This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier.

The attached
copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research
and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution
and sharing with colleagues.
Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or
licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party
websites are prohibited.
In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the
article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or
institutional repository. Authors requiring further information
regarding Elseviers archiving and manuscript policies are
encouraged to visit:
http://www.elsevier.com/copyright
 Author's personal copy

Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

Municipal solid waste management in Kolkata, India A review

Subhasish Chattopadhyay a, Amit Dutta b,*, Subhabrata Ray c,1
a
Solid Waste Management Department, KMC, Department of Civil Engineering, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah 711103, India
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Bengal Engineering and Science University, P.O. Botanic Garden, Shibpur, Howrah 711 103, India
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Kolkata is one of four metropolitan cities in India. With an area of 187.33 sq km and a population of about
Accepted 29 August 2008 8 million, it generates around 3,000 t d1 of municipal solid waste (MSW) at a rate of 450500 g per
Available online 12 December 2008 capita per day. With rapid urbanization as a result of planned and unplanned growth and industrializa-
tion, the problems associated with handling MSW have increased at an alarming rate over the past few
years. No source segregation arrangement exists; there is only limited (60%) house-to-house collection;
and 5055% open vats are used in the present collection system. The operational efciency of the Kolkata
Municipal Corporation (KMC) transport system is about 50%, with a eet composed of about 3035% old
vehicles. The majority (80%) of these, particularly the hired vehicles, are more than 20 years old. The
newly added areas covered by KMC have even lower collection efciencies, and only an informal recy-
cling system exists. The waste collected has a low energy value (3,3504,200 kJ kg1) with high moisture
and inert content. A 700 t d1 compost plant set up in 2000 has not been functioning effectively since
2003. Open dumping (without liners and without a leachate management facility) and the threat of
groundwater pollution, as well as saturation of an existing landll site (Dhapa) are the most pressing
problems for the city today. KMC spends 7075% of its total expenditures on collection of solid waste,
2530% on transportation, and less than 5% on nal disposal arrangements. The Kolkata Environmental
Improvement Project, funded by the Asian Development Bank, is seen as only a partial solution to the
problem. A detailed plan should emphasize segregation at the source, investment in disposal arrange-
ments (including the use of liners and leachate collection), and an optimized transport arrangement,
among improvements.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction developing countries. Improper disposal of waste has huge social

Solid waste has been produced since the beginning of civiliza-
tion. During the earliest periods, solid wastes were conveniently
and unobtrusively disposed of in large open land spaces, as the
density of the population was low. However, today, one of the con-
sequences of global urbanization is an increased amount of solid
waste. About 1.3  109 t of municipal solid waste (MSW) was gen-
erated globally in 1990 (Beede and Bloom, 1995), and, at present,
the annual generation is approximately 1.6  109 t. The urban pop-
ulation in Asia generates around 760  103 t of MSW per day, and
this is expected to increase to 1.8  106 t by 2025 (Pokhrel and
Viraraghavan, 2005).
The state of the economy inuences waste generation (Petts
and Edulijee, 1994). Usually, greater economic prosperity and a lar-
ger urban population results in a larger amount of solid waste gen-
eration (Aakeson and Nilsson, 1994), which is a common feature in
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9433223912; fax: +91 033 2668 2916.
E-mail addresses: subharpita@rediffmail.com (S. Chattopadhyay), amit@civil.
becs.ac.in, amitt55@yahoo.com (A. Dutta), sray@che.iitkhp.ernet.in (S. Ray).
1
Fax: +91 3222 755303.
costs due to the spread of communicable diseases and increased
treatment costs for pollutants, and is an issue of increasing concern
(Assmuth and Strandberg, 1993).
Kolkata is one of the four metropolitan cities of India and is the
capital of the state of West Bengal. The city is centered on latitude
22 340 North and longitude 88 240 East, is approximately 30 km
from the Bay of Bengal, and the river tides at Kolkata range over
4 m.
In India, collection, segregation, transportation, and disposal of
solid waste are often unscientic and chaotic. Uncontrolled dump-
ing of wastes on the outskirts of towns and cities has created over-
owing landlls, which have environmental impacts in the form of
pollution to soil, groundwater, and air, and also contribute to glo-
bal warming (Chattopadhyay et al., 2007a). In the absence of for-
malized waste segregation practices, recycling has emerged only
as an informal sector using outdated technology, which causes
serious health problems to wastepickers (Plastindia, 2006).
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the waste managing author-
ity, has begun to analyze the existing waste management situation
with the goal of improvement along with the help of nancial
assistance from different authorities. In the year 1998, the govern-

0956-053X/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2008.08.030
 Author's personal copy

1450 S. Chattopadhyay et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458

ment of India asked the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide Table 2
nancial assistance to ameliorate the environmental conditions in Variation of chemical characteristics of MSW at Kolkata (NEERI, 2005).

