The Environmental Protection Act

• Section 7 of this Act places a principal prohibition on harming the

environment by stating that no person carrying any activity should
emit or discharge environmental pollutants in excess of the
prescribed standards

• Section 9 of the Act states that if any event takes place which
harms the environment through any foreseen or unforeseen event,
the person responsible for the harm is duty bound to prevent or
alleviate the pollutant, discharged as a result of such event

• The person is also obliged to inform the proper authorities about

the event which may harm the environment
 Polluter Pays Principle
• Section 9 (3) of the Act embodies the “Polluter Pays Principle”
which states that any expense which has been incurred to restore the
environment to its natural state shall be paid by the person who is
responsible for such degradation. This concept of a continuing
punishment is very important

• Environmental Protection Rules-Commonly known as

Environmental Protection Rules, 1986, these rules were formulated
by government under power conferred to them by Environmental
Protection Act

• Through these powers, government has authority to give specific

directions, without changing the principle Act.
 Waste regulations, India
• Hazardous Waste Management and Handling Rules- 2008

• Bio Medical waste handling & Management Rules- 1998

• Municipal Solid Waste Management & Handling Rules- 2000

• Lead Acid Battery Management rules- 2001

• Plastic Waste Management & Handling Rules- 2011

• E Waste Management & Handling Rules- 2011

 INDIA: SOLID WASTE STATISTICS
Annual Waste - 62 million tonnes By 2050 MSW generation projected to increase to
Plastic Waste - 5.6 million tonnes 436 million tons
Biomedical Waste - 0.17 million tonnes
Hazardous waste - 7.90 million tonnes
E-waste
If cities continue to dump waste at present rate
- 1.5 million tonnes
without treatment, it will need 1240 hectares of
Per capita waste generation in Indian land per year & with projected generation of
cities ranges from 200 grams to 600 165 million tons of waste by 2031, requirement
grams per day. of setting up of land fill for 20 years of 10 meters
height will require 66,000 hectares of land
43 million TPA is collected,
11.9 million is treated &
Untapped waste can:
31 million is dumped in landfill sites,
•Generate 439 MW of power from 32,890 tonnes
Only about 75-80% of the municipal waste
per day (TPD) of combustible wastes including
gets collected and only 22-28 % of this Refused Derived Fuel (RDF)
waste is processed & treated •1.3 million cubic metre of biogas per day, or 72
MW of electricity from biogas; and
Waste generation will increase from 62 •5.4 million metric tonnes of compost annually to
million tonnes to about165 million tonnes in support agriculture
2030”
 Municipal Solid Waste (Management &
Handling) Rules: 2000
• Indian Constitution recognizes the role of local bodies ( 74 Amendment)
• Responsibilities largely lies with the State Department /municipality
Management steps
• Collection , Segregation, Storage, Transportation and Disposal
• Disposal ( Biomethenation, Composting, Incineration,)
Agencies responsible
• MOEF, MOUD, CPCB, SPCB, State Urban Department and Municipalities
• Submission of the Annual report to CPCB.
Important Provisions:
• Land Fill Siting, Standard for Composting, Leachates and Incineration
India: Solid Waste Management Central Monitoring Committee for Solid
(SWM) Rules after 16 years…New Waste Management constituted under the
rules announced on 5th April 2016 chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change to
• These rules are the sixth category of waste monitor the overall implementation of the
management rules brought out by the Ministry of
Rules.
Environment, Forests & Climate Change. The
Ministry had previously notified plastic, e-waste,
The Committee comprises:
biomedical, hazardous and construction and • Ministry of Urban Development,
demolition waste management rules • Ministry of Rural Development,
• Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers,
• Rules applicable beyond municipal areas and will • Ministry of Agriculture, Central Pollution Control
extend to urban agglomerations. Board,
• 3 State Pollution Control Boards /Pollution Control
• Waste processing facilities will have to be set up Committees,
by all local bodies having 1 million or more • Urban Development Departments of 3 State
population within two years. Governments,
• Rural development departments from two State
• For census towns below 1 million population, or Governments, three urban local bodies, two census
local bodies having 0.5 million or more towns,
population, or census towns under 0.5 million • Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce &
population standalone sanitary landfills will have Industry (FICCI)
to be completed in three years. • Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and
• Two subject experts
 Salient features of SWM Rules, 2016

• Hotels and restaurants should segregate • Developers of Special Economic Zone, industrial
biodegradable waste and set up a system of estate, industrial park to earmark at least 5% of
collection to ensure that such food waste is the total area of the plot or minimum 5 plots/
utilized for composting / biomethanation. sheds for recovery and recycling facility.

• Resident Welfare associations and gated • Manufacturers of disposable products such as

communities with an area >5,000 sqm should tin, glass, plastics packaging etc. shall provide
segregate waste and handover recyclable material necessary financial assistance to local authorities
to either the authorized waste pickers or the for the establishment of waste management
authorized recyclers, or to the urban local body. system.

• Bio-degradable waste should be processed, treated • Companies that sell products in non-
and disposed of through composting or bio- biodegradable packaging material should put in
methanation within the premises as far as possible. place a system to collect back the packaging
waste generated due to their production.
• Street vendors should keep suitable containers for
storage of waste generated and deposit such • All such manufacturers, brand owners or
waste at waste storage depot or container marketing companies should educate the masses
or vehicle as notified by the local authority. for wrapping and disposal of their products.

• High calorific wastes shall be used for co- • Construction and demolition waste should be
processing in cement or thermal power plants. stored, separately disposed off.
 Challenges in MSW
• Poor compliance record of municipalities
• Source Segregation, collection and recycling
• Landfill space and its management
• Fixing accountability of agencies ( SPCB & Municipality)
• Choice of technology
• Capacity of implementers and regulators
• Waste minimization
• Recycling drivers.
• Tipping Fees
 Scope of Improvement

• Inadequacy of data
• Finalisation of contracts
• Technology evaluation/ experts
• Role of SPCB
• Systems management at Municipality
• Monitoring of PPP projects
• Waste Characterization