Quantification, characterization and footprint appraisal of solid waste in urban areas of Solan district in Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

As the world hurtles towards its urban future, the amount of solid waste, one of the most important by products of an urban lifestyle, is growing even faster than the rate of urbanization. The paper presents the quantification, characterization and footprint assessment of solid waste in urban areas of Solan District. The study reported that the total quantity of urban solid waste generated varied from 0.896 to 19.527 t day-1. Organics, paper, plastic, glass, others, metal, textiles, rubber / leather wastes represented 50.01%, 21.93%, 18.42%, 4.25%, 2.10%, 1.20%, 1.09% and 1.00% consequently. Per capita waste generation rates ranged from 0.217 to 0.408 kg capita-1 day-1. The waste footprint of different urban areas varied from 0.002 to 0.035 ha. Thus the results revealed that the majority of waste was organic (50.01%), suggesting a strong resource recovery potential in terms of animal feed or compost. Waste separation should be enforced at the source level, which could promote reuse and recycling, leading to maximum recovery potential and reduced waste volumes.