Municipal Solid Waste Management in Bangalore and the Concept of Mini Biogas Plant in Urban Localities

Suchitra Ramesh, Asif Usman, Adil Usman*, Divakar B.P Reva Institute of Technology and Management adil_usman009@yahoo.co.in*
ABSTRACT: Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is one of the major environmental problems of Indian cities. Solid waste is defined as the material, which arises from various human activities and which is normally discarded as useless and unwanted. Improper management of municipal solid waste (MSW) causes hazards to inhabitants. Various studies reveal that about 90% of MSW is disposed off unscientifically in open dumps and landfills, creating problems to public health and the environment. In the present paper a survey of case studies conducted on MSWM in few cities across India is reviewed to gain insight into solid waste management. Several data concerning SWM in Bangalore has been collected to understand the problems being faced by Bangaloreans. An exclusive survey is carried out within the campus of Reva Institute of Technology, Bangalore to quantify the waste generation and to come up with a feasible SWM solution which can be implemented within the campus. Index Terms: Municipal solid waste management (MSWM), Agricultural waste, Waste-To-Energy (WTE), Geographical Information System (GIS)

issue. In this paper the earlier case studies conducted [1]-[3] on Aurangabad, Manipur and Kolkata are reviewed and few statistical data concerning Solid Waste Management in Bangalore collected to understand the problem. As a case study, a survey of generation and waste management within the campus of Reva Institute of Technology, situated in the IT city Bangalore is carried out to come up with a sustainable waste management system within the campus. The case study conducted throws some light on the amount of waste generation as well as its management. Objectives: To bring awareness on SWM at local level To highlight the establishment of local potable mini biogas plants. To involve youth in the campus to address the global problem. Methodology:

I.

INTRODUCTION

The generated waste consists of many types which are not segregated at the source in majority of cities across India. Although few municipalities have taken measures for bringing awareness to general community about segregation of wastes, no significant improvement has been achieved in waste management. People discard wastes of all types which are then collected for disposal. Majority of solid wastes end up in landfills and thus create health hazards due to unplanned and unscientific methods followed in waste disposals. Due to rapid growth, urban areas are facing severe shortage of landfills and as a result the community at large is now at the risk of hazards due to delay in waste disposals. The city of Bangalore, once a pensioners paradise, has come to known lately as garbage city thanks to garbage pileups owing to lack of landfills. Open dumping of garbage breeds flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats, and other pests that spread diseases. Unfortunately Solid waste management did not receive attention it deserved until now. It was never taken seriously either by public, concerned agency or authorities. The community has woken up from its slumber now and desperately looking for some miracle to address the 978-1-4799-2402-8/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE 468

As the topic is new, the team members decided to collect literature review of SWM practices in Indian cities to understand the widespread practices across India. Few data regarding SWM in Bangalore city and in the campus of REVA ITM, Bangalore were collected. II. MSW disposals and treatment Composting (aerobic composting and vermicomposting) and waste-to-energy (WTE) (incineration, biomethanisation), are the two leading waste disposal mechanisms being adopted in India [1]. WTE mechanism for disposal of MSW is a relatively new concept in India. Although these have been tried and tested in developed countries with positive results, these are yet to get off the ground in India largely because of the fact that financial viability and sustainability is still being tested. Different methods for the disposal and treatment of MSW are discussed below.

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a.

Biodegradation: [7]

Biodegradation is a biological way of recycling the wastes where decaying process is carried out by bacteria, fungi, insects, worms, and other organisms that eat dead material and recycle it into new forms. Through composting, we accelerate natural biodegradation and convert wastes to a valuable resource. This kind of elimination of waste can be carried out only with organic waste which is about 76% of total waste [5 ]. b. Automated solid waste processing [7]:

"conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Waste recycling has some significant advantages that it leads to less utilization of raw materials, reduces environmental impacts arising from waste treatment and disposal, makes the surroundings cleaner and healthier, saves on landfill space and finally saves money. e. Membrane Bioreactors [7]:

