ITPI JOURNAL

I : I (2004) 62-72

I T P I
JOURNAL
www.itpindia.org

MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEM

ENT CURRENT CONCERNS IN LUDHIANA CITY
Ashwani Luthra
Senior Lecturer, Guru Ramdas School of Planning, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar

Rajneesh Sareen
Assistant Consultant, IRG South Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi
ABSTRACT
Fast changing consumption pattern is resulting in production of huge quantities of solid waste, which is haphazardly and unscientifically
disposed off in the urban areas. Fast growing cities are facing critical conditions with respect to solid waste management. Ludhiana,
a rapidly growing industrial city, is producing huge quantities of solid waste each day. The three-fold increase in generation of solid
waste during 1981-2000 has resulted in problems of its collection, transportation and disposal. Technological, managerial and
behavioral aspects are more pronounced amongst all the existing pitfalls, in the system. Audit of solid waste management practices
in Ludhiana identifies the deficiencies, issues and options to be undertaken in right earnest to make the city clean and hygienic. The
author argues that the public awareness about their deeds and misdeeds would be of more relevance in mitigating problems of Solid
Waste Management. The paper is based on empirical study carried out for postgraduate programme in 2001.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Planning in the field of solid waste management may
be defined as the process by which community needs
regarding waste management are measured and
evaluated and workable alternatives are developed for
adoption by decision makers. It encompasses a wide
range of individual activities. To deal effectively with
solid waste management it would be appropriate to
group the activities into six fundamental elements,
viz,.

Waste Generation

On Site Storage

Collection

Transfer and Transport

Processing and Recovery

Disposal

Combination of these functional elements is known

as Solid Waste Management System. Thus, one
of the goal of management is to provide the best
possible system subjected to the constraints
imposed by its users and those who are affected by
it or who control its use. Ludhiana, the industrial city
sometimes also called as Manchester of India, is
one of the fastly growing metropolitan city with a
growth rate of about 70% per decade. The city is
centrally located in State of Punjab and also receives
a good accessibility due to nearness to the G.T. Road
and railway corridors. Due to which number of
industries and other infrastructure is growing very

fast. Consequently, the consumption pattern is also

taking a fast track, resulting in production of large
quantities of solid wastes that are being haphazardly
and unscientifically disposed and dumped. The
magnitude of waste produced is facing problems in
proper disposal, reuse, etc., alternatively it can be
taped for energy production, recycling, optimum
utility, scientific disposal, to prevent it from spreading
of health hazards to other residents of the city and
also progress towards clean technologies.
2.0 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN LUDHIANA
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation was set up in
1976. Main functions performed by Municipal
Corporation, Ludhiana (MCL) in solid waste
management are its collection, transportation and
disposal. The operation and maintenance is carried
out by the Department of Health and Sanitation, which
is formed under Municipal Corporation Act 1976.
Ludhiana is a fast growing city and so is its waste
generation. Whereas it was generating about 316
MT of solid waste per day in 1981, its generation
grew to about 542 MT per day in 1991 and about
1000 MT per day in 2000. The three-fold increment
in solid waste is primarily the result of fast growing
population and changing food habits of the people.
Over a period of time, the city has experienced
problems in waste storage and collection due to lack
of manpower, finances and managerial skills. It is
amazing to know that only 40% of the city is cleaned
by regular sweepers (safai sewaks) of MCL. The safai
sewaks sweep the streets using brooms to make
small heaps of garbage. These heaps of garbage are

Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

Information on the properties of solid wastes is

important in evaluating alternative equipment needs,
systems, and management programme and plans,
especially with respect to the implementation of
disposal and resource / energy recovery options.
Composition of municipal solid waste and their relative
distribution are reported for Ludhiana City in Table 1.
It is clear from the table that as much as 46% of
solid waste in the residential areas of the city is
biodegradable i.e. vegetable matter. Another 32% is
also harmless substance i.e. ash / fine earth, meaning
th
thereby that more than of the garbage does not
carry harmful substances. So is the case at market
places, where its total composition is more i.e. 82%.
About 60% and 91% of the waste of commercial and
industrial areas respectively is the real cause of
concern.

then taken to nearest filth depot in wheelbarrows.