Kolkata. Since then, various improvement schemes have been Parameters 1970 1995 2005
undertaken under the Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project Moisture 42.84 61.57 46
(KEIP), of which solid waste management is a part. pH 7.31 6.33 0.38.07
Loss on ignition 35.24 46.78 38.53
Carbon 19.58 25.98 22.35
2. Municipal solid waste management of Kolkata
Nitrogen as N 0.55 0.88 0.76
Phosphorous as P2O5 0.57 0.58 0.77
Urbanization and industrialization inuence the quantity of city Potassium as K2O 0.40 0.93 0.52
garbage produced. In India, Mumbai, with a population of 13.8 mil- C/N ratio 35.60 29.53 31.81
Caloric value kJ kg1 2300 2717 5028
lion, is the largest (8,000 t d1) MSW generator. Delhi generates
6,000 t d1 of MSW for a population of 10 million, Chennai gener- All values are in percent by dry weight basis except pH, C/N ratio and caloric value.
ates 4,000 t d1 for a 5.8 million population, and Hyderabad pro-
duces 2,200 t d1 for a 4.2 million population (Chattopadhyay
et al., 2007a). Kolkata is about a 187.33 sq km area covered under
KMC, comprised of 15 boroughs and 141 electoral wards. It has a tion. The caloric value reported is on the higher side for the type
total population of 8 million including a oating population of of waste composition reported and should be further analyzed. The
approximately 3.4 million and those living in slums, and also the carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio is within the ideal range (2631) for
urban poor (about 2 million). The MSW generation rate is about composting (CPHEEO, 2000).
470 g per capita per day (gpcd) for the resident population, 250
gpcd for the oating population, and the total generation is about 2.2. Collection, storage, and transportation
3,000 t d1 (ADB, 2005a; Chattopadhyay et al., 2007b).
2.2.1. Collection and storage
2.1. Physical and chemical characteristics of city refuse Collection, transportation, and disposal of MSW are the most
pressing problems of the city today. These activities encompass
Refuse characteristics vary not only from city to city but even an extremely complex set of operations, which take place on an
within the same city, as it depends on factors such as the nature enormous scale (Kinman, 1987). In general, household wastes are
of local activities, food habits, cultural traditions, socio-economic tipped haphazardly in and around roadside dustbins. Apart from
factors, climatic conditions, and seasons. The physical and chemi- the unaesthetic considerations of such a system, there is little
cal characteristics aid in deciding the desired frequency of collec- opportunity for effective recovery of recyclables. Removal and
tion, precautions to be taken during transportation, and methods transport of problematic biodegradables is difcult due to the
of processing and disposal. Variation of physical composition and inadvertent mixing of various fractions of urban solid waste. In
chemical characteristics of MSW in Kolkata during 1970, 1995, Kolkata, the total average MSW generation of 2,946.3 t d1 (i.e.,
and 2005 are presented in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. nominally 3,000 t d1) is made up of 1,775.3 t d1 domestic waste,
Table 1 shows an increasing trend for the biodegradable frac- 940.5 t d1 market and commercial waste, and 230.5 t d1 of silt
tion, and also shows an increase in the day-to-day use of plastic and debris (Table 3; Chattopadhyay et al., 2007b). The average
and paper. A decrease in the coal fraction is reected due to an in- MSW generation from boroughs 19 is 790.0 gpcd (range,
crease in the utilization of domestic gas. The amount of paper and 623.971235.97 gpcd) and for boroughs 1015 is 360.0 gpcd
plastics, including materials such as food containers and wrapping (range, 262.80523.91 gpcd) (ADB, 2005a). The eld staffs com-
materials, is noted to be much lower than in developed countries mence work at 5 am and continue until 12 noon with a 30 min
such as the USA (65%) and Western Europe (48%) (IGES, 2001). break.
Waste in developing cities generally has a high organic content
(more than 50%) and a low energy value (around 3,350  Street sweeping and cleaning: Using a broom, scraper, and hand-
4,200 kJ kg1) (CPHEEO, 2000). Biological treatment processes such cart, conservancy workers carry out sweeping and cleaning of
as composting and biogasication are thus well suited (IGES, 2001) roads and pavement, and thereafter remove the collected gar-
for such wastes. bage to assigned vats / containers. This task is completed by
The chemical characteristics listed in Table 2 show an increas- around 7:30 am.
ing trend in moisture content. This is most likely due to the pres-  Residential, commercial, slum, and ofce complexes: From 7:30 am
ence of a higher proportion of fresh and unprocessed vegetable onwards, conservancy workers move on to their assigned areas
waste. Although the caloric value of waste has risen substantially with hand carts and blow whistles used to alert residents for
in the year 2005, it is still not in the range suitable for incinera- collection of wastes, an activity which continues till 10.30 am.
The garbage thus collected is taken to the nearest vat/container,
where vehicles pick it up and transport it to the disposal area.
Table 1 Presently, this process of house-to-house collection of garbage
MSW composition at Kolkata during 1970, 1995 & 2005 (NEERI, 2005).
is practiced in all 141 wards, with partial implementation in
Sl. No. Parameters 1970 1995 2005 some wards. In commercial areas, this system it is very difcult,
1. Biodegradables 40.36 44.29 50.56 and possibly may be enforced through law.
2. Green coconut shells 4.95 8.51 4.5  Large hotels and restaurants have their own vats from which
3. Paper 3.17 4.64 6.07 wastes are collected and transported regularly by KMC or pri-
4. Plastics 0.64 3.22 4.88
vate vehicles on a fee-for-service basis. Small establishments
5. Metals 0.66 0.43 0.19
6. Glass & Crockery 0.38 1.72 0.34 dispose of their wastes on the road or in a nearby vat cleared
7. Coal 6.08 3.10 by the KMC or by their own sweepers. In the case of markets,
8. Inert 40.76 26.82 29.6 wastes are regularly collected from the vats earmarked for the
9. Others* 3.00 7.27 3.86 market. Wastes from roadside or unauthorized markets are
All values are in percent by wet weight. often dumped on the roads and are collected by KMC street
*
Bio-resistant and synthetic material. sweepers.
 Author's personal copy

S. Chattopadhyay et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458 1451

Table 3
Status of collection points at Kolkata (ADB, 2005a).

Borough Number of collection Type of collection points Category wise assessed solid waste generation (t d1)
numbers points
DL* Open vat/ Container points Domestic and street Market and Silt and
points space (B/N)** sweeping commercial debris
1 58 3 35 20 (12B, 16N) 140.90 52.00 16.00
2 19 0 12 7 (14B) 92.50 70.00 7.00
3 33 0 16 17 (30B, 2N) 173.80 40.00 14.50
4 22 0 14 8 (19B) 180.00 85.50 14.00
5 22 0 17 5 (9B) 110.90 197.00 10.00
6 20 1 13 6 (12B) 131.20 180.00 25.50
7 57 7 27 23 (34B) 194.70 116.00 46.00
8 34 3 11 20 (36 B) 155.00 45.00 15.00
9 53 6 31 16 (23B) 181.10 40.00 23.00
10 81 18 53 10 (11B, 6N) 166.30 30.00 20.00
11 52 2 19 31 (33N) 45.80 9.00 4.50
12 48 5 11 32 (33N) 40.20 11.00 8.00
13 63 0 43 20 (4B, 18N) 57.80 22.00 7.00
14 52 1 38 13 (13B, 2N) 48.30 28.00 10.00
15 48 0 48 0 56.80 15.00 10.00
Total 662 46 388 228 (217B, 1775.30 940.50 230.50
110N)
*
Direct-loading.
**
Big (7m3)/Normal (4.5m3).

