Economic Assessment of Provisioning a Comprehensive Solid Waste Management System: A Case Study of Urban Agglomerations in Ganga River Basin

Abstract

An appropriate techno-economic framework is an essential requirement to provide solutions for comprehensive solid waste management in urban centers. The first and foremost step toward it is to have an assessment of having the management plan in economic sense. Dumping the solid waste as landfills may appear to be a very low-cost solution and may have certain advantages in low-lying areas, but it has very serious effects on land, agriculture, underground water, and surface water bodies as well.

The present chapter aims at estimating the per capita expenditure on solid waste management with provision of segregation of the total solid waste generated, proper collection and conveyance of waste and subsequent recycling, and treatment of different types of wastes. Results indicate that footprint for waste treatment is approximately 0.7 m² per person. The electrical energy consumption in complete solid waste management comes out to be 0.001 kilowatt-hour (KW-h) per person per day, while the equivalent energy in the form of fuel consumption is 0.017 KW-h per person per day for Class I towns, and subsequent value for Class II towns is 0.016 KW-h per person per day. The total per capita expenditure for having complete solid waste management system is estimated to be INR 1.15 per capita per day. The cost of provisioning solid waste management systems does not appear to be unaffordable on per capita per day basis considering the benefits and savings in ensuring good quality of agricultural land availability, no groundwater or surface water hazards and, hence, minimum health hazards.