1. Collection :
At present there is an organized door to door collection system. This practice was not followed in an organized manner previously, causing dumping of garbage in the open spaces and streets causing insanitary conditions.
However, it cannot be said that the collection system has efficiency of hundred percent.
Sometimes, on Sunday, people do not collect the garbage, creating unhygienic condition at home and force people to throw the garbage into the open space and street.
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The road sweepers still sometimes burn or throw the garbage into open spaces. All these matters need special consideration.
2. Storage :
Storage facilities, although have been developed significantly, we still require more storage. At the same time, the garbage should not be stored for a prolonged time; otherwise it can cause unhygienic conditions.
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3. Transportation :
The garbage is nowadays, collected frequently from the storage and transported to places far away from the community. However, many Problems still remain. The trucks are found to be overloaded and the garbage spills creating foul odour. Many times, the drivers throw off the loaded garbage in nearby open space.
4. Recycling:
We all know that all wastes are not complete waste. Proper recycling can generate materials of use. In India, a proper recycling process has not been achieved yet.
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There still exists door to door collection, collection from disposal sites, from collection bins by the people from the weaker section of society.
These people store these materials in slum for prolonged time causing insanitary conditions. Moreover, they clean the materials in their water resources causing greater degree of water pollution.
Generation of waste can be minimized and the generated waste can be converted to wealth with the help of four R principle of waste management. The four R principle stands for: (1) Refuse (2) Reuse (3) Recycle (4) Reduce.
5. Refuse:
Buying of new containers should be refused. The same containers in the house can be used again and again.
6. Reuse:
Waste generated from home may not actually be waste.
So items like cans, glass, bottles, should not be thrown away, instead they can be used as flower vase, pencil and pen stand, after proper decoration. Instead of plastic bags, if jute or cloth bags are purchased, they can be used again and again. All these lead to reduction in waste generation.
7. Recycle:
The used and discarded wastes contain valuable materials like aluminum, steel, glasses, etc. During the recycling process, the wastes are collected, materials are processed and newer products are generated.
Before recycling, the wastes are segregated to separate out biodegradable wastes from non-biodegradable waste. The biodegradable waste, such as household garbage, leaves, flowers, fruits from gardens can be used in compost pit and used as fertilizers.
The non-biodegradable waste such as plastics, glass, paper, bulbs, pesticide containers, batteries, again can be segregated to separate toxic waste from non- toxic waste.
The non-toxic waste can be recycled for reuse and toxic wastes can be disposed off. Recycling thus, reduces environmental pollution to a greater extent as well as saves money as lesser amount of newer materials need to be generated.
8. Reduce:
Unnecessary waste generation can be reduced if one’s own shopping bags are used and various items purchased from the market can be put in it, instead of taking several carry packs for several items.
9. Disposal:
Disposal is the final step in solid waste management system. Unfortunately, there is no organized disposal system in our country. There are several methods of solid waste disposal but only a few are followed in our country and that too without proper care.