The status of collection points for different boroughs is shown in
Table 3. During the ongoing KEIP project, the collection point sce-
nario is reviewed and modied from time to time with a preference
towards a containerized system. At present, the total collection
points are around 650, with 365 mild steel (MS) containers, 20 di-
rect-loading, and 265 vat points (i.e., 55% MS containers; 45% vat
and others). Collected waste is transported directly to the dumping
area at Dhapa by KMC-hired vehicles and KMC departmental vehi-
cles. Currently, there is no transfer station because the existing
dumping area is only 10 km away from the city centre.
2.2.2. Experience with a segregation scheme
A pilot scheme for segregation of waste at the sources, covering
domestic as well as commercial areas, was launched for 20 wards
in 1999. This scheme failed for several reasons, including non-issu-
ance of authorization letters to the non-government organizations
(NGOs) involved, resident non-payment of the charges to NGOs en-
gaged for the services, and the lack of role denition of KMC
sweepers and NGO staff, among others.
The Indian Plastic Federation, in association with KMC, the West
Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) and others, conceived a
waste to wealth project for the city. The aim was to divert waste
plastic materials to recycling units at the source, with the residents
paid for the plastic collected. This project has not yet been
implemented.
2.2.3. Transportation
The present transport system utilizes privately owned, manu-
ally loaded trucks to transport about 60% of the daily-generated
garbage and most of the silt/rubbish. The remaining 40% of the
MSW, mainly garbage, is carried by three categories of departmen-
tal (KMC) vehicles: container carrying vehicles (dumperplacer),
manually loaded vehicles, and pay loaders. On an average, 330 dai-
ly garbage trips at 4.9 t per trip, and 54 silt/rubbish trips at 6 t per
trip are carried out by the hired vehicles. KMC vehicles perform
around 320 garbage trips daily at 3.3 t per trip. There are six main
vehicle garages and four subsidiary garages from where KMC vehi-
cles operate to transport garbage from their assigned areas to the
disposal ground (Table 4). The garage at Dhapa is a specialized

Table 4
Vehicles strength at different KMC garages (ADB, 2005a).

Total vehicles strength under KMC

Garage Pool SRC Dist. I Dist. II Dist. III Dist. IV GRU JPU SSU Dhapa Total
Tripper truck 2 19 18 13 17 5 6 8 31 119
Dumper placer 23 13 17 18 6 11 5 93
Night soil + Cess pool cleaner 1 4 1 3 2 1 2 14
Water tanker 3 2 4 4 2 3 1 19
Refuse collector 3 1 4
Pay loader 2 2 2 1 1 5 13
Dozer 6 6
Wrecker 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 9
Bus + Micro van 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 9
Tractor 10 5 15
Clinical waste career 2 2
Ambassador car 20 20
Jeep 21 5 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 34
Trekker 3 1 1 1 6
Dog catching cart 3 3
Carcass carrying van 2 2
Total vehicles 56 14 55 43 39 44 18 17 30 52 368

