India generates 70 million tonnes of waste a year, which is around 200 tonnes a day, and 91 per cent of this waste, is dumped in open landfills. Of this waste, Chennai generates 1.8 million tonnes of waste per annum, about 4500-4800 tonnes a day. While our archaic waste management systems have been a cause for concern for decades, the need to address the issue has increased now post the December deluge in Chennai.

In the aftermath of the floods, tonnes of household waste — damaged furniture, appliances, e-waste, plastic, clothes, and even automobiles made its way to our already overflowing dump yards. In many areas, waste from the landfills and dump yards flowed on to the streets and neighbourhoods. Several of our lakes, rivers and other water bodies ended up being converted into drain points for trash from the city’s neighbourhoods, says Arun Krishnamurthy, founder, Environmentalist Foundation of India...............Read more

Source: The Hindu