Municipal solid wastes

Municipal solid waste refers to any waste that comes from schools, offices, homes, stores, and hospitals etc. that are collected by the Municipality. It comprises of food wastes, paper, plastic, glass metal, rubber, leather etc.

It has to be dealt with proper care as the municipal waste has been observed to be increasing every passing day.

Burning of such waste reduces the volume but produces large amounts for polluting gases. Landfills or sanitary landfills were adopted to cope with the ever increasing waste generation. The waste are buried in a depression or trench after compaction and covered with dirt.

The best way to cope with the waste is to promote the 3R strategy- reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Also, segregating the waste based on whether they are biodegradable or non-biodegradable and then utilising the specific measures for each category can help reduce a lot of the municipal waste generated.