Note: SRC, special repairing cell; Dist, district; GRU, garden reach unit; JPU, Jadavpur unit; SSU, south suburban unit.
Main garages: Dist. I, Dist. II, Dist. III, Dist. IV, GRU, Dhapa.
Subsidiary garages: Pool, SRC, JPU, SSU.
 Author's personal copy
1452 S. Chattopadhyay et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458
one that deals with all types of heavy earth moving equipment
such as pay loaders and bulldozers and their associated vehicles.
All garages are equipped with service, repair, and maintenance
facilities (ADB, 2005a).
With the implementation of the KEIP project, the status of
departmental solid waste collection vehicles and landll operation
equipment has been modied. Emphasis has been given to the
replacement of older vehicles by new vehicles. At present, there
are 200 waste collection vehicles mainly dumperplacer and tip-
per trucks. For the vat points with greater than a 30 t capacity, 13
pay loaders are engaged daily to load wastes into around 17 high-
er-capacity tipper trucks. Two of the ve bulldozers are used daily
for dressing and leveling the Dhapa disposal site. On average, 305
vehicles are used for daily transportation of waste, out of which
105 are departmental and the rest (205) are hired.
2.2.4. Deciencies in the collection, storage, and transportation system
(i) At present, there is no source segregation system in the KMC
area.
(ii) House-to-house collection covers only 60% of the area.
(iii) About 5055% of collection points are open vat (masonry or
reinforced cement concrete) and the waste is removed daily.
Several collection points remain in poor condition due to a
lack of awareness; citizens drop waste haphazardly at the
collection points soon after the waste has been removed.
(iv) MS containers and KMC vehicles are not washed regularly.
This results in heavy corrosion, giving them an ugly appear-
ance and reduced life.
(v) 3035% of KMC vehicles are more than 7 years old. The oper-
ational efciency is just above 50%.
(vi) Fuel consumption is not monitored; kilometer-reading
meters on most of the vehicles are out of order and the fuel
issued on a per trip basis is very high.
(vii) In added areas (boroughs 1115), which still have some
open space, a large quantity of waste is disposed of in open
canals and drains, or dumped into lowlying areas instead
being collected and transported to the Dhapa waste disposal
site.
2.3. Treatment and disposal
2.3.1. Treatment (composting)
A mechanized compost plant with a 700 t d1 capacity was in-
stalled at Dhapa by KMC in April 2000. This was done in collabora-
tion with M/S Eastern Organic Fertilizers (India) Private Limited
and with technical backup from M/S Excel Industries Private Lim-
ited. The waste processing technology used was windrow
composting.
MSW, carried by trucks, is received at the compost plant. Larger
sized materials, particularly construction and demolition wastes,
are manually separated. Then, the remaining solid wastes are
placed in position as windrows. Inoculum is added to the win-
drows at 1 kg per ton (kg t1) of garbage and water is sprayed by
pipes. The windrows are turned four times per week by pay load-
ers. The temperatures inside the windrows are found to be 50
60 C during the initial 57 days, which kills most of the patho-
genic bacteria (Flintoff, 1984). In some cases, a rise in temperature
up to 70 C is noted.
After almost a month, the windrows are broken down and the
total contents dried and shifted to a maturation yard. After partial
maturation for a certain number of days, the compost is placed on
a conveyor belt by a small pay loader, passed through different
sieves, and stored in a covered area. Finally, after one month of
maturity, the nished compost is conveyed for weighing and pack-
aging (50 kg per bag) (Chattopadhyay, 2003). The selling price of
the nished compost is about INR 3.50 per kg (1.00 USD 
42.59 INR).
2.3.2. Deciencies in the compost plant
The mechanized compost plant was started up in April 2000 but
has not been fully functional since 2003 due to the high inert con-
tent in the unsegregated waste and the problem of marketing the
compost.
2.3.3. Disposal
About 95% of the worlds MSW is landlled or dumped on land,
on riverbanks, or into the sea (Hogland and Marques, 2007). For
techno-economic reasons, landlling is the most suitable option
for small and middle-sized cities. Open dumping is mostly prac-
ticed in India and other developing countries. One severe problem
associated with open dumps is the inltration of leachate into the
surrounding environment and subsequent contamination of the
land and water (Walker, 1969; Chain and DeWalle, 1976; Kelley,
1976; Masters, 1998).
In Kolkata, the major disposal site of Dhapa is at the eastern
fringe of the city at an average distance of 10 km from the collec-
tion points. The total area of the Dhapa landll site is
21.47  104 m2. Bulldozers at the disposal area are used to spread
and level the garbage. One 20 t and two 30 t capacity computerized
weighbridges serve to check and record the weights. Fig. 1 shows
the monthly amount of MSW disposed at the Dhapa landll site
for the last 7 years (KMC, 2007). Due to an increase in population,
the total waste generation/disposal has increased over the years.
Total waste disposal recorded in 2005 is high compared to previous
years owing to improved collection efciency. Due to the monsoon
and festive seasons, higher quantities of waste can be observed
during the period from July to October. The life of this disposal site
is almost exhausted; however, another landll site exists, and is lo-
cated in the Garden Reach area of 3.52  104 m2 where approxi-
mately 100 t of wastes are disposed of daily by open dumping.
2.3.4. Leachate quality
The quality of natural leachate, sampled from the existing MSW
disposal site at Dhapa, shows that concentrations of solids, BOD,
COD, and chloride are much higher than those allowed for dis-
charge into inland surface water (Mandal, 2007). The concentration
of toxic elements such as As, Hg, Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, Ni, and uoride
are reported to be lower than those allowed for discharge in inland
surface water. The quality of wastewater in the canal at the Dhapa
area shows that concentrations of TS, BOD, COD, and Cr are high.
Similarly, large water bodies in the Dhapa area also have high
BOD and COD (KEIP, 2005). The major parameters of leachate qual-
ity are shown in Table 5.
2.3.5. Subsurface lithology
The soil strata can be grouped into two horizons. The rst hori-
zon in the Dhapa landll area is characterized by soft and gray clay
having a lower N value (standard penetration value). The upper
part of the second horizon is characterized by stiff and brownish
clay with a higher N value and also by the presence of gravel.
However, the permeability values of clay layers in these two hori-
zons do not distinctly change and lie in the range of 1  106 to
1  108 cm s1. The lower part of the second horizon is repre-
sented by the rst sand layer, which occurs at a depth of about
2230 m. It has an N value greater than 50, and permeability is
in the range of 1  103 to 1  105 cm s1. An analysis of clays
present within 25 m of drilling clearly reveals a clear decreasing
trend in concentrations of heavy metals (Ni, Cr, and Pb) and cations
(K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+) from shallow to deeper levels, i.e., from 5 to

20 m depth. However, anions such as Cl , SO2 
4 , and NO3 and the
 Author's personal copy

S. Chattopadhyay et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458 1453

2000-01
2001-02
120000
2002-03
2003-04
110000 2004-05
2005-06
100000 2006-07
Weight in ton

90000

80000

70000

60000

50000
April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Month

Fig. 1. Monthly municipal waste disposal for the last seven years (KMC, 2007).

Table 5 varying generally between 300 and 350 mg L1. High TDS (greater
MSW leachate quality at Dhapa landll site. than 750 mg L1) water samples have high concentrations of cal-
Parameterb Concentrationa Parameterc Concentrationa cium, magnesium, and chloride. Sulphate is generally far below
pH 7.488.0 Arsenic 0.0050.009 the desirable limit of 200 mg L1. The concentration of sulphate
Alkalinity 29003590 Mercury 0.0020.009 was rarely greater than 100 mg L1 and most of the samples had
Total solids 1005114727 Lead 0.070.08 concentrations between 20 and 70 mg L1. Nitrate concentrations
Total organic solids 27507000 Cadmium 0.040.05 in groundwater samples were mostly below 5 mg L1, which is
Total inorganic solids 75437785 Total chromium 0.430.85
BOD5 20 C 20757000 Copper 0.060.28
very low. In many samples, manganese concentrations exceeded
COD 342716000 Zinc 0.160.85 the desirable limit (0.10 mg L1), mostly varying between 0.04
Chloride 12343408 Nickel 0.600.73 and 1.1 mg L1. Fluoride and boron concentrations are within the
Nitrate 2. 163.31 Fluoride 0.360.86 desirable limit of 1 mg L1. Coli form and E. coli were not detected.
a
All concentrations are expressed in mg /L, except pH. The observed concentrations of zinc, reaching 1.02 mg L1, are
b
Mandal (2007). within the desirable limit of 5 mg L1, and chromium levels were
c
KEIP (2005). below 0.05 mg L1 (KEIP, 2005).

