According to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), India is the world’s third-largest garbage generating country. Worse, while just about 75% of municipal waste is collected, only 22% of this is processed and treated. The situation becomes alarming when one considers that by 2030, waste generation is expected to more than double from the present 62 million tonnes. To tackle this mounting problem, the government has made it mandatory for waste processing facilities to be set up by all local bodies. In case of towns with a population of a million or more, this has to be done within two years. This has resulted in a business opportunity that companies are keen to tap. Biogas plants were used earlier but they require waste to be segregated at source into dry and wet waste. Since this does not happen in India, biogas plants have been a failure as far as proper use of municipal waste is concerned. As for mass incinerators, industry insiders say there are concerns with respect to their emissions, though most waste management plants set up today are of this type. The third technology in the race is pyrolysis. The good news is that the government recently recognised pyrolysis plants as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity.

(Financial Express)