Very recently, MCL has introduced 50 tricycle
rickshaws. These cycle rickshaws have six small
bins to collect garbage. Two to three sweepers cover
1 beat per day, which includes 1-km length of street
with 20 feet width (6000 sq.mt.). About 365 beats
are done successfully on each day.
There are about 380 garbage containers placed at
various places in the city, comprising of 9 pucca filth
depots, 29 D. P. containers, 15 hauler tuggers and
152 open yards. They are used only for collection of
garbage and are distributed across the main central
areas of the city. The process of collection of garbage
is still primitive in nature. There are about 600 plastic
bins in the market areas and MCL is planning to
install 700 more in near future. Partly underground
containers were also provided as pilot project in order
to avoid ugly visibility of the container. The idea,
however, failed due to the problems of water logging.

The garbage from the filth depots is transported to

the dumping grounds with the help of loaders and
tippers. The infrastructure of MCL for transportation
of wastes is given in Table 2.

Table 1: Physical and Chemical Composition of the Waste in Different Areas of City

Physical Characteristics

Residential
Area (%)

Commercial
Areas (%)

Market
Places (%)

Industrial Areas
(%)

1.74
4.60
9.50
0.34
0.52
0.40
0.62
0.88
0.25
2.5
32.32
46.33

11.42
5.65
11.29
2.28
9.14
3.36
10.22
5.65
27.28
13.71

0.54
0.68
4.34
0.41
0.68
4.34
1.09
26.05
61.87

4.13
14.47
9.25
5.12
7.28
12.40
38.09
9.26
-

Paper
Plastics
Rags
Metals
Glass
Rubber Leathers
Wood Matter
Earthware
Bones
Stone Bricks
Ash / Fine Earth
Vegetative Matter
Source: MCL Zonal Offices, June 2000.

Table 2: Description of Infrastructure Facilities Available with MCL for SWM

Infrastruc
JCB
Wheel
ture Type Loaders Barrows

Number

500

Hauler
Tugger

Tractor
with
Trailers

Dumper Small Tippers

Road
Tricycle
Placers loaders
Cleaning Rickshaws
(vacuum)
Machines
25
10
26
4
50

Source: MCL Zonal Offices, June 2000.

MCL as on today has adopted landfilling for disposal

of the waste. There are two garbage disposal points
for MCL outside the city, one on Hambran Road at
Jainpur Village having 25 acres area which is about
20 years old, and other one is on Tajpur road

comprising of 30 acres on the opposite side of the

city. MCL has also identified one site for compost
plant. No environmental safeguards for protecting
disposal sites to prevent breeding of insects nor
action for proper disposal has been taken till date.
63

Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

Due to which these disposal sites, are deficient of

proper disposal technologies, endangering
environment in term of soil, aesthetics as well as
water pollution.
3.0 PROBLEMS AND ISSUES IN SOLID WASTE
MANAGEMENT IN LUDHIANA

There are possibilities of introducing door to door

collection in few areas of Zone D i.e. areas like
Bhai Ranjit Singh Nagar, Sarabha Nagar, etc.
This can help in timely collection and disposal
in desired way.
Shops/ Offices/ Establishments

Based on the empirical data and its analysis,

following problems and issues have been identified
and categorized:

Waste consists of food waste and other

discarded waste materials such as paper, plastic,
glass, metal, rags / packaging materials.

3.1.

Collection and Storage of Waste

3.1.1.

Storage of Recyclable Waste at Source;

3.1.2.

Segregation of Waste at Source;

3.1.3.

Primary Collection of Waste;

3.1.4.

Waste Storage Depot; and

Most often waste is thrown on the street at

random hours and around the bin and not into it
and thus wastes comes on the roads, streets
and lanes treating the public streets as
receptacle of waste.

3.1.5.

Street Sweeping

3.2

Transportation of Waste

3.3

Disposal of Waste

In almost all-commercial areas, sweeping

process is completed before 9.00 A.M. and
shops / establishments opening later which
throw the wastes on the streets / footpaths.

Most shops / establishments do not allow MCL

to place dustbins near to their shops /
establishments.

Some of these shops keep large bins for the

storage of waste and quite often contract out
the collection of recyclable waste deposited in
these bins or hand over such waste-to-waste
purchasers/waste pickers. The unwanted part
of this waste also finds its way on to the streets.

There are possibilities of introducing shop to shop

collection in few areas of Zone D i.e. areas like
Feroze Gandhi Market, Ghumar Mandi and
Sarabha Nagar.