The decision to implement solid waste collection automation is a complex one and involves a number of factors that should be considered, including engineering, risk management, technology assessment, costs, and public acceptance yet has a lot of advantages for both residents as well as the municipal corporation but at the same time, it increases the risk factor involved in safety and health issues of the solid waste collection workers. c. Incineration [7]:

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is the combination of a membrane process like microfiltration or ultra filtration with a suspended growth bioreactor, and is now widely used for municipal and industrial waste treatment. III. CASE STUDIES OF MAJOR STUDIES Case studies on SWM in major cities of India have been reported [1]-[3]. A summary of the findings are given below:

Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas, and heat. The ash is mostly formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste, and may take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The heat generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power. Incineration with energy recovery is one of several waste-to-energy technologies such as gasification, plasma arc gasification, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion. Advantages: Incineration is an efficient way to reduce the waste volume and the demand for landll space. Incineration plants can be located close to the waste generation centre, thus reducing the cost of waste transportation. Disadvantages: An incineration plant involves heavy investments and high operating costs. d. Recycling [7]: It is a process of converting materials (waste) into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for

a. Aurangabad City : The report suggests that Aurangabad has experienced serious environment degradation on account of direct disposal of solid wastes. The city is now being assisted by Geographical Information System (GIS) a tool to support the planning of waste management. GIS has helped to manipulate data to simulate alternatives and to take the most effective decisions. But several problems still persists- GIS gave the information only at the point of interests like waste bins and open dumps ignoring the other filthy areas. GIS was not reliable during bad weathers and the heavy cost factor is another bane to the prospect [1 ]. Economy criteria consideration, environmentally sensitive areas consideration, identification of recyclable waste generating areas and flexibility in model further added to the problem of using GIS [ 1]. 2. Kolkata City: Taking the extract from the case study done by the reference it is seen that, maintaining the quantities of MSW in Kolkata is a tedious task. The major problems faced by the city are: process of segregating the waste, large number of open vats, low efficiency of waste transport system with aged vehicles, low collection efficiency in newly added areas, improper recycling unit and many other factors. Due to climatic factors like high temperature and humidity along with high organic matter content, MSW decomposes rapidly resulting in unhygienic conditions. Hence in most areas, collection has to be

done on a daily basis. A system for collecting and storage of solid waste is implemented by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). Composting methodology is practiced for treatment of solid waste [2]. This method is only applicable for organic waste and is the flaw seen in this practice. . 3. Manipur City: Taking the extract from the case study done by the reference it is seen that management of the large quantities of MSW in Manipur city is generally carried out by collection, segregation, storage, transportation and disposal which is the same methodology as followed by Kolkata. Thus analyzing the above methodologies practiced in the three cities, it is seen that most of the practices implemented have limitations either because the methods are waste specific or improper executions. The following paragraph discusses SWM implemented in Bangalore. 4. Bangalore (SWM) Statistics Solid Waste Management in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Relevant data and statistics were collected from various sources and officials of BBMP regarding the solid waste management prevailing in the entire city. Bangalore has a total area of about 800sq.kms with a population of 80 lakh. Bangalore is divided into 8 zones and 198 municipal wards which include about 25 lakh household and 3.5 lakh commercial properties. The per capita waste generated is about 350 grams per day which is merely domestic waste. [5 ] a. Physical composition of MSW (%):

10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

Metal Organic Glass Debris Biomedical TOTAL

0.01 0.23 0.03 0.05 0.02 1.00

Nearly 54% of total waste constitutes household wastes and rest contributes waste generated from other sources. Composition of Municipal Solid Waste is analyzed and interpreted in Table I and Table II as shown. Following the above mentioned statistics, it is analyzed that 70% of MSW activity has been outsourced and 30% is managed by BBMP. Collection of waste takes place on a door-to-door basis using pushcarts and auto tippers. This forms the primary collection of waste, where waste is collected in unsegregated form as the on-site segregation is not practiced. b. Chemical composition of MSW (%): Table II Chemical Composition of MSW in percentage. [5] Sl. No 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Constitue nt/Propert C y N P2O5 K2O Moisture% Minimu m 13.00 0.28 0.46 0.45 13.80 Maximum 42.60 1.23 0.92 1.07 40.90