2.3.7. Deciencies in the disposal system

cation Na+ show an initial decreasing trend with depth (1015 m)
but their concentrations increase at greater depths. The concentra-
tion of Fe varies independently of depth, and the pH of the soil be-
comes more alkaline at greater depths (KEIP, 2005).
2.3.6. Groundwater pollution
The quality of groundwater was monitored in the months of
March and April 2004 at locations in and around Dhapa. The results
have shown the persistent presence of phenolic compounds
(C6H5OH) in Dhapa and surrounding areas at concentrations much
above the desired limit (drinking water standard 0.001 mg L1
(CPHEEO, 1991)). The actual concentrations vary from 0.027 to
0.017 mg L1 at Anantamahal, 0.022 to 0.015 mg L1 at Makaltala,
0.028 to 0.027 mg L1 at Khanaberia, 0.052 to 0.047 mg L1 at Aru-
pota, and 0.018 to 0.012 mg L1 at Chowbaga. The sporadic pres-
ence of Pb, in concentrations slightly above the desired
maximum limit of 0.05 mg L1, is found at Makaltala. At Anantam-
ahal and Khanaberia, arsenic is present at slightly above the de-
sired limit of 0.05 mg L1. The presence of iron, in concentrations
above the desired limit of 0.3 mg L1, varies around 0.66 mg L1
at Chowbaga. In the groundwater samples from the DhapaChow-
baga area, total dissolved solids (TDS) and total hardness as CaCO3
vary from 1106 to 1448 mg L1 and from 536 to 648 mg L1,
respectively. These are considerably higher than their respective
desirable limits of 500 mg L1 and 300 mg L1. In almost all loca-
tions, alkalinity (as CaCO3) is above the desired limit of 200 mg L1,
(i) The maximum remaining life of the Dhapa landll is less
than a year if the land presently occupied by unauthorized
cultivators is not taken over and developed for an engi-
neered landll.
(ii) The method of operation of the Dhapa waste disposal site is
uncontrolled and does not provide earth cover, a liner, or
arrangements for leachate collection and treatment.
(iii) Only a rapid environmental impact assessment has been car-
ried out to determine the effect of landll operations on the
surrounding environment and groundwater.
(iv) Waste picking is carried out at the Dhapa site for recycling
and reuse of recyclable waste in an unorganized, hazardous,
and unhygienic way, and can have serious effects on the
health and safety of rag pickers.
2.4. Recycling system
Recycling systems, even though unorganized, are often well
established in developing countries. The major characteristics of
waste recycling systems existing in India and other developing
countries are:
(i) Newspapers, old bottles, and metals are sold from or reused
in households.
 Author's personal copy
1454 S. Chattopadhyay et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458
(ii) Waste pickers sort recyclable or saleable materials from the
refuse heaps or vats.
(iii) Waste collectors spend 2530% of their time sorting saleable
materials from refuse both at the collection points and the
disposal site.
(iv) Many residents of poor communities in the vicinity of the
dumping site or disposal area scavenge for their livelihood.
(v) Waste pickers and waste collectors sell the assorted materi-
als to middleman buyers who often perform some simple
sorting and cleaning.
(vi) Middlemen buyers sell to wholesalers or large dealers, and
some components of waste are cycled back to primary
industries.
Table 6 gives an overview of the availability of recyclable items
at the Dhapa dumping area. Table 7 shows the selling prices of ma-
jor recyclable items, which are obviously much less than the
wholesale prices (KEIP, 2007a).
2.5. Expenditure in solid waste management
Management of solid waste is a major cost-intensive service
system. In Kolkata, a large part of the expenditure goes to salaries
for the conservancy workers, since sweeping and collection is done
manually. Most of the expenditure is on waste collection and
transportation and only a nominal amount is spent on the disposal
system. This is due to a lack of proper treatment and disposal facil-
ities, as well as open dumping practices.
It can be observed from the gures presented in Table 8 that
KMC spends around 7076% of its funds on collection of solid
waste, 2025% on transportation, and 46% for the nal disposal
of solid waste. Most of the expenditure is for operation and main-
tenance of the collection, transportation, and disposal system
(Fig. 2). Only a nominal percentage goes towards capital expendi-
ture or improvements to the three systems (Fig. 3). Overuse of
old vehicles leads to a less efcient system and therefore requires
improvement. The capital expenditure on collection and transpor-
tation needs to be increased to improve collection efciency and to
set up an optimized transportation system. The share of expendi-
ture directed toward administrative items (salary, incentives,
etc.) is normally very high because solid waste management
(SWM) is labor intensive This category accounts for about 80% of
the total expenditure on SWM. Several new vehicles were pur-
chased in 20052006 with nancial assistance from ADB under
the KEIP scheme; the effect of the new vehicles is reected imme-
diately as lowered expenditure (Fig. 3) on the transportation sys-
tem. Cost of transportation for the year 20062007 (Fig. 3) was
higher because overdrafts due to the purchase of vehicles for pre-
vious years were adjusted in this nancial year. Fig. 4 shows the
trend in annual expenditures. The fraction of expenditures on col-
lection, transportation, and disposal is more or less same over the
Table 6
Availability of recyclable items at the Dhapa dumping ground (KEIP, 2007a).
Items
Paper
Cardboard/Cartons
Metal
Coconut shells
Glass
Textiles/Rags
Leather
Rubber
Wood
Rigid plastic
Soft plastic
Table 7
Selling price of the recyclable materials for the rag pickers (KEIP, 2007a).
Items Market price (INR/kg1)
Dry paper 2.60
Wet paper 1.00
Cardboard/Cartons 4.00
Metal 5.00
Rubber 1.00
Glass 3.00
Textiles/Rags 3.00
Leather 1.50
Rigid plastic 7.00
Soft plastic 3.00
1.0 USD ($)  42.59 INR.
years, with operation and maintenance costs dominating. In the
near future, the capital expenditure on treatment and disposal
facilities must be increased for sustainable management of MSW
in Kolkata.
3. Landll reclamation potential at the Dhapa landll
Landll reclamation, commonly referred to as landll mining,
has been gaining some popularity in the past few years as a means
of expanding landll capacity and avoiding high land acquisition
costs for developing new sites. The US Environmental Protection
Agency (USEPA) has reported that reclamation projects have been
successfully implemented at municipal landlls across the USA
since the 1980s. Similar experiences have also been reported in
other countries, such as The Netherlands, Canada, and the United
Kingdom, to name a few. Despite the success of many landll rec-
lamation programs, it is still considered a relatively new approach
to managing landll capacity and no comprehensive database is
readily available for the Indian situation (KEIP, 2007a).
Three locations in Dhapa were selected in 2007 for test pit min-
ing, and assessed for extraction and analysis of decomposed land-
ll material for suitability as landll cover. Fifteen-year old
dumpsites were selected where the organic fraction was believed
to be sufciently decomposed to allow for recovery of the residual
soil.
The results from a geotechnical laboratory analysis of represen-
tative samples passing through a 50 mm screen reveal that this
waste is not suitable as a nal cover material because of its high
permeability. This material can, however, be used as a growth
medium for the covers vegetative layer, including the stabilization
of side slopes. It can also be used as a daily cover in the dry season
but is not suitable for wet conditions due to the high silt content
(KEIP, 2007a).
4. Waste-to-energy (WTE) project
Combustion with energy recovery is an integral part of SWM
strategies in many countries. Some countries, such as Australia,
are reluctant to adopt this strategy due to a not in my backyard
(NIMBY) attitude and political pressure. Internationally, its impor-
% Availability tance of waste-to-energy is growing, even though a signicant cap-
ital investment is required. The trend towards incineration options
0.9
0.3 in some developed countries is 20% in USA, 7% in UK, 16% in Euro-
0.2 pean Union (EU), 28% in Germany, 33% in The Netherlands, 6.9% in
1.1 China, and 72.8% in Japan (Kaiser and Shimizu, 2004). In the 1980s,
0.3
an incinerator was installed in Timarpur in Delhi, but it was shut
0.2
0.1
down because of the low energy value of mixed MSW. The Indian
0.3 mixed waste is not at all suitable for an incineration or waste-
0.2 to-energy (WTE) project because of its high moisture (around
0.3 50%) and inorganic content (about 30%), which results in a low en-
0.9
ergy value (3,3504,200 kJ kg1). At present, various programs for
 Author's personal copy

