India faces major environmental challenges associated with
waste generation and inadequate waste collection, transport,
treatment and disposal. Current systems in India cannot
cope with the volumes of waste generated by an increasing
urban population, and this impacts on the environment and
public health. The challenges and barriers are significant,
but so are the opportunities. This paper reports on an
international seminar on ‘Sustainable solid waste management
for cities: opportunities in South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) countries’ organized by the Council
of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental
Engineering Research Institute and the Royal Society. A priority
is to move from reliance on waste dumps that offer no
environmental protection, to waste management systems that
retain useful resources within the economy. Waste segregation
at source and use of specialized waste processing facilities
to separate recyclable materials has a key role. Disposal of
residual waste after extraction of material resources needs
engineered landfill sites and/or investment in waste-to-energy
facilities. The potential for energy generation from landfill via
methane extraction or thermal treatment is a major opportunity,
but a key barrier is the shortage of qualified engineers and
environmental professionals with the experience to deliver
improved waste management systems in India.