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. An average person in India wasted 137 grams of food every single day. That is 0.96 kg per week or 50 kg per year. In India, 40% of the food is wasted which is equivalent to Rs. 92,000 crores a year. Every year waste generation per person is increased by 5%. By 2050, India is expecting landfill of 88 sq.km which is almost equal to size of Delhi. Population growth and particularly the development of megacities is making waste management in India a major problem. The current situation is that India relies on inadequate waste infrastructure, the informal sector and waste dumping. There are major issues associated with public participation in waste management and there is generally a lack of responsibility towards waste in the community. There is a need to cultivate community awareness and change the attitude of people towards waste, as this is fundamental to developing proper and sustainable waste management systems. Sustainable and economically viable waste management must ensure maximum resource extraction from waste, combined with safe disposal of residual waste.

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