Research Article Open Access Yadav and Devi, Int J Waste Resour 2016, 6:3 DOI: 10.4172/2252-5211.1000238 Research Article Open Access International Journal of Waste Resources I n t e r n a t i on a l J o u rn a l o f W a s t e R e s o u r c e s ISSN: 2252-5211 Volume 6 • Issue 3 • 1000238 Int Int J Waste Resour ISSN: 2252-5211 IJWR, an open access journal *Corresponding author: Yadav IC, Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005 Uttar Pradesh, India, Tel: +91-0542-2307146; Fax : +91-0542-2368174; E-mail: icyadav.bhu@gmail.com Received July 17, 2016; Accepted July 22, 2016; Published July 29, 2016 Citation: Yadav IC, Devi NL (2016) Municipal Solid Waste Management in Imphal Town, Northeast India: A Critical Analysis of Existing Management Practices and Proposed Action Plans. Int J Waste Resour 6: 238. doi: 10.4172/2252- 5211.1000238 Copyright: © 2016 Yadav IC, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Rapid growth in urban population coupled with economic growth and rise in community living standards has resulted in generating huge amount of municipal solid wastes in various Indian cities. The present study evaluates the status of existing solid waste management (SWM) system in Imphal town of Northeast India and feasibility of SWM plan. It revealed that the present system of SWM is not appropriate and highly unsatisfactory based on Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules-2000. There are many shortcomings in the existing system of municipal solid waste management (MSWM). Imphal town generates about 120 tonnes/day of solid waste, and is projected to rise about 170 tonnes/ day by 2035. About 40-50% of that waste is collected by the management authorities while rest of it remains uncollected. In the absence of sanitary landflls, solid wastes (SWs) get dumped in the open places, creating nuisance and unhygienic conditions. This may resulted in a high risk of contamination to different environmental compartments including soils, groundwater/surface water, and air leading towards human health hazards. The newly proposed future strategies and action plans by Imphal Municipal Corporation to combat the defciencies in the existing MSWM systems will prove to be satisfactory and feasible provided its immediate and successful implementation. Municipal Solid Waste Management in Imphal Town, Northeast India: A Critical Analysis of Existing Management Practices and Proposed Action Plans Ishwar Chandra Yadav 1 * and Ningombam Linthoingambi Devi 2 1 Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005 Uttar Pradesh, India 2 Centre for Environmental Science, School of Earth, Biological and Environmental Sciences, Central University of South Bihar, BIT campus, Patna -800014, Bihar, India Keywords: Municipality; Imphal; Nambul river; MSW (Management and Handling) Rule 2000; Refuse Introduction Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is an integral part of urban environmental management [1,2]. As the villages grew into towns and cities, it has been observed especially in developing countries to throw waste onto access ways, vacant plots and into waterways where they intermingled with excrement of communities [3]. Today’s greedy human populations utilize more material than required to meet their daily needs. Hence, the excess materials and non-usable portions are discarded, known as solid waste or refuse. At every level of development, human beings produce domestic, agricultural, industrial, hospital wastes and some wastes at public places [3]. Such waste contains both solid and semisolid organic wastes, which may be biodegradable, non- biodegradable, or in part. Terefore, proper collection and subsequent disposal of solid wastes with minimum nuisance have assumed a great importance in community environmental sanitation programs. Improper disposal causes an adverse impact on all components of the environment and human health [4-6]. Improper management of SW has been well reported in diferent cities of developing countries [7-9]. In India, every year 30.3 million tons of municipal solid wastes (MSW) are generated, equaling to on an average nearly 350 gram of waste per person [10]. Tis amount is expected to increase in the near future with increasing population and industrialization [11- 13]. According to the Central Pollution Control Board of India [13] estimates, the expected MSW generation rate will be believed to increase to 299.3 million tons by the year 2047, considering that urban population growth of India to 45% from the present growth of 28% [13,14]. Tis remarkable increase in the amount of MSW generation is due to change in lifestyles, food habits, and living standards of the urban population. Around 65% of India’s population lives in class I town (population over 0.1 million), and 23 cities have become metropolises (population over 1 million) [1]. Presently, India with its seven megacities, 28 metro cities, 388 class I cities, and another 3,955 urban centers (populations less than 100,000) generates 7.70, 7.17, 15.56, and 7.35 million tons of MSW per year, respectively. Tis equates to 72.5% of the waste generated in India and 17.5% of the total waste generated in 3,955 urban centers [15]. In New Delhi (capital city of India), 13.9 million residents living in 2.96 million households generates approximately 2.56 million tons of SW per year and is projected to rise 6.21–9.13 million tons per year by the year 2021 [16]. Te quantity of MSW generated in Chennai (population in 2010; 4.62 million) metropolitan city was around 1.28–1.75 million tons per year [17]. Allahabad Municipal Corporation (AMC; population in 2001: 1.22 million) estimated annual per capita growth rate for MSW generation to 0.15 million tons in 1997 and predicted to 0.51 million tons by the year 2026 [18]. Kolkata city (the capital city of West Bengal state, population in 2010: 5.14 million) generated approximately 1.07 million tons per year [19]. Te total MSW generated in Kharagpur (West Bengal; population in 2001: 0.21 million) was 95 tons per day(TPD), but the waste collected by the municipality is about 50 TPD, which implies that almost 45 TPD of the solid waste generated remained uncollected [20]. In the light of above literature reviewed, it is evident that in spite of technological advancement, an efective management of MSW is plaguing in most of urban city of India. A systematic approach to deal