Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and a proposed management plan for Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management practices in Kharagpur, a small city in West Bengal, India, were examined in detail and an integrated solid waste management plan proposed based on the study results. At present, the total solid waste generated in Kharagpur municipality is 95 metric tons/day, but the waste collected by the municipality is about 50 metric tons/day, which implies that almost 45 metric tons/day of the solid waste generated remains uncollected. Most of this waste is dumped on open land and in natural and engineered drains, thus blocking the flow of stormwater and contaminating groundwater. Other major problems include inappropriate bin locations and poorly designed community bins, collection vehicles that are in poor condition, inadequate labor for collection and transport of waste, and lack of waste treatment and disposal facilities.Twenty samples were characterized physically and their proximate analyses were done in the laboratory. The average values of various parameters were moisture content = 42.05 (±10.25) percent, total solids = 58.36 (±11.57) percent, volatile solids = 19.63 (±9.53) percent of total solids, fixed solids = 80.35 (±9.54) percent of total solids, organic carbon = 8.91 (±5.79) percent, COD = 0.158 (±0.08) mg oxygen/mg of SW and calorific value = 2391.16 (±264.58) cal/g (10,008.24 kJ/kg). MSW in Kharagpur has high moisture content and low calorific value, making aerobic composting the best treatment strategy. Composting can help to divert more than 80% of the total waste and will lead to enormous savings in costs of waste collection, transport and disposal. The remaining waste can be disposed off in an engineered landfill. Augmentation in labor and vehicle inventory has been proposed along with better treatment and disposal facilities.