Our country, India, has been facing a string of environmental challenges, one of the pivotal concerns being stuffed landfills and constantly rising waste. Here, we are referring to waste that is incapable of decomposing itself and, thus, continues to lie in landfills for hundreds and thousands of years together.
If not tackled smartly, this waste will continue to emit harmful chemicals into the atmosphere, eventually leading to serious environmental woes, like that of global warming, climate change, air pollution, and even acid rain in a few cases.
We at the Tribhuvan College of Environment and Development Sciences, one of the leading environmental science colleges in Delhi NCR, see this as a threat to the current and future generations, and this is why today, we have decided to speak about different eco-friendly ways of proceeding with waste management. So, let’s quickly delve in without any further ado.
The “3R Rule”
Speaking about waste management, we can seldom skip the 3Rs that are closely associated with the process of managing waste.
Reduce, Repurpose, and Recycle are the 3Rs we are currently reflecting upon. Reduce has to do with transforming manufacturing and allied activities to an extent wherein the amount of waste created is reduced significantly. Repurpose, as the name suggests, has to do with the “best out of waste” thought process. If you go to see, there are multiple industries that thrive on the waste produced by some other industry. Here, it is all about finding the right match and optimizing on the waste. The third and the last one, i.e., Recycle, as a terminology, most definitely, does not require any introduction. This process has to do with pushing the waste through a few rounds of consecutive processes to a point wherein the waste is converted into reusable inputs.
At the Tribhuvan College of Environment and Development Sciences, we do not just highlight the 3R Rule to the students but also take them through the practical process of achieving the needful.
Easy and environment-friendly ways of tackling waste:
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Mindful utilization of paper:
In a quest to replace plastic with paper, individuals and industries have ended up going over the board with their paper usage. Going by the statistics, about 26% of paper waste finds its way to landfills today.
Hence, the ideal way out is to take preventive steps instead of curative ones by either going digital or making sure that the use of every paper sheet is optimized. For instance, the material can be printed on both sides of the paper sheet instead of printing on one side and letting the other remain a waste.
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E-waste segregation:
E-waste usually comprises electronic items both under the white and brown goods category. Every day large quantities of e-waste are created around the world. One of the best ways of tackling this waste is by opting for segregation. In this process, waste is categorized under subassemblies, followed by waste treatment in an eco-friendly manner.
Recycling is another excellent way of dealing with e-waste. Most electronic companies float recycling centers, where electronic parts from e-waste are handed over so that the same can be tweaked and reused in a new electronic item that is being manufactured.
We at the Tribhuvan College of Environment and Development Sciences see this as a sustainable method of dealing with e-waste.
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Commercial composting:
Speaking about environment-friendly ways of dealing with waste, we cannot but overlook the impact and significance of commercial composting. Essentially, this activity is floated out of hubs where there isn’t a hub nearby, pickup services are offered by the entity overseeing the working of the hub.
Commercial Composting is ideal especially in cases where a huge quantity of organic waste is involved. This is a common waste management method in the West, which, if pushed in India, is sure to pick up and address the root issue.
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Waste to energy conversion:
At the Tribhuvan College of Environment and Development Sciences, we firmly believe that one of the best ways of dealing with waste is exploiting ways to convert it into energy. No doubt, energy production is a challenge we have been facing for a long time.
Even though this is not something you can do at an individual level, it is possible to join hands and convert waste into energy. For instance, Sweden has been successful in resolving the waste management issue as only 1% of waste today enters the landfill, with 47% being converted into usable energy.
Summing Up:
If you are an environmental activist or an individual willing to contribute to resolving to environmental issues, it is obvious for you to be concerned about the rising waste problem. However, the good news is that you do not have to be stuck in a rut for long. You can easily side the many environment-friendly waste management techniques and get rid of the waste right from its roots.
We at the Tribhuvan College of Environment and Development Sciences, one of the leading bsc hons sustainable development college in Delhi NCR, understand the severity of this problem. This is the reason why we make sure that not merely every person associated with our institute but the masses at large are sensitized about this matter and shown the way forward.