QUANTIFICATION, CHARACTERIZATION, BIO-RECYCLING AND ENERGY POTENTIAL OF URBAN SOLID WASTE IN HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2021-01
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The present investigations entitled “Quantification, Characterization, Quantification, Characterization
Solid Waste of Himachal Pradesh” was conducted during the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 in the Department of
Environmental Science, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh. The
investigation was aimed at quantification, characterization of urban solid waste and assessment of energy, methane emission
potential, its bio-recycling through composting and evaluation of its effectiveness in vegetable crop production. The study
was conducted by selecting five major towns namely: Shimla, Dharamshala, Kangra, Hamirpur and Una in HP. In each
urban area three activities residential, commercial, institutional were selected for conducting the study. Bio-recycling of
urban solid waste was done by imposing five treatments consists of different combinations of cow dung, earthworms,
microbial consortium and agricultural waste. The effect of best quality urban solid waste compost was studied on bell pepper
by imposing eight treatment combinations of graded doses of NPK fertilizer alone and in combination with waste compost in
Randomized Block Design by replicating thrice. The study pointed out that waste quantity varied with activities like
residential, commercial and institutional in each urban area. In residential commercial & institutional sectors waste
generation ranged from 0.952 to 1.523 kg day-1 residence-1, 32.38 to 82.02 kg day-1 commercial activity-1 and 5.30 to 16.59
kg day-1 institution-1. In major urban areas of HP the total waste generation rate varied from 5.13-85.95 t day-1 and area wise
the order was: Shimla (85.95 t day-1), Dharamshala (22.82 t day-1), Una (7.10 t day-1), Hamirpur (7.02 t day-1), Kangra (5.13
t day-1). The waste generation per capita ranged from 0.33 -0.45 kg capita day-1. The urban area wise waste footprint varied
from 0.009-0.153 ha with order of: Shimla (0.153 ha) > Dharamshala (0.041 ha) > Una (0.013ha) > Hamirpur (0.012 ha) >
Kangra (0.009 ha). Waste generation in selected towns need 55.77 ha, 14.81 ha, 3.33 ha, 4.56 h and 4.61 ha of land per
annum with respect to Shimla, Dharamshala, Kangra, Hamirpur and Una for its proper disposal which, however is projected
to 72.99 ha, 19.98 ha, 3.75 ha, 4.87 ha and 4.92 ha by 2025. The component wise waste generation was in the order of: food
waste (52.39%) > paper/ cardboard (21.84%) > plastic (15.84%) > glass (4.22%) > others (2.26%) > textile (1.27%) >
metallic (1.21%) > rubber (0.90%). The waste quantity also varied with the seasons and was higher during summer months.
The waste contained moisture content, volatile matter, calorific value ranged from 41.33- 53.21%, 20.89-27.72% and
2250.86- 2391.24 kcal kg-1, which indicated its biodegradable nature. The elemental composition like carbon, hydrogen,
nitrogen varied from 31.58-40.29%, 4.01 -7.44% and 0.51-0.82%, respectively and its energy content ranged from 9021.57 –
12537.47 KJkg-1 indicating the suitability of USW for energy generation. The methane emission potential ranged from 0.09 –
1.43 Gg indicating thereby the urgency of waste management to avoid its contribution towards inducing climate change. Bio
recycling of USW using cow dung and earthworms proved effective and yielded compost with high NPK content of 0.98,
0.33 and 0.55 %, respectively. The conjoint application of 75% NPK and USW compost in bell pepper was found superior
for enhancing growth, quality and yield attributes viz; plant height (70.2 cm), fruit length (5.21cm), pericarp thickness (4.85
mm), number of fruits per plant (22.54), fruit weight (50.76 g), ascorbic acid (175.79 mg100g-1), total soluble solids (5.56
0B), chlorophyll content (1.90 mg100g-1) and consequently the highest crop yield (335.28 qha-1). The agronomic
effectiveness of the conjoint application of 75% NPK and compost was 25% higher than alone application of 100% NPK.
Further, the combined application of 50% NPK and USW compost resulted yield equivalent to 100% NPK alone indicating
that compost has replaced 50% of chemical fertilizers. From the study it can be concluded that increasing urban solid waste
generation with the high fraction of organic waste and its unscientific disposal may deteriorate environmental quality by
enhancing waste footprint and GHG emissions. Therefore, more emphasis needs to develop a system for segregation of
waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable components at source level, so that biodegradable material which is
generated in high quantity (52.39%) may be bio-recycled into a valuable compost for supplementing the nutrient
requirements of agriculture/horticulture sector. Further, adoption of integrated sustainable waste management may help in
achieving potential economic benefits from the waste while combating climate change