A detailed description about each aspect will clarify

the nature and extent of the problem of solid waste
management in Ludhiana City.
3.1.1.

Storage of Re-cyclable Waste at Source

Storage at the source of waste generation is the first

essential step towards appropriate waste
management, which is substantially lacking in
Ludhiana.
Households

Waste consists of food waste and other

discarded waste materials such as paper, plastic,
glass, metal, rags, packaging materials.

Most households often throw waste on the street

at random hours and around the bin and not into
it.

Thus waste gets spread on the roads, streets

and lanes treating the public streets as
receptacle of waste.

Most households do not allow MCL to place

dustbins near their house.

Due to untimely and ill managed disposal of waste

by households the management aspect gets
lost.

Construction and Demolition Waste

In H.I.G and M.I.G areas most of residents pay

Rs.10 per month presently, to their maids for
transport of waste from household to the
collection points in respective locations.
64

This waste is generated mainly by repair,

maintenance and, reconstruction activities. It
contains bricks, cement concrete, stones, tiles,
wood, etc.

The storage of this waste at the time of its

generation and its disposal is totally neglected.

By and large, people deposit construction waste,

after salvaging useful material, just outside their
houses / shops / establishments or on the
streets or along major roads, creating nuisance,
pollution and obstruction to traffic.

Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

3.1.2.

Segregation of Recyclable Waste at

Source

deposit the waste on the streets, along the

drains, etc., which is thereafter collected during
street sweeping operations, the next day, which
remains a source of visual as well as health
nuisance throughout a day.

Following features highlight the problems and issues

related to segregation of waste in different parts of
the city.

Households / Shops / Offices / Establishments

3.1.4.

Households and establishments in Ludhiana do

not practice segregation of recyclable waste at
source at all.

Following are some of the salient features

Households / Shops / Offices / Establishments

The storage points / depots are deficient in

Ludhiana. The dustbin per ten thousand persons
ratio has large variations ranging from 0.36 to
0.41 at different locations as against 1.00 as per
the standards.

Even the capacity of the collection points is not

sufficient. There is mismatch between the
garbage generation and the carrying capacity of
the bins. This makes the spill over of the
containers and makes the area filthy.

The filth depots are not protected properly from

stray animals and rag pickers which spread the
garbage. Proper drainage needs to be provided
specifically during rainy season.

Distance between the households and bins is

also large, varying from 50 meters to 500 meters.
As a result, quite a large number of people
deposit the waste on the streets, which is
thereafter collected during street sweeping
operations the next day.

Currently, there is no arrangement for house-tohouse collection of waste in Ludhiana.

The sites where the bins are provided are not

properly paved, giving rise to unhygienic
conditions around the bin. This compels people
to throw the waste from a distance just outside
the bin instead of throwing it inside the bin. More
waste thus is dumped outside the bin than inside
it.

Community bins are also not available at

convenient locations in Ludhiana for depositing
waste. Even at places where these have been
provided, it has been observed that these are
often inadequate in size and spaced too far apart
and ill managed.

In many areas / localities, open sites exists

where waste is just dumped by the Safai Sewaks,
which is resulting into health hazards and source
of visual pollution.

The general public does not allow Containers /

Collection Bins to be placed near to their house
/ property.

Many of the collection points are located on the

roadsides. The spillovers from these collection
points make the whole area filthy. Moreover, the
lifting of the garbage from these areas is also

Such waste on the streets or in the municipal

bins goes to disposal sites un-segregated which
on one side retards the decomposition process
and on other hand increases the load on the
disposal sites i.e. more space requirements for
waste disposal.

In absence of the practice of segregation of waste

at source, part of this waste is picked up by rag
pickers in soiled condition because of which they
have danger to their health.

At times for sorting and collection, they empty

the dustbins and spread the contents around.
This practice makes the scene filthy i.e. more
breeding grounds for flies, unhygienic scene and
becomes more time consuming in collection.

There are possibilities of introducing source

segregation in few areas of Zone D i.e. areas
like Bnai Ranjit Singh Nagar, Feroze Gandhi
Market / Ghumar Mandi and Sarabha Nagar as
these areas have some open spaces for
performing such activities.

3.1.3.

