Research Article - (2011) Volume 1, Issue 4
1Department of Biotechnology, Asian Institute of Management and Technology, Guwahati, Assam, India
2Department of Biotechnology, Asian Institute of Management and Science, Guwahati, Assam, India
Solid waste problem and its management is one of the major issues now a day for the environment. Different wastes were reported but in variable percentages in both selected rural and urban areas. Street sweeping, grass cutting, drain and public toilet cleaning were found to be more in rural areas than urban ones. Removal of dead bodies, garden wastes and bulky wastes also contribute to solid waste which was mainly observed in urban areas. Different components of solid wastage do not show any significant differences (p=0.397) in both rural and urban areas. Components such as paper, plastic, vegetables, aluminum, wood etc were mostly found in rural areas than urban ones. However different types of wastes found in selected regions shows that there was a significant differences recorded (p=0.047). These include domestic, industrial, institutional, street wastes which were again found to be more dominant in rural areas than urban areas. Individual houses on selected localities in both areas observed establishment of significant differences (p=0.031) in compositions of solid wastages. Different wastages dumped nearby localities or burnt in other places include paper, glass, metals, textile, plastics, wood, food wastes etc. This study observed that solid wastages are still a major problem in our rural areas. However, its percentages are decline from earlier years due to its proper managements.
Rural, Urban, Components, Institutional, Management.
One of the major problems in today world is the proper disposal of Solid wastes. The problem is not restricted to a single place rather it covers all parts of the environment which leads to toxic pollutants. Developing countries faces major problem is the management of solid wastes and other environmental infrastructures [1]. In developing countries few studies has been taken out to know the various waste reductions strategies. It was reported that twelve different factors has been identified in influencing sustainable recycling in developing countries. From both qualitative and quantitative studies these factors has been derived by examinations of twentythree case studies of developing countries [2]. However in Jamaica, out of twelve factors only two of were considered to incentives to recycling namely government policy and government finances [3]. Another report in developing countries was that environmental attitudes of the public has been expanding and increasing which to be included in variety of demographic group [4]. There were some limitations as there were many difficulties in adequate solid waste management services. Some of the factors contribute to these limitations were rapid growth of populations alongwith city expansions, diminishing financial resources and low investment in urban environmental infrastructure [7,8]. There were some countries like United States, Canada and Great Britain making recycling programme more possible for more people and results in less effect of environment [5]. Private sector contributions in removing the solid waste management services are common phenomena. Cleaning and improving the large part of the city is possible only for the private sectors [6]. Workers which handle some of these toxic substances were unsafe for handling. It was reported that most of the workers handle these wastes were basic primary level. Some of the use of mixed woods residue from selected species and hardwood species provide an alternative way to firewood and used as cheap energy sources [9]. Pollutions in water bodies also some sort of changes in turbidity, total dissolved solids, pH, dissolved oxygen etc in water sample in different periods of time [10]. Effect of crude oil split on soil causes decreases in different factors such as water holding capacity, porosity, soil moisture etc [11]. These will also affect the fertility of soil along with the solid wastes to the surrounding environments. Quality of drinking water samples decreases due to increase industrializations, urbanizations and modern agriculture practice [12]. Different concentrations of elements were studied in chicken feeds to find out the adverse effects on both human and animals [13]. Different elements were present in solid wastes, which may pass through human body by food chains. These elements were caused toxic effects in the body mechanisms in direct or indirect manners. Therefore these solid wastes were quite harmful not only to ecosystem but also to human body.
The purpose of this Survey is to analysis the different kinds of Solid waste found in different parts of Kamrup district, Assam. The survey includes randomly selected areas in highly populated urban and rural areas. The universe of study was to collect data randomly from 35 different localities which include 20 and 15 from rural and urban areas respectively. Individual records of different houses about different solid wastes were also noted down by questionnaire and observations. All the data was statically analyzed and Statistical significance was done by ttest. It was accepted when the probability of the result assuming the null hypothesis (p) is less than 0.05.
