur, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract

The towns and cities have become the centers of population growth and require three essential services viz., water supply, waste water treatment and solid wastes disposal. The tremendous increase in population accelerates the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation. Hence, the solid waste management (SWM) is one of the essential municipal services, to protect the environment, safeguard public health services and improve productivity. Improving SWM service level is a formidable task faced by most Indian municipalities, despite spending 20 to 35 percent of total municipal revenues on SWM. Urban solid wastes have become a threat to environment, both in developed and developing countries such as nuisance from odor, prevalence of unhygienic conditions, groundwater pollution etc.. Hence for a clean and healthy environment the MSW must be managed properly. In this context the case study is carried out for the integrated solid waste management system for Hosur town, TN, India. The present population of the town is 2.44 lakhs and the projected population is about 3.51 lakhs with floating population of 35,000 per day. The study reveals that the town generates about 77.42 tons of solid wastes per day and its annual production is about 28,258 tons. The study is been carried out for the characterization of MSW, to analyze the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of municipal solid waste. The solid waste samples were collected from six sampling stations, and analyzed for physical and chemical characteristics. The average value of density of solid waste in the residential areas was 394.54 kg/m3. The moisture content of municipal solid waste varied from 30 percent to 40 percent and the pH of the MSW ranged from 5.99 to 6.7. The organic content in the solid waste is in the range of 40 percent to 50 percent a value slightly higher than other cities of India due to more waste inputs from farmer s regulated market and floriculture.