Primary Collection of Waste

Following are some of the salient features

Households / Shops / Offices / Establishments

Waste Storage Depots

Distance between the households and bins is

also large, varying from 50 meters to 500 meters.
As a result, quite a large number of people
65

Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

done once in a day due to which dirt remains

lying whole day creating nuisance and
congestion to the passing traffic.

9.00 am and start throwing their waste on the

streets, nullifying the work just done by the safai
sewaks.

Many of the collection points are located in the

properties not belonging to the MCL. Some of
the bins are even located on the private plots.
The MCL needs to identify new plots / properties
belonging to MCL to place these bins.

Safai sewaks sweep the street with a short

handle or long handle brooms. While sweeping /
initially they make small heaps of waste on the
street and then load this waste into their
wheelbarrows.

Open collection yards are the critical areas for

further action. Proper strategy needs to be
adopted to tackle these problems,

Recently, tricycles are used to transport larger

quantity to longer distance.

3.1.5.

Tools Used

Street Sweeping

Following are some of the salient features

General Aspects

It is observed that all roads and streets are not

being swept on daily basis. In practice certain
important roads and markets are swept daily,
some are swept on alternate days or twice a
week, some are swept occasionally or not at
all.

The road length to be swept by a sweeper is

standardized. However, there is no scientific
planning to direct, which street should be swept
daily or alternate days or twice a week, etc.,
depending on the concentration of population /
activity on the roads and lanes.

There is a definite yardstick prescribed for each

sweeper. 2-3 safai sewaks are expected to cover
1 beat per day, which includes 2 safai sewaks
covering 1-km length of street of width 20-feet
(5000 sq. mt.) and one sweeper needs to clean
drains less than 3-feet width of length 1-km.
However, safai sewaks are allotted work as per
road length irrespective of density of population.

Short handle brooms are generally given to safai

sewaks for street sweeping.

There is no uniformity in the number and quality

of brooms given to safai sewaks. On an average,
they are given 1 broom per month. Inadequate
supply of tools to the safai sewaks reduces their
efficiency.

A wheelbarrow / tricycle is a very essential tool

for a sweeper to carry street sweepings to the
dustbin site. But these are ill designed as it is
difficult to move and they have to be upturned for
unloading the contents on to the ground. This
creates difficulty in transporting and unsanitary
conditions near the dustbin exist.

3.2.

Transportation of Waste

Following are some of the glaring problems and issues

related to the transportation of solid waste in
Ludhiana City.
General Aspects

In Ludhiana each safai sewak works for 5-days

a week, as a result, sweeping is done only for 5
days keeping the dirt / dust without sweeping
on Saturdays and Sundays.

Transportation system is a mix of fast moving

and slow moving vehicles. There is a wide
variation in the output of vehicles ranging from
tractor-trailer to tippers.

The carrying capacity of the vehicles based on

the number of trips made is not sufficient for
handling the garbage at 100 percent utilization

Timing and Methodology

Generally / street sweeping is done only once in

a day during morning for 3-4 hours.

About 40 percent of vehicles are out of operation

every day.

The fleet of vehicles is not optimally utilized.

The system is a potential health hazard for the

workers, as all types of waste, including hospital
infectious waste, human excreta are disposed
of in the common dust bin or on the streets.

Though official duty hours are 8 hours a day, the

actual work is done only 5-6 hours a day.

Sweeping in commercial areas begins in the

morning around 6.30 am, but shops open after
66

Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

Arrangement for separate collection of infectious

biomedical waste is practically non-existent.

Spare-parts procurement via frequent tenders is

cumbersome and slow.

Common storage points such, as Filth Depots

are not compatible with the tipper trucks. This
makes the loading operation a cumbersome
process.

The maintenance of SWM vehicle gets low priority

and as a result many old vehicles, which require
frequent repairs and maintenance, are still
operating in the city.

Waste is usually transported uncovered creating

nuisance. Moreover transportation takes place
in the daytime during peak hours and affected
by traffic conditions.

There are no transfer stations for slow moving

vehicles like tractor-trailers, As a result, these
vehicles also need to travel 10-12 km up to
dumping ground taking more time.

Vehicles are outdated and more than 7 years

old. They give low mileage and are subjected to
frequent breakdowns.

Maintenance of the vehicles is very poor and

down time of the vehicles is very high.

The transportation fleet deployment does not

synchronize with the types and capacities of
dustbins provided. No monitoring of vehicle
movement is done

The loading time of loader is 10 minutes. However

it is also subjected to frequent breakdowns
because of faults in mechanical parts.