Solid wastage is always a leading problem in the surrounding environment due to human activities. Its maintenance and management were some important factors for a healthy environment. In both urban and rural areas dumping of different solid waste is a common scenario. However, quantitatively large proportions of this wastage were mainly viable in urban area compared to rural areas. The probable explanations are might be due to high density of populations, large number of industries, lack of time for maintenance etc. If we carefully observed in below figure, we will found that street sweeping is more in rural area than urban by 13%. Similarly, grass cutting was also found to be less in urban area than rural areas which may be due to lack of time among urban peoples. There was a slight increases in cleaning of rivers and drains among rural peoples than urban which may be due to awareness among the peoples related to various diseases. Removal of dead animals and garden wastes were some of the important factors which was mainly observed in rural areas compared to urban areas. However 57 % of abandon vehicles were reported in urban areas compared to only 23 % in rural areas.
Figure 1: Different functions and its quantitative analysis reported in both rural and urban areas.
There were some other wastages were also reported in both urban and rural areas likes papers, plastics, wood, textiles etc. These wastages were also contributed to the solid waste in these areas. However, if we compare the different components contribute to solid waste in both urban and rural areas there is some what difference. There is a significant differences (p=0.397) was found in the contributions among rural and urban areas. Different solid waste like paper, plastics, rubber etc mainly contribute by rural areas than urban areas. This wastage can cause severe problems in the society like water logging due to blockage of drains, various diseases occurs due to decompositions of vegetable wastes by bacteria. Analysis of these wastages reports organic or vegetables contributes highest amounts among other components in urban areas. However in rural areas maximum contributions was found to be garden waste about 68%. Paper, plastics, vegetables and aluminum contribute above 50 % while glass, ferrous metals, wood, textiles and garden wastes contribute less than 50% in urban areas. However in rural areas 50% solid wastages records by vegetables, woods and garden waste than rest of the components Figure 3 explains that some other wastes like domestics, industrials, commercial and trade wastes mainly contribute 88 % in rural areas than 63 % reported in urban areas. In case of industrial waste, contributions were more by urban areas than rural areas by 25%. There was significant differences found in between rural and urban areas (p=0.047) in case of different solid wastes. Industrial wastes, street wastes were mainly dominant in urban areas. In compare to urban areas, rural areas show little contributions to such wastages due to less development in selected areas. Drain cleaning and bulky wastages also found to be more in urban areas than rural ones. Less than 50% of wastages were recorded in rural areas in two factors i.e. drain cleaning and bulky wastages.
Figure 2: Comparative analysis of percentage of different components among rural and urban areas.
Figure 3: Percentage of different categories of solid wastes found in both rural and urban areas.
Figure 4: Comparative analysis of percentage of types of solid wastes reported in individual households [1- paper, 2-glass, 3-metal, 4-plastics/rubber, 5-textiles, 6- wood, 7- food waste and 8- ash/soil].
Individual analysis of some selected house in both rural and urban areas, results different kinds of wastages which is same like the environmental wastages. Papers, glass, metals, food wastes, ash etc contribute to it. Some observations of individual houses show depositions of these wastes in drains, nearby areas etc while some peoples burns all these solid wastes. There was significant differences (p=0.031) were recorded in availability of different solid wastes in both area houses. Paper, metal, plastic, textile, food waste and ash records more than 50% wastes in urban areas. On other hand glass and wood records about 46% and 38% respectively in urban areas.
The above graph describes glass as a solid waste was found to be in minimum quantity in rural houses. Metal, textiles and food wastes was recorded below 50% in rural areas which contribute less to the solid waste. Government has taken several steps to minimize these solid wastes. However it is the responsible of the entire individual to minimize the solid wastes which causes negative impact in the environment and people’s health.
The authors thank to all the people who encourages in collecting data and supports to do research. We were also grateful to Dr. H. Baruah Retd. Professor of the Department of Commerce, Gauhati University for his valuable guidance, supervision, essential encouragement and inspiration throughout the course of this investigation.
