The Complete Analysis of Waste Management Industry

The increase in industrialization, population and demand of consumer goods has resulted in an increase of the solid waste globally. According to World Bank in 2012, urban population produced about 1.3 billion tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) which is expected to grow to 2.2 billion tonnes in 2025. The costs for managing solid waste is expected to increase drastically in lower middle (four times) income countries such as India and Brazil among others and even higher in low income countries (five times) such as Kenya and Ghana among others. Thus there has been an urgent cry for the need to manage these solid wastes on a global scale. Many technological alternatives, economic instruments, and regulatory frameworks have been put to use to manage and sustainably control the waste from ruining the environment. Let us see the complete story behind the topic- The Complete Analysis of Waste Management Industry.

Division of waste management market

The waste management market is broadly divided on the basis of:

• Waste type,
• service, and
• region.

Depending upon waste type, the market is classified into municipal waste, industrial waste, and hazardous waste. Since the last few years the municipal waste management segment had been ruling in terms of extracting the GDP of India and providing employment to the mass population.

On the basis of service waste, there are the collection service waste from the sectors of transportation, collection, handling, storing as as well as the disposal service waste which includes the wastes from recycling, landfill and composting. This disposal segment of waste management has also been sharply dominating the global world where most of the waste management is required.

Waste management based on region only refers to the various initiatives deployed by the various continents like Europe, North America, Asia and Australia where these countries compete with each other to reduce their volume of waste and become free of hazards.

Factors that creates the demand for Waste management

• Growth in urban population

The urban population has been increasing at a tremendous rate since the last few decades. The UN estimates therefore report that nearly 55-57 percent of people in the world lived in urban areas in 2019. This population statistics goes on increasing at a drastic rate every year. With the increase in urbanisation, the immediate impact is upon the change in demand of these urbanised population. The need of industries which emit solid, liquid as well as gaseous waste pollute the environment from all aspects. With the inclusion of nuclear power there is also a risk of the radio active wastes emerging from these places.

• Increased amount of waste generated

As per the data released by the World Bank, in the year 2018, which says that- the global municipal solid waste generated in 2016 was 2.1 billion tons, and is expected to reach approximately 3.40 billion tons by 2050. Most of the highly developed nations such as America, Australia, South Africa, East Asia and China, release 270 million tons of waste each year. This is due to the increasing level of industrialisation and energy consumption per head within the countries.

Also Read: Quantum Green - One Stop Solution for Effective Waste Management

Which are the Target Markets?

The target markets are those which produce the highest volume of solid waste per year. The list below shows the industries which produce the highest amount of waste and also the key ingredients within these wastes.

1. Steel and Blast furnace

2. Brine mud

3. Copper slag

4. Fly ash

5. Kiln dust

6. Cement plants

7. Lime sludge

8. Sugar, paper, fertilizer tanneries, soda ash, calcium carbide industries

9. Mica scraper waste

10. Phosphoric acid plant, Ammonium phosphate

11. Coal mines

12. Iron tailing

13. Limestone wastes

14.The medical industries

1. The agro based industries

waste administration as a imperative to your business

• Legitimate Requirements: Industries have a legitimate cause and responsibility to ensure that they discard their waste and maintain the standard of the environment. Neglecting the environment could mean a shutdown of your business permanently
• Rise in environmental awareness: With the rising consciousness among people, every individual has now to some extent been trying to reduce the amount of waste generated by themselves. This has triggered a growth opportunity for both the public as well as the private sectors in the market to undertake proactive measures to recycle Municipal Solid Waste and are conducting programs and spreading awareness for non-hazardous industrial waste management in order to reduce pollution and mitigate environmental hazards. The risk of untreated waste from medical sectors, chemical industries, plastics have been inducing long term effects to the physical body and spreading diseases worldwide. Thus, the need to manage solid waste is crucial and many industries are coming forward to undertake these challenges.
• Human Health: If you do not take care of the health of your employees as well as your consumers, it would simply result in lower productivity. It has been noted by WHO that approximately 1 in 4 employees fall ill each week due to factors such as pollution, improper waste management in the neighbourhood or after consuming synthetic substance like fertilizers and insecticides which are sprayed at a huge rate on the crops. To maintain the health of your employees as well as yourself, it is important to undertake waste management.

Challenges to Waste Management

The following problems are generally encountered in cities and towns while dealing with industrial solid waste

• There are no specific disposal sites where industries can dispose their waste;
• Mostly, industries generating solid waste in city and town limits are of small scale nature and even do not seek consents of SPCBs/PCCs;
• Industries are located in non-conforming areas and as a result they cause water and air pollution problems besides disposing solid waste.
• Industrial estates located in city limits do not have adequate facilities so that industries can organise their collection, treatment and disposal of liquid and solid waste;
• There is no regular interaction between urban local bodies and SPCBs/PCCs to deal such issues relating to treatment and disposal of waste and issuance of licenses in non-conforming areas.

MANAGEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL SOLID WASTES-COORDINATION (SPCBs & LOCAL BODIES)

Urban local bodies are constantly in the field and they are well aware of the local situation. They also know sources of waste generation and areas under their control. In order to organise proper collection, transportation and disposal of industrial solid waste, there is need to set up co-ordination between SPCBs, local bodies and industrial departments. Following guidelines are suggested to follow :

1. Urban local bodies should identify the areas from where industrial solid waste is generated.
2. Inventorisation of industries could be attempted through SPCBs or industries department for characterisation of wastes.
3. SPCBs may take necessary actions for issuance of consents/Authorisations to the industries under relevant Acts and Rules.
4. Urban local bodies may undertake collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste on cost recovery basis as per existing rules and may identify suitable sites for final treatment and disposal of industrial solid waste as per existing rules and regulations.

These are some of the critical analysis of waste management industries, in today’s world where the blue planet is slowly turning brown, it is extremely vital that the Industries which value waste management and effective disposal come to power and reduce the negative effects from the environment.