Urbanization in India

                                                                       Chapter I

                                                                    Introduction

1.1 Preamble

Rapid urbanization, has made urban solid waste a great crisis in the urban establishments. More than half of the  population of the world has become largely urbanized or semi-urbanized. United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) has declared that across the world nearly 3,000 million people live in urban centres and everyday approximately 160,000 people join the lot (GEO-2000, Global Environment outlook, 2000). Today, almost 400 cities contain a population of million people or more, and 70 percent of them are  in the developing world. In the year 2025 worldwide urban populace will be up by 60 percent and an estimated 90 percent of that humongous growth will occur in developing countries, especially in Asia and Africa. The rural economies are at complete mayhem and a gradual negative growth of agriculture have lead  people to migrate to urbanized or semi-urbanized centers with the hope for a better life. Urban population is growing rapidly in the developing countries because of urban amenities such as job opportunities, better education and effective health care system. With the gradually urbanized population of the region, the number and size of the urban centres are on a rise (Cohen,2004) as well as the production rate of municipal solid waste (MSW). MSW is defined as a waste  generated by households, commercial organization such as offices, hotels, supermarkets, shops, schools, institutions and municipal services such as street cleaning. The wastes generated from construction or mining activities and manufacturing industries are deliberately excluded here .  Solid Waste production rate often depends on the urban population density, urban residential size, consumption rate of commercial goods, income and lifestyles, its degree of industrialization(Hope, 1998), geographic location, energy sources, weather,  and cultural traits. However, with most cities/towns getting urbanized quickly there has been a remarkable shift in the quantities and both physical and chemical composition of waste generated across the world, which is enormously contributing to a huge gap between the demand for Municipal Solid Waste management facility and the current capacities of the Urban Local Bodies to deliver the same efficiently.

waste collection, transport, sorting, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials generally makes up the conventional Waste Management system and the stakeholders- the people and institutions are engaged in these system.  United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 1997) had conducted a survey in 151 cities internationally; the second most severe problem that the urban centers face (after unemployment) is insufficient and inefficient solid waste process and disposal. Global waste management market has reported (2007) that 2.02 billion tones of solid waste were generated in 2006 with a seven percent annual increase since 2003. The report further notes that from 2007 to 2011 global Municipal Solid Waste has increased by 37.3 percent with approximately 8 percent yearly increase rate. The failure of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) has lead towards severe health hazards and has cost the environment dearly. For instance, due to inefficient collection services, uncollected waste gets piled up in the streets and in drains, thereby contributing to flooding, breeding of insect and a harbinger of serious diseases. Furthermore, some collected waste is disposed off unscientifically in the dumpsites or incinerated openly (Zhu et. al 2007).

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