There is no scientific ways of calculating the

waste generation. As a result the efficiency of
collection and transportation can not be
established.

Segregation of solid wastes is not in the

organized sector which results into more
quantities of wastes being transported to the
sanitary landfill than what should be actually
transported. There is absence of segregation
facilities like solid waste batching stations.

There are no weighing machines at the dumping

stations. As a result, there is no statistics on
the collection and transportation of the garbage
to make officials accountable for
mismanagement.

Dumping of wastes is carried in open, sides of

drains, backyards of houses, etc., thereby
increasing the number of collection points and
worsening the scenario.

3.3.

MCL as on today has adopted landfilling for

disposal of the waste. There are two garbage
disposal points for MCL outside the city. One is
on Hambran Road at Jainpur Village having 25
acres area which is about 20 years old, and other
one is on Tajpur road on the opposite side of the
city over an area of 30 acres.

MCL also identified one site for compost plant.

No environmental safeguards for protecting

disposal sites to prevent breeding of insects has
been taken due to which these disposal sites
are, deficient of proper disposal technologies,
and posing a threat to environment in term of
soil, aesthetics as well as water pollution.

In 1998 there was a fire outbreak at Jainpura

Village disposal site and fire department took
two days to overcome this. This was because of
uncontrolled disposal leading to production of
methane gas.

Two earlier disposal sites i.e. the landfill areas

where 8-10 feet lower in height than surroundings,

Management Aspects

In many cases, waste handling is done

manually. Loading and unloading being time
consuming, it reduces the productivity of
manpower and vehicles. As loading is labor
intensive, is affected by the non-availability of
laborers.
The route pattern is given to every vehicle.
However, due to the malfunctioning and absence
of these vehicles on route, the other vehicles are
diverted to attend the areas. This forces the
vehicles not to stick to the routes that have been
specified. Garbage trolleys routes are not based
on shortest path due to which more time and
money is consumed.
There is only one workshop for whole city. Even
for the small and minor repairs, the vehicles
needs to travel to these workshops.
67

Disposal of Waste

Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

transportation and disposal are the important aspects

in solid waste management, recommendations and
suggested plans of action are given under these
headings.

but now these areas have grown to the sizes i.e.

5-7 feet above the surrounding land height making
the adjacent properties prone to pollution due to
water seepage from disposal site. These
landfilling sites needs to be shifted or be replaced
by other safer methods.

4.1

4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND PROPOSALS

COLLECTION AND STORAGE OF

MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

Based on the findings of empirical studies and

problems and issues associated with collection and
storage of solid waste actions areas for different parts
of city have been identified and given in Table 4.

As per projections (refer Table 3) the MCL has to go

a long way to meet the future challenges. This calls
for augmentation and adoption of technologies to keep
pace with the future scenario. Since collection,

Table 3: Solid Waste Management in Ludhiana: Present and Future Scenario

Indicators
Collection
Points/10000
Population
Collection Points in Figures
Capacity
of
Collection
Points (MT)
Effective Safai Sewaks/
1000 Population
No. of Safai Sewaks
Ratio of Supervisory Staff to
Safai Sewaks
No. of Supervisory Staff (as
per the Norm)
Carrying Capacity of the
Vehicles
(@
65%
Operation)

Present Scenario (2001)

Existing
Standard
Deficiency
0.36
1.00
0.64

Future Scenario (2021)

Required
Deficiency
1.00
0.64

154
704

1000

294

554
2885.5

400
2181.5

1.23

2.80

1.57

2.80

1.57

3304
29.48

5301
25

2057
Favorable

15537
25

12233
Favorable

88

212

124

621

533

620

1000

380

2748

2128

Table - 4: Collection and Storage of Municipal Solid Waste

Action Areas

Current Status

H.I.G Localities
Sarabha Nagar
Aggar Nagar
Dugri Road
Tagore Nagar
Kitchlu Nagar
Bhai Randhir Singh
Nagar

Suggested Plan of Action

Posh residential areas

No house-to-house collection
& segregation of recyclable

wastes at source.

68

Introduce house-to-house collection system by MCL safai sewaks.

