Tezpur is located on the northern landscape of the north eastern states of Assam ,India. Tezpur is a tourist paradise but in last two decades higher rate of population growth , increasing rate of rural to urban migration accelerate the process of urbanisation and generation of quantum of solid wastes. Generation of large quantum of wastes and inefficient management system is not only changing the urban scenario of this beautiful town but also responsible for degradation of environment and threat to public health. So ,the present research aims to study the existing waste management system and to develop sustainable management mechanism for future days.
The town enjoys typical tropical monsoon type of climatic conditions with hot and humid summer and cool and dry winter months. The mean average temperature and rainfall of the study area is estimated at 24°C and 1600 mm respectively . Rainfall pattern is seasonal in nature and about 70% of the total rainfall received during the monsoon season.
As per census report ,the size of the population in Tezpur town was 80,575 in 2001. Using the Linear Growth Function Equation the projected population of Tezpur for 2011 was estimated at 1,00,477 with a decadal growth rate of about 25%.
To determine the waste quantum generated in the town weighting method was adopted. To perform the exercise the number of trips performed by all categories of vehicles were recorded for 7 days. The record helps to determine the average number of trips performed by each category of vehicle/day and to estimate the total volume of waste generated daily in the study area.
In Tezpur municipal area wastes were mainly originated from sources like private residences , commercial centres, institutions , community halls, constructional sites, nursing homes and hospitals.
In order to determine a suitable sample size, a sample size calculator provided w.w.w.salttrek was used to collect data from households and 380 numbers of households were considered. Besides 120 numbers of commercial centres of all categories , 25 numbers of institutionals and offices , all the recreational centres , community halls , hospitals and nursing homes were also considered for data collection.
Municipal solid waste management encompasses planning, organising , financial and legal aspects of activities associated with generation , storage ,collection , transfer and transport, processing and disposal of municipal solid waste in an environmentally compatible manner adopting principles of economy,aesthetic,energy and conservation.
Storage is the most important fundamental activities of the MSWM system. Storage facilities should be designed in such a manner that waste stored is not exposed to the open air and it should be aesthetically acceptable and user friendly.Storage facilities should have an easy to operate design for handling, transfer, and transport of wastes.
The 2nd most vital task is collection of stored waste products from the storage sites in an efficient manner. Solid waste gathering refers to the collection of wastes from community bins and open dumping sites. Ineffective collection system often leads to waste accumulation , creating nuisance and odour problems, environmental pollutions and threatening to the public health.
The present waste management scenario indicates that the mechanism was traditional and need up gradation in all phases of the management starting from storage to disposal of wastes in a suitable manner. Financial hurdles and lack of co-ordination and cooperation between the concerned authority and public has created bottlenecks in improving its efficiency. The potentiality of the community participation in the waste management system has to be given more and more emphasis for smooth management of the system along with the adoption of lastest spatial analytical technologies such as GPS-GIS system . Waste recycling can be prompted through consumers campaigns that will encourage citizens to cooperate in waste separation and to purchase recycled products.