S. Chattopadhyay et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458 1455

Table 8
Year wise capital, operation and maintenance and total expenditure of collection, transportation and disposal systems.

Expense head
Year Collection Transportation Disposal Total
Capital expenditure (million INR) 20022003 8.31 2.62 9.56 20.49
20032004 9.38 2.66 14.47 26.51
20042005 10.31 4.60 26.00 40.91
20052006 6.28 0.51 22.41 29.20
20062007 11.70 24.65 40.50 76.85
O & M expenditure (million INR) 20022003 921.40 283.38 52.97 1257.75
20032004 938.00 290.11 50.80 1278.91
20042005 1025.95 360.18 50.80 1436.93
20052006 1091.28 289.81 41.16 1422.25
20062007 1288.95 379.76 75.25 1743.96
Total (million INR) 20022003 929.71 286.00 62.53 1278.24
20032004 947.38 292.77 65.27 1305.42
20042005 1036.26 364.78 76.80 1477.84
20052006 1097.56 290.32 63.57 1451.45
20062007 1300.65 404.41 115.75 1820.81

1.00 USD ($)  42.59 INR.

100
Collection
90 Transportation
Disposal
80

70
Expenditure in %

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
02 - 03 03 - 04 04 - 05 05 - 06 06 - 07
Year

Fig. 2. Trend of operation & maintenance expenditure.

100
Collection
90 Transportation
Disposal
80

70
Expenditure in %

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
02 - 03 03 - 04 04 - 05 05 - 06 06 - 07
Year

Fig. 3. Trend of capital expenditure.