Introduce door-to-door collection
by NGOs/CBOs/ private sector
involvements. Possible organizations
are
Exnora-Chennai,
Vatavaran-New Delhi & Excell
Industries-Mumbai.
NGOs/CBOs/private sector need to
train rag pickers for collection of
recyclable waste.
Vermicomposting should be
introduced in these localities.
Alternatively, MCL may introduce by
itself on full cost recovery basis.

Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

Slums

There is no unified system

Market Areas
Feroze Gandhi
market
Sarabha nagar
Ghumar mandi

MCL safai sewaks are

operating

Hotels
Restaurants
Banquet /
Community Halls

Wastes are mixed

with municipal wastes

Construction waste

No unified system
Added to municipal wastes.

Street Sweeping

Street sweeping is done

only five days a week.

Beat size doesnt consider

density of the area.

Outdated wheelbarrows
are in use.
Tricycles are used without bins.
Both long/short handle
brooms are in use

69

Encourage and promote Mohalla

Sanitation Committees for slums
Alternatively, involve NGOs/CBOs to
create awareness and train rag
pickers for collection of recyclable
waste.

Promote Mohalla Sanitation

Committees with may be trained
rag pickers for picking recyclable
wastes.
Alternatively MCL may introduce
shop-to-shop collection on full cost
recovery basis.
Introduce licenses to all these
establishments
to
comply
mandatory recommendations.
Offenders need to be penalized
heavily.
MCL officials need to monitor closely.

MCL shall make it mandatory

while granting construction permits
to deposit waste collection,
transportation and disposal fees to
make it full cost recovery affair on
per ton basis.
The charges for removal of
construction waste to be doubled for
those who fail to deposit the amount
in advance.
MCL may introduce a container
renting, the containers may be
transported by hydraulic system at
a time mutually agreed upon between
the MCL and waste producer.

Sweeping should started in the

morning as early as possible.
MCL needs to reschedule the
working days of its employees of
Health and Sanitation Department
preferably on shift basis, providing
compensatory of two days a
week to every employee with
street sweeping done on all days of
a year.

Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

Beat size shall be redefined as per the

guidelines based on density.
Wheelbarrows need to redesigned
with 4 bins for women safai sewaks
and tricycles 0f 6 bins for men safai
sewaks. Every safai sewak should be
provided with wheel barrow/ tricycle.
Trays/metal plates to be provided to
sweepers.
Small vacuum cleaners for streets can
be tried in certain area for street
cleaning.
Storage Bins

Filth depots protected

four sides by wall and

sometimes by a roof.
D.P containers/ Hauler
Tuggers, good in design
by placing but practices

are improper.
Open yards are unprotected
and mainly on roadsides
Many storage bins located
on plots not belonging to MCL.
Shortage of number of bins.
Spacing between bins is too
long.

Troley-railway line
Udham Singh Nager
Baba Than singh
Chowk Shivaji Nagar

D.P containers/ Hauler

Tuggers and open collection
points located next to nallah

70

Filth depots/ transfer points

should be introduced in more
number with new improved
design, which should match to
loader and tipper height.
The design and capacity of
containers are good. However,
MCL employees shall ensure that
these are kept in place with
shutters open and the surround
ings shall be hygienic to facilitate
public to dump garbage in to the
bins.
The D.P containers/ Hauler Tuggers
should be placed on cement concrete
or asphalt flooring having a gradual
slope towards the road.
Number of bins shall be increased on
the guidelines provided.
MCL to locate new plots for storage
bins.
Avoid burning wastes in containers.
Paint containers in three months.
Old containers should be replaced with
the new one.
Discard open spaces and replace with
D.P. containers/Hauler Tuggers in
phased manner.

Collection/storage points should

be protected to prevent garbage
spilling to drains.
Construct 4-5 feet wall partition where
storage is located next to nallah.
MCL supervisors to penalize the
offenders who dump garbage to nallah.
O&M cell to clear garbage in nallah
on weekly basis.

Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

4.2.

Transportation of Municipal Solid Waste

waste once lifted should not touch the ground

till it reaches the disposal site. It is proposed
that concrete masonry structures should be used
as transfer point.

Studies were carried out on different types of refuse

collecting equipments and the costing for these
equipments was derived for two scenarios with round
trip travel of 30 minutes and 80 minutes. The refuse
collecting equipment evaluated were:

Tractor with open trailers.

Tractor shuttle system with open trailers.

