Urban waste management in a developing country - Essay Example

Running Head :URBAN WASTE MANAGEMENT Urban Waste Management in a Developing Country Urban Waste Management in a Developing Country Health of an ecosystem is central to sustainable development of a developing nation. Twenty five per cent of the preventable illnesses in the world are caused by environmental factors. According to a study by the WHO, thirteen million deaths are caused annually due to environmental factors, and most of them are in developing countries. The newly emerging economies such as India and other South Asian countries are getting overwhelmed by the trash they are generating.

The urban solid waste generated in the Indian cities has reached unmanageable proportions and is causing grave health and environmental hazards to the community. Although the civic bodies are endeavoring to promote recycling and reusing some of the waste generated, a strong partnership with the community is essential to the success of any endeavor. Kengeri is a suburb of Bangalore, a bustling city in India. Like all urban centers of India, Kengeri faces a pressing problem of trash disposal. As a Health Educator working for an international health organization, I wanted to involve the community in the assessment and management of household trash.

I would follow these methods to involve the community. In a meeting of the citizens of the community, a discussion about the major health hazards of improper disposal of waste would be arranged. Film clips of the major diseases like cholera which are the direct consequences of improper waste management would be shown. Other films illustrating how water gets polluted by hazardous waste which is improperly disposed would be viewed. The many drawbacks in the existing trash management, such as health hazards, drinking water pollution, rag pickers who scattered the trash searching for metal scrap, clogged sewers and high cost of door to door collection of garbage would be discussed.

"Reduce, reuse and recycle" is a proven method of managing solid waste efficiently. The use of plastic bags could be minimized by the people taking their own bags when they go shopping. Many of the things thrown as rubbish could be recycled- for example, paper All kitchen waste and garden waste could be made into compost. Civic bodies in Bangalore are already doing this in a compost manufacturing facility. Segregating kitchen waste which can be composted from the other inorganic trash is to be followed at the source.

The methods of solid waste disposal followed by Exnora in Chennai city is a good example.In this, there are hydrocontainers placed in each street, where the trash would be put. The rag-pickers, now named 'street beautifiers', collect the trash from each house early in the morning and transfer it to the hydrocontainers, which will be later emptied by the civic bodies to be disposed of at the allotted landfills. The' street beautifiers' then sweep their assigned streets. The people would make a list of available alternatives to existing waste management.

Representatives of various interest groups would state their point of view and resolve their conflicts .Economic and environmental outcomes of each of the alternatives would be discussed A decision making body of the community would be elected, who would be empowered to take decisions in the interest of the community. The community would be involved with the disposal of hazardous waste produced by the hospitals and gardeners using pesticide in the suburb. The hospital waste is a potential source of infection affecting the whole community.

Although a part of the waste generated by the hospitals is incinerated, most of it finds its way to the dump where it is improperly disposed. The participants of the discussion will discuss how the disposal of hazardous waste can be improved by reverting to organic gardening and minimizing pesticide use, and more efficient methods of disposing hospital waste. Solid waste management has become one of the major problems faced by the developing countries in this century. Only with the strong support of the community, can there be a permanent solution to the problem The health organizations must ensure community involvement for their projects to be successful.

References: World Health Organization (2008). Environmental Health. Retrieved from the web on 8/26/08 at http://www.who.int/topics/environmental_health/en/ Karmayog (2008) Retrieved from the web on 8/29/08 http://www.karmayog.org/library/html/libraryofarticles_389.htm Chanakya,H.N.C, Ramachandra,T.V, Satishkumar,R. (2008) Feasible solid waste Management viewed on the web on 8/29/08 at http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/SWMTR/TR85.html