By Obiabin Onukwugha
India is among countries with high rate of waste generation.
According to reports India generates about 150,000 tonnes of waste per day (TPD); about 67 percent of which is collected at doorsteps in urban areas.
The country’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Predicts that waste generation in urban areas will be 0.7 kg per person per day in 2025, four to six times higher than in 1999.
According to a report in 2023 by the Energy and Resources Institute, India generates over 62 million tonnes of waste in a year. Also, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates municipal waste generation to hit 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050, from 2.3 billion tonnes in 2023.
The hazard it said, is not limited to environment and climate alone; globally, waste management directly cost $361 billion in 2020.
Furthermore, a 2022 World Bank report predicts that waste generation will drastically outpace population growth by more than double by 2050. One of the ways in which this can be curbed is by waste management.
In India, Jose Jacob Kallarakal, founder, chairman and managing director, Antony Waste Handling Cell is doing a great job in municipal waste collection and management.
According to a Forbes report, the company says it operates Asia’s largest single location waste processing plant in Mumbai’s Kanjurmarg that processes nearly 90 percent of the waste generated in Mumbai.
This company is said to manage nearly 90% of Mumbai’s municipal waste
since 2001. Antony Waste Handling Cell is said to be the only publicly listed MSW company in India, and provides services such as collection, mechanised and non-mechanised sweeping, transportation, processing and disposal, diverting trash from landfills.
Their primary services include; waste collection and transportation, mechanised and non-mechanised sweeping, waste processing and treatment, waste to energy, and construction and demolition waste management, thus earning income and at the same time promoting clean environment in India.