90% of Indian villages have no waste management systems finds a study

Proper treatment and disposal of Municipal Solid Waste of garbage is common parlance and is still a big problem in India. However, there are signs of change at least in urban centres like cities and towns since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014 and its upgraded 2.0 version in 2021. But what about rural India? Are villages in India also getting equipped to handle their solid waste properly?

Apparently not, says a study released by New Delhi-based non-profit Pratham Education Foundation on September 18, 2022. The study which covered 700 villages in 15 states found that 90% of these villages depended on informal waste collectors or Kabadiwalas due to a lack of a formal waste management system. The study which is entitled Plastic STORI: Study of Rural India also found that only 36% of the surveyed villages had waste bins; only 29% of them had waste collection vehicles, and less than 50% had sanitation workers or safai karamcharis.

The biggest problem that the study found was the disposal of plastic waste. Kabadiwalas or waste collectors who visit these villages, about once a week, collected only recyclables like paper, metal and cardboard but not plastic waste. 67% of the 8400 surveyed households preferred to burn their plastic waste.

India currently generates close to 9.49 million tonnes of plastic waste of which less than 10% is effectively recycled. The study proposes waste segregation at the source and calls upon companies to set up a support system to treat the waste appropriately.