Over 90% urban areas practice open dumping

According to some reports, over 90 percent of cities and towns in India practice open dumping because of negligence, administrative mismanagement and lack of infrastructure.

It is alleged that in most cities and towns, implementation of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules has been poor.

Experts urge local bodies in these cities and towns to learn waste segregation and recycling from municipalities in advanced countries.

Waste generation across India’s cities may reach 260 million tonne per year by 2047, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) estimates.

The Supreme Court, in 2000, made it mandatory for the country’s municipalities to take responsibility for the safe disposal of its wastes.

Recently, the Warangal, a city in Andhra Pradesh hosted a sports competition to emphasise the importance of waste management.

The city hosted 386 teams from 57 municipalities across the northern half of Andhra Pradesh – the largest state in south India and the fourth largest in the country – competing for the ‘best performance’ trophy in collection and disposal of household wastes.

The idea of handling waste management through sport came to environmental activist Uday Singh after watching an Indian Premier League cricket game.