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♤ Solid wastes are classified depending on their source:
a) Municipal waste,
b) Hazardous waste and
c) Biomedical waste or hospital waste.
a) Municipal solid waste
♤ Municipal solid waste consists of household waste, construction and demolition debris, sanitation residue, and waste from streets.
♤ With rising urbanization and change in lifestyle and food habits, the amount of municipal solid waste has been increasing rapidly and its composition changing.
♤ In 1947 cities and towns in India generated an estimated 6 million tonnes of solid waste, in 1997 it was about 48 million tonnes. More than 25% of the municipal solid waste is not collected at all.
♤ 70% of the Indian cities lack adequate capacity to transport it and there are no sanitary landfills to dispose of the waste. The existing landfills are neither well equipped and are not lined properly to protect against contamination of soil and groundwater.
♤ Over the last few years, the consumer market has grown rapidly leading to products being packed in cans, aluminium foils, plastics, and other such nonbiode-gradable items that cause incalculable harm to the environment.