Municipal Solid Waste Management: A comparative study between Sydney (Australia) and Pune (India)

Abstract

As rapid urbanization continues to take place, with a projected 68% of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050 according to the UN, waste management in proximity to human settlements poses problematic. Although waste generation and failure of its management is seen as a huge problem in developing cities, wealthier cities generate more waste than less affluent cities, and thus waste management is a crucial issue in developed as well as developing cities for obvious ecological reasons and for sustainability. However, while collection of waste by high GDP cities is more frequent than collection in low GDP cities, it does not imply that the issue of waste management has been resolved. A significant portion of the world still dumps its waste in landfills. Furthermore, it is projected that by 2025, lower middle-income groups will produce the most amounts of waste, while high-income groups are expected to generate the second largest amount of waste. Accordingly, it is important to understand methods of collection and disposal of solid waste carried out by cites varying in GDP and HDI to combat the issue of waste management through landfills for the purpose of creating a sustainable future. This paper is a study of existing waste management methods implemented by the governing bodies of selected cities and progress towards future policies that these governing bodies have laid out. Comparisons of existing problems faced by each city, collection methods and coverage, recycle coverage and rates, unique waste management approaches, and plans to tackle waste are carried out. The analysis can thus serve as a reference for emerging cities lacking resources that can adapt strategies described, as well as for established cities that can easily adopt certain measures to safeguard their respective ecologies and take steps towards sustainability.