MSMEs can Aid Waste Management in India

Share Us

525
MSMEs can Aid Waste Management in India
27 Jun 2022
5 min read

News Synopsis

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban Mission to make all cities in India 'garbage free' less than a year ago. Every day, Indian micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) struggle to make Swachh Bharat a reality.

India faces significant environmental challenges as a result of waste generation and insufficient waste collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal. The current systems in India are incapable of dealing with the volumes of waste generated by an expanding urban population — approximately 960 million tonnes — with negative consequences for the environment and public health.

“As per Material Recycling Association (MRAI) India’s recycling rate stands at 30%. The data associated with this recycling rate is largely dominated by highly recyclable materials such as ferrous and non-ferrous scrap, paper, rubber, and tyre etc,” Anurag Asati, co-founder of a waste management company The Kabadiwala, told Business Insider.

He stated that the recycling of materials such as plastics is "not very well documented," as many recyclables in daily garbage and litter are not collected/recycled due to their low value. Some of it is also recycled informally by waste pickers and kabadiwala associations.

TWN Special