Waste Management: Segregation, Treatment and EPR Across Streams
Waste Management is the broadest domain: hazardous, municipal solid, bio-medical, plastic, e-waste, battery, tyre and C&D waste. The exam tests rule-specific segregation, treatment standards, EPR duties and timelines.
Rule map
Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2016 require source segregation into wet, dry and domestic hazardous waste; landfills are for inert residue only. Hazardous and Other Wastes Rules, 2016 use Schedule I (hazardous), Schedule II (other wastes) and a manifest system; transboundary movement follows Basel prior informed consent. Bio-Medical Waste Rules, 2016 use yellow, red, white (translucent) and blue containers; yellow goes to incineration/plasma, red to autoclave/microwave then recycling, white sharps to autoclave/shred, blue glassware to disinfection/recycling. Plastic Waste Rules, 2016 (amended) impose EPR, phase out identified single-use plastics and set thickness/recycled-content requirements. E-Waste Rules, 2016/2022 and Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 impose producer collection and recycling targets. C&D Waste Rules, 2016 require segregation and processing into recycled aggregates. Waste tyres are handled through CPCB guidelines and EPR principles, with crumb rubber, pyrolysis and cement-kiln co-processing as recognised routes.
Worked example
A hospital generates 10 kg/day of used needles. They are sharps: white translucent, puncture-proof, leak-proof container; autoclave or microwave, then shred. If staff place them in yellow, the whole yellow load must be incinerated, raising cost and emissions. Correct segregation cuts the incinerated mass and recovers plastic.
Traps
Colour-code errors; treating landfill as a disposal route for biodegradable waste; confusing hazardous and other waste; applying EPR to consumers rather than producers; ignoring treatment standards (autoclave 121°C, 15 psi, 60 min); assuming one waste rule covers all streams.