Side loading lorry

Rear loader with multiple bins

Rear loaders

The findings of the study were that the round trip

travel time to the disposal site should not be more
than 75 minutes. In order to decrease the cost per
ton it was proposed that either the capacity of the
vehicles should be increased or round trip travel time
should be reduced. Providing transfer facilities where
the small trucks dump the waste and it is then carried
to the disposal site in larger capacity vehicles would
be advisable. It was further proposed that segregation
facilities could be provided at the transfer points.

Portable containers with trucks fitted with

hydraulic lifting equipment are proposed.

The solid waste management system should be

based on the fundamental principle that solid

Vehicle replacement should be at the end of 6

years as salvage value is 5%, considering rate
of depreciation is 40%.

Solid waste batching stations should be at

transfer points to minimize cost of operation. This
can help in reducing quantum of wastes to be
transported to disposal point.

It is proposed that waste be transported in small

capacity trucks of 5 tons between common
storage and transfer stations and in large
capacity trucks of 13 tons between transfer
station and disposal point.
Disposal of Municipal Solid Waste

There are different technologies, which can be used

for final disposal of municipal solid waste. Some of
the major processes are listed below and their
comparative advantages and disadvantages are listed
in Table 5 and 6.

Selection of vehicle type should be based on

the freedom/ flexibility in loading/ unloading
operations, which would minimize loading/
unloading time. In context of present solid waste
management, trucks fitted with hoisting
equipment or hydraulic lifts are most appropriate.

Average round a trip travel time should be 75

minutes. Suitable location for transfer stations
should be identified so as to make disposal of
solid wastes more effective .

4.3.

Transportation Strategy

Biomethanation;

Sanitary landfill gas;

Pelletisation;

Pyrolysis/ Gasification;

Composting; and

Incineration.

Table 5: Various Waste Disposal Methods and their Merits and Demerits
Method of Disposal
Land Filling

Open Land Dumping

Demerits
Restricted site availability
can not last longer
Contaminated water sources
Anaerobic gas production explosions

Merits
Easy operation
Land gets leveled

Environmental pollution
Costly large area required
Increasing maintenance cost
of open dumps

Lower initial costs

Easy for rag pickers
Non-skilled job

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Ashwani Luthra / Rajneesh Sareen / ITPI Journal I : I (2004) 62-72

Burning/ Incineration

Bio-conversion into
Organic Manure

Smoke and fire

Shifting of locations due to space
becoming full

Smoke and gaseous contamination

Temperature rise
Diesel costs higher
Capacity for incineration is a constraint

Technological constraints
Higher capital costs
Requires government support
Value addition to waste resource
Sustainable approach

Incineration is standard
hygienic operation
Burning
is
easy
operation
Highly useful product for
improvement of crops.

Table 6: Inter Technological Comparison

Technology
Biomethanation
Pelletisation
Incineration
Composting

MSW Quantity (t)

150
125
100
150

Land Required (Acre)

6
3
2
7.5

Cost (*10 Rs)

6-9
4.0
6.0
1.5

Source: CPCB, Management of Municipal Solid Waste, 2000.

It is proposed that composting by anaerobic

conversion is of more relevance to Ludhiana; as other
technologies are not economically feasible at
present. Moreover, the physical and chemical
compositions of waste are quite favorable for this
kind of treatment facility. There are different types of
composting, being practiced in India but mechanized
composting is quite suitable for Ludhiana because
of advantages like lesser land requirement, speedy
process, high capacity operations, and low labour
dependency. No doubt, this process is costlier than
the others, but the amount of advantages this system
offers, can overcome this drawback. As Ludhiana, is
growing at a very faster rate so the future generation
rate of solid waste will be much higher and put
pressure on the disposal options. This system
because of its higher capacity and less time
consumption is more desirable. Moreover, due to nonavailability of the land in Ludhiana this system can

be more appropriate as it consumes lesser space

and gives faster results.
5.0 CONCLUSIONS
The solid waste management in Ludhiana City is
facing deficiencies of varying nature and quantities.
Technological, managerial and behavioral aspects are
more important amongst all the reasons of the
existing pitfalls in the system. However, under given
conditions some hard decisions needs to be taken
to improve and control the system of solid waste
management in the city. More importantly, people
should be made aware about their deeds and
misdeeds. In this regard it has been experienced
that no solid waste management programme be
successful without the proper support of the public.
Public awareness campaign, thus should be back
bone of the system proposed for Ludhiana City.

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