Table I Physical Composition of MSW in percentage [5] Serial Number 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Product Vegetable Paper Plastic Cardboard Textiles Grass/leaves/wood Leather Battery Electronic item Percentage 0.30 0.09 0.12 0.04 0.04 0.06 0.00 0.00 0.02

Secondary collection and transportation includes compactors, tipper-lorries, mechanical sweepers etc. The waste collected from households is shifted to the treatment sites through trucks. Thus, the unsegregated waste reaches the processing plants. Few plants are established for composting the organic waste as well as recycling of plastic, metals etc. Dry waste collection centers are set up for recycling the dry materials like plastic, paper, glass and metals. In Bangalore there are few BBMP established processing and disposing sites as mentioned below table:

Table III BBMP established processing and disposing sites [5]

IV. Case study within the college campus A survey was conducted within the college campus of Reva Institute of Technology and Management, situated in Northern Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The college is situated in the outskirts of the city having pleasant ambience with thirty six acres of area. The campus has twelve blocks including academic block, administrative block, residential quarters and hostels for students. The total strength of the students within campus is around 5000, in which ration of boys to girls is 3:2, while the number of faculties is around 300. Huge amount of waste is generated due to the activities within the campus. The waste generated in kgs can be estimated to around 300kgs, which is very high and unbelievable. Thus a survey was done within the campus and following statistics were collected and tabulated in Table IV. The major part of the waste constitutes food, vegetables, paper, plastic and glass. The daily average generation of food wastes comes to about 78%.This waste is taken every two days for incineration far away from city. The fallen dry leaves in the campus are used as fuels for cooking by the workers. The ashes in turn become waste. Solid waste generated from canteens and college is later dumped and burnt behind the campus. The smoke thus generated is a cause for pollution and health hazard. Table IV Waste constituents Sl.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Constituent Vegetable & fruit waste Paper from mess and canteen Plastic Food Grass/leaves/wood Chemicals laboratories Textile Leather Electronic items Metals Organic Debris TOTAL from Percentage % 17.0 15.0 7.0 12.5 9.0 8.5 2.0 1.5 5.5 8.5 9.5 4.0 100

Sl.n o 1 2 3

Name of the project M/s Ramky M/s S.G.R.R.L M/s Terrafirm a

Capacity of plant 600MTP D 100MTP D 100MTP D

Technology adopted Aerobic Composting and scientific land fill Waste to energy (composting) vermincomposting , biomethanisation

The statistical data of SWM in Bangalore is presented Figure 1. The percentage wise division clearly depicts how much waste is being land filled, recycled and composted and finally and how much is recovered in terms of energy.

Fig. 1 Pie Chart of SWM of Bangalore [5]. From the above information collected from BBMP, following advantages can be summarized. Advantages: 1. About 8% of waste plastic is segregated which can be used in the construction of pavement roads. 2. Bangalore is practicing the conversion of plastics into diesel by following depolymerization technology on a small scale. If this is implemented on a larger scale, then 100% management of solid waste can be achieved in the city. Even though BBMP has made segregation of wastes at the source mandatory, majority of localities continue to dump unsegregated wastes. Unless a stricter law comes into effect, the initiative by BBMP will not become successful.