 Author's personal copy
1456 S. Chattopadhyay et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458
2000
Total Expenditure
1800 Collection
Transportation
1600
Expenditure in million INR Disposal
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
02 - 03
Fig. 4. Year-wise total expenditure; 1.00 USD ($)  42.59 INR.
WTE plants in different cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Kan-
pur, etc. are being tested, but their performance is rather poor
(Srishti, 2002).
In a feasibility study of a WTE project with MSW in Kolkata,
mass burn technology has been considered instead of more ad-
vanced and costly systems such as gasication, pyrolysis, and plas-
ma. The possibility of refuse-derived fuel production has also been
discarded due to non-availability of a local market. For a mass burn
system, three options have been considered for comparative study:
(i) maximizing waste throughput; (ii) processing only selected
high-energy value waste streams; and (iii) processing selected
waste after implementation of new infrastructure.
An analysis shows that it is not nancially feasible to burn the
MSW generated in Kolkata for energy recovery at its current com-
position. A tipping fee or other form of nancial support on the or-
der of INR 5,200 per ton (1.00 USD  42.59 INR) plus prots and
contingencies may be required. The most attractive option nan-
cially is for WTE to be part of a fully integrated system that receives
sorted or preprocessed waste. The waste so received will be dry
and have a high heating value. In this case, a tipping fee or nancial
support of about INR 3,900 per ton would be required (plus prot
and contingencies) (KEIP, 2007a).
It can be concluded from the above that currently WTE does not
appear to be feasible as a waste reduction technology, either for a
large-scale mixed MSW facility or for a small-scale selected waste
facility. Therefore, in the present situation of MSW management,
WTE is not considered to be a waste treatment and reduction op-
tion (KEIP, 2007a).
5. Clean development mechanism (CDM) opportunities
It may be assumed that 50% of the methane generated by MSW
decomposition is recovered by a future landll gas (LFG) collection
system (i.e., collection efciency of 50%) (KEIP, 2007a). Based on
the assumption that the global warming potential of methane is
21 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2) (Bishop, 2000), the aring
of recovered methane could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-
sions by over 400  103 t per year of CO2 equivalents (in 2011)
for the Dhapa landll. KMC has engaged M/s Mitsui and Co. Ltd,
Japan, for exploration of global CDM practices; per their report,
LFG recovery for a clean development mechanism (CDM) project
at the Dhapa waste disposal site is feasible.
03 - 04 04 - 05 05 - 06 06 - 07
Year
In the case of power generation by gas engine, it is not appropri-
ate to install a generator with large capacity because methane
availability from the landll decreases rapidly. The suggested in-
stalled capacity will be limited to 2 MW. In addition, because the
initial cost for a power generation facility is large compared to
the amount of electricity generated, economic efciency would
be low.
As a CDM project, methane combustion using a are system is
considered appropriate. Since the estimated landll gas generation
and recovery strongly depend on the condition of the existing land-
ll at Dhapa, a detailed assessment of the LFG generation, collec-
tion, and aring system is essential to assess the degree of
certainty regarding economic benets accruing from greenhouse
gas emission reductions (KEIP, 2007b).
6. Biomedical waste overview
Biomedical wastes (BMW) are potentially hazardous and the
environmental impacts of biomedical wastes are interdependent
and cumulative. Surveys carried out by various agencies show that
healthcare establishments in India are not giving due attention to
their waste management. Since notication by the Biomedical
Waste (Management and Handling) Rules in 1998 (CPHEEO,
2000), these establishments are slowly streamlining the process
of waste segregation, collection, treatment, and disposal.
KMC runs 24 borough health clinics, 5 maternity or midwifery
clinics, 9 chest clinics, 1 tuberculosis hospital, and 41 malaria clin-
ics. There are 50 healthcare clinics operated by NGOs under KMC.
The State Government runs 36 major hospitals in the KMC area
with 14,000 beds, and the Union Government operates 5 hospitals
with 1,164 beds. Around 80 specialty hospitals that include cancer
and leprosy treatment, neurology, maternity and midwifery, and
childhood diseases are also in Kolkata along with 250 authorized
clinics, diagnostic units, and pathological testing units (ADB,
2005b). Many of the larger hospitals have either installed primary
treatment facilities or are in the process of doing so. Solid waste
from the hospitals consists of human anatomical wastes, microbi-
ological wastes, animal wastes along with bandages, linens and
other infectious waste (3035%), plastics (710%), disposable
syringes (0.30.5%), glass (35%), and other general wastes includ-
ing food waste (4045%) (Patil and Shekdar, 2001). It is estimated
that about 0.33  106 t of biomedical wastes are generated annu-
 Author's personal copy
S. Chattopadhyay et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458
ally in India. At Kolkata, the generation ranges from 1 to 1.4 kg of
BMW per bed per day, and in district hospitals, it is around
0.4 kg of BMW per bed per day (WBPCB, 2006; Chattopadhyay
et al., 2007c).
Previously, KMC collected waste from those BMW generators
who did not have a treatment facility, and disposed of it at the
Dhapa landll site using the deep burial method. Since April
2004, collection and treatment of biomedical wastes from KMC
and other areas has taken place at Howrah by SEMBRAMKY, a
private organization; the processes used there are autoclaving
and incineration (ADB, 2005b).
7. Hazardous waste overview
Hazardous wastes are any waste which, by reason of any of its
physical, chemical, reactive, toxic, ammable, explosive, or corro-
sive characteristics, causes danger or is likely to cause danger to
health or the environment, whether alone or when in contact with
other wastes or substances. The West Bengal Pollution Control
Board and Haldia Development Authority have taken steps to en-
sure compliance with the Hazardous Waste (Management and
Handling) Rules, 2003. The Haldia Development Authority has con-
structed a Hazardous Waste Management complex, measuring
28 ha, located in Haldia, about 150 km from KMC area. This facility
is expected to cater to disposal of industrial hazardous wastes gen-
erated in the entire state of West Bengal. Based on the type, these
wastes have been classied by their method of disposal.
(i) Wastes going to direct landll.
(ii) Wastes requiring stabilization prior to landll.
(iii) Wastes requiring storage until alternate economically viable
techniques are made available.
(iv) Wastes requiring incineration (HDA, 2003).
8. Conclusions
The generation of large quantities of MSW in Kolkata has be-
come a serious environmental issue. Urban local bodies, though
committed to their services, are nding this issue difcult to man-
age properly due to the growing magnitude of problems.
The major problems in MSW management at Kolkata are due to
lack of waste segregation at source, low percentage of house-to-
house collection, large number of open vats, low operational ef-
ciency of waste transport system with old vehicles, low collection
efciency in newly added areas, and an inefcient informal recy-
cling system.
In many developing countries like India, uncontrolled land dis-
posal of MSW is common. At Kolkata, unregulated waste dumps
without liners and leachate management pose a number of envi-
ronmental and human health hazards, the most signicant of these
being groundwater contamination.
KMC spends 7075% of its MSW expenditure on collection of
the solid waste, 2530% on transportation, and less than 5% for
the nal disposal. Most of the expenditure goes toward operation
and maintenance of the system and only a small percentage is used
