International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume-41 Number-7 - November 2016 ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 333 Swachh Bharat Kosh: A ray of hope for WtE Arshi Mehta 1 , Ashok Kumar 2 , Sakshi Dhingra 3 , Amit Seth 4 Associate Consultant 4 (Certified energy auditor-BEE) , Sr. analyst 3 (MBA Finance–IITD), Analyst 2 DESL(NIT Bhopal), Analyst 1 , DESL (NIT Jalandhar) Abstract — Waste Management has become a major problem in developing countries. Changing life style, increasing population, urbanization & smaller open lands in the metro cities pose big challenges. Although the disposal of waste has been historical & ancient activity but due to the numerous such challenges it is still in emerging stage. Swachh Bharat mission aim at cleanliness thus improving the same at the grassroots level for the best solutions. But solutions to this problem are more costly & require a good technical know-how. Thus, finance is a major hurdle along with the technology. As this waste streams can be valorized to power reducing the same to 10% by inversion of current waste management pyramid, the biggest road block is the financial viability of such projects. Thus, same has been analyzed for the measures that can be implemented to promote the eco-friendly solution to these. The paper encompasses several Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Enivironment Engineering, Macroeconomics and Financial modeling concepts. Keywords — Waste Management, Swachh Bharat Mission, Waste Management Pyramid, Financial viability I. INTRODUCTION Urban India generates about 70 million ton of waste per year[1] which goes to the dump sites where they keep on piling up. The accumulated wastes subsequently generate hazardous gases and leachate that lead to numerous ill-effects on the environment and living beings. This paper takes a look at the current waste management system and analyzes the scope for developing waste-to-energy (WtE) projects. The paper also talks about various government initiatives and emphasize on the requirement of financial assistance to make WtE projects a viable and sustainable alternative. Waste-to-energy (WtE) solutions, in one form or the other, have been in use for more than a century. The first WtE plant was commissioned up in 1874 and currently there are more that 2,300 operating plants in the world, primarily in developed nations and too much in developing nations. However, this sector hasn’t yet attained the maturity or stability because of the changing characteristics of the waste due change in lifestyle of people. The growing urbanization and changing trends have exponentially increased Generation of waste warranting actions towards reducing the mountains of waste. Innovations and research have resulted in development of technologies, though they are quite expensive and need support at various levels, especially in developing countries. Almost all the projects till date are located in developed countries except for China and a very few in India, though several initiatives are on in many other developing countries. Presently, the common practice in waste management is dumping of waste at the landfill sites with almost negligible emphasis on “Reduce, Reuse & Recycle” (3 R) strategy. The 3 R strategy is not only a sustainable solution to address the menace of increasing waste in urban India, but it also presents opportunity to generate power and other byproducts from waste. After the process of reducing, reusing and recycling of waste, there still remains the opportunity to extract energy out of waste using Waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies. The current waste management practice versus the future plan is depicted in the figure below. Fig. 1 Waste management practice- current & future WtE solution is only possible by reversing the existing practice as given in Fig-1, and it is the need of the hour to work in that direction. Keeping in mind the hazards of waste, Indian government has embarked upon a Clean India Mission known as