Proposal: The survey carried out has thrown light on the problems with waste management system being practiced and the lack of awareness among people. This motivated us to explore further to look for practices to mitigate the problem at the local level. One such solution was found in [6] which discussed mini bio-gas plants. V. Mini Biogas plants municipal locality. in urban/rural

stones and grits (10) too are separated and accumulated at the bottom. Process The process of formation of gas takes place by the action of putrefy active bacteria, which break down organic material under anaerobic conditions. All feed materials consisting of organic solids, inorganic solids and water undergo the process of gas formation biologically under the action of these bacteria. Addition of water gives the substrate fluid properties. It is easier for the putrefactive bacteria to come into contact with feed material which is still fresh when the slurry is in liquid state. This accelerates the digestion (give the chemical name for this process) process. Regular stirring thus speeds up the gas production. Slurry with solids content of 510% is particularly well suited to the operation of continuous biogas plants. The gas is stored in the upper part of the digester. When gas production commences, the slurry is displaced into the compensating tank. The gas so produced can be transferred through gaslight seal mounted securely on the wall to the kitchen. Cost: As mentioned in [6], the cost of this proposed digester is estimated to be less than US$50. The Actual cost for installation within a campus considering the benefits in terms of savings in transportation cost (associated pollution) may be justified. Moreover, the generation of bio-gas from the organic waste can be used in canteens in the campus. The main advantage of this digester is the cost [6] compared to the conventional digester. The mini biodigester has only one fiber tank unlike conventional bio-digesters that use two tanks and hence is economical for small locality. A detailed feasibility report is ongoing to set up similar biodigesters in our campus to address the global issue. Through this the whole community will be engaged in waste management. VI. CONCLUSION In this paper various methods of disposal and treatment of solid waste is discussed in detail. The various methods followed in Aurangabad, Kolkata and Manipur city has been observed and their drawbacks are noted down. A case study of SWM in Bangalore city has been conducted. An attempt has been made to collect data of waste management in

Paper [6] discusses the application of mini biogas plants of 200 liters proposed by Bio-based Energy Laboratory, of Kathmandu valley. The cost of it is about 60$ and quite affordable if few houses make a joint venture. The typical features of a mini digester are given below:

Fig. 2 Proposed Biogas plant with its operating parts The above figure shows the bio digester which is different from the one used in Kathmandu Valley. The construction features and operations are briefly given here [5]. Construction The fixed-dome plant consisting of a biodigester (2) where fixed non movable gas is stored. The gas is stored in the upper part of the digester. When gas production commences, the slurry is displaced into the compensating tank (3). Gas pressure increases with the volume of gas stored, therefore the volume of the digester should be limited. Mixing tank (1) with inlet pipe is provided where one can dump the waste every alternate day, prior to which one cycle should have completed in fifteen days at the beginning. The gasholder (4) is provided along with the gas pipe (5) as the outlet. The plant is provided with the airtight gas seal (6). During the process of gas formation there are number of levels involves which include the formation of sludge (9) which is precipitated at the bottom surface of the plant. The

our college campus. From the study of various case studies, it is felt that the mini bio gas plants could be set up within our campus or in small localities to recover energy from wastes. A detailed feasibility report will be prepared with the help of MBA department and the report will be submitted to the management to consider setting up plants within the campus. As there is a plan for setting up of new campus, it is envisaged that the management take our proposal into consideration.

VII. ACKNOWLEGEMENT The authors acknowledge the support from Principal and management of REVA ITM for this work. Special gratitude is conveyed to the officials of BBMP for providing the relevant current statistics. VIII. REFERENCES

1. Shaikh Moiz Ahmed, Hassan Muhammad, ke Sivertun:Linkping, Solid Waste Management Planning using GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies Case Study Aurangabad City, India University, Sweden. 2. Bidyut Kr. Bhattacharya, Swapan Das ,A Holistic Approach for Integrated Solid Waste Management System of Kolkata Municipality Corporation Area Bengal Engineering & Science University, Shibpur, Howrah, India. 3. Ch. Raghumani Singh and Mithra Dey, Solid Waste Management of Thoubal Municipality, Manipur- A Case Study 4. Biogas Plants by Ludwig Sasse. 5. Solid Waste Management in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, Handbooks on Statistics, BBMP. 6. S. P. Lohani, A. Satyal, S. Timilsina, S. Parajuli, P. Dhital,Energy Recovery Potential from Solid Waste in Kathmandu Valley, Bio-based Energy Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal 7. Handbook on Biogas and its applications by Niir Broad.