for capital expenditure. Immediate capital investment is essential
to rejuvenate the disposal system.
The existing mechanized compost plant has been practically
inoperative since 2003. The root causes of this are the high inert
content in the feed of mixed waste and the problem of marketing
the compost product; these problems need to be addressed to re-
duce the MSW load. Kolkata MSW has a low energy value
(3,3504,200 kJ kg1) and high inorganic content (30%) and is thus
unsuitable for incineration or WTE.
1457
Although, under KEIP, certain modications and improvements
to solid waste management services have been done, this is still
not sufcient to mitigate the present and future problems of solid
waste management in Kolkata. To achieve a target of 100% collec-
tion, transportation, treatment, and disposal, KMC would rst need
to prepare a macro plan which would identify the quantity of
waste generated in the city and the broad strategy to be adopted
to manage the system. This should be followed by a micro or local-
ity-based plan, which would provide details as to routes, timing,
equipment, and manpower deployment.
Capacity improvements to the existing solid waste manage-
ment framework need to be stressed. For the collection system,
emphasis should be on segregation at the household level, 100%
door-to-door collection, and transformation of open vats into
closed containerized systems. Proper management of vehicles
and modernization of the eet by replacing the old equipment with
mechanically equipped vehicles are necessary for enforcing an
optimized transportation system.
In the area of processing and disposal, many changes must be
implemented including transformation of an informal to a formal
recycling system; construction of a newly engineered landll site
with liner, leachate collection, and treatment facilities; enhance-
ment of the composting system; implementation of a CH4 recovery
system; and the introduction of vermi-composting in a decentral-
ized manner.
In the future, an on-line management information system needs
to be effectively implemented to optimize daily operating resource
allotment and make the Kolkata solid waste management system
effective and sustainable.
Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank the management and staff of
Kolkata Municipal Corporation for providing the data used to
undertake the research outlined in this article.
References
Aakeson, M., Nilsson, P., 1994. International Conference on SWM and Technology,
vol. 1. Widener University, Chester, USA.
ADB (Asian Development Bank), 2005a. Kolkata Environmental Improvement
Project, vol. 1. Kolkata Municipal Corporation, India.
ADB (Asian Development Bank), 2005b. Kolkata Environmental Improvement
Project Report on Bio-Medical Waste Management. Kolkata Municipal
Corporation, India.
Assmuth, T.W., Strandberg, T., 1993. Ground water contamination in nished
landll. Water Air and Soil Pollution 69 (1/2), 179199.
Beede, D.N., Bloom, D.E., 1995. The economics of municipal solid waste. World Bank
Research Observer 10 (2).
Bishop, P.L., 2000. Pollution Prevention: Fundamental and Practice. McGraw-Hill
Higher Education, Singapore.
Chain, E.S.K., DeWalle, F.B., 1976. Sanitary landll leachates and their treatment.
Journal of Environmental Engineering Division, Proceedings of the ASCE 102,
411431.
Chattopadhyay, S., 2003. A Study on a Compost Plant Based on Kolkata Municipal
Solid Waste. Master of Engineering Thesis Paper, Bengal Engineering and
Science University, Shibpur, Howrah, India.
Chattopadhyay, S., Dutta, A., Ray, S., 2007. Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste
Management for the City of Kolkata. International Conference on Civil
Engineering in the New Millennium: Opportunities and Challenges (CENeM-
2007), 1114 January, 2007, Bengal Engineering and Science University,
Shibpur, India.
Chattopadhyay, S., Dutta, A., Ray, S., 2007b. Existing municipal solid waste
management of Kolkata Deciencies and its solutions. Journal of Indian
Association for Environmental Management 34 (3), 161167.
Chattopadhyay, S., Dutta, A., Ray, S., 2007c. Bio-Medical Waste Management of
Kolkata. All India Seminar on Urbanization in the Present Global Scenario 0708th
December January, 2007. American Society of Civil Engineers, India Section.
CPHEEO (Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization),
1991. Manual on Water Supply and Treatment. Ministry of Urban Development,
Govt. of India, New Delhi.
CPHEEO (Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization), 2000.
Manual on Municipal Solid Waste Management. Ministry of Urban
Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
 Author's personal copy
1458 S. Chattopadhyay et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 14491458
Flintoff, F., 1984. Management of Solid Wastes in Developing Countries. SF Asia
Series, No. 1. World Health Organization.
HDA (Haldia Development Authority), 2003. Detailed Project Report on
Hazardous Waste Management Facility. West Bengal Waste Management
Limited, India.
Hogland, W., Marques, M., 2007. Sustainable waste management: International
perspectives. In: International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste
Management, 0507 September, 2007. Centre for Environmental Studies,
Anna University, Chennai, India.
IGES (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies), 2001. Urban environmental
challenge in Asia: Current situations and management strategies. Part1: The
Summary of UE 1st Phase Project. Urban Environmental Management Project,
Hayama, Japan.
Kaiser, W., Shimizu, M., 2004. High-temperature gasication the thermo select
process. Waste Management World (NovemberDecember), 7986.
KEIP (Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project), 2005. Rapid Environmental
Impact Assessment Report and Environmental Management Plan of Engineered
Landll at Dhapa. Kolkata Municipal Corporation, India.
KEIP (Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project), 2007a. Outline Strategy for
Solid Waste Management, KMC-Study of Solid Waste Management Disposal
and Public Private Partnership Options. Kolkata Municipal Corporation, India.
KEIP (Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project), 2007b. Landll Gas
Management CDM Project in Kolkata, India. Kolkata Municipal Corporation,
India.
Kelley, W.E., 1976. Groundwater pollution near a landll. Journal of Environmental
Engineering Division, Proceedings of the ASCE 102, 11891199.
Kinman, 1987. Sanitary landll disposal of urban SW. In: Workshop on SWM, New
Delhi, Jan 1617.
KMC (Kolkata Municipal Corporation), 2007. Data from Internal Report of Kolkata
Municipal Corporation (personal communication).
Mandal, M., 2007. Leachate from Municipal Solid Waste Generation,
Characteristics and Effects. Master of Engineering Thesis Paper, Bengal
Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah, India.
Masters, G.M., 1998. Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science.
Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India.
NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute), 2005.
Comprehensive Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste at Calcutta. India.
Patil, A.D., Shekdar, A.V., 2001. Healthcare waste management in India. Journal of
Environmental Management 63 (2), 211220.
Petts, J., Edulijee, G., 1994. Environmental Impact Assessment for Waste Treatment
and Disposal Facilities. John Wiley and Sons.
Plastindia, 2006. End-to-End Solutions for Integrated Solid Waste Management.
News and Events, Plastindia. Sintex Industries Ltd. <http://www.sintex-
plastics.com/PRODUCTS/environment/solidwaste.HTM>.
Pokhrel, D., Viraraghavan, T., 2005. Municipal solid waste management in Nepal:
Practices and challenges. Waste Management 25 (5), 555562.
Srishti, 2002. Making the Most of a Mess A handbook on Municipal Solid Waste.
Srishti/Toxics Link: <http://www.toxicslink.org/pub-list.php>.
Walker, W.H., 1969. Illinois groundwater pollution. Journal of American Water
Works Association 61, 3140.
WBPCB (West Bengal Pollution Control Board), 2006. Annual Report 20052006.
West Bengal, India.