There are various types of wastes that we see around us.  Some of these wastes may be recycled whereas the other types of wastes are absorbed back into the nature.  In order to understand the severity of disposal of wastes and to work towards recycling wastes, we must first understand the types of wastes being generated.  Considering some examples around us, the wastes include kitchen wastes, papers, construction materials, old tires, medical wastes, etc.    There are additional wastes such as used surgical gloves, sanitary napkins, diapers, expired medicines, broken syringes, optic fibre cables.    In summary, we add up the volume of wastes we generated thus far in the past 50 years or so, it would easily add up to the size of a small planet.  And existing practices continue in improper waste disposal, soon we may see a layer of wastes covering earth.   This is especially a challenge in developing countries such as India where there are no proper mechanisms for disposal or recycling of wastes. 

The wastes are categorized into (a) biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. Biodegradable Wastes - these wastes can be decomposed by the natural processes and converted into their basic forms. For example, kitchen garbage, animal dung, plant and animal wastes, etc. Non-biodegradable Wastes - These wastes cannot be decomposed and remain as such in the environment and if left untreated can cause various environmental problems. For example, plastics, nuclear wastes, glass, etc.  Plastics of all is a major threat to our survival.  There are several instances of food poisoning due to poor quality plastic food containers as plastic tend to react with food substances.   Though there are campaigns to ban plastics, still this has managed to penetrate deep into the society and it is difficult for common people to imagine life without them.  In order to effect ban on plastics, this should first start at the root level of the society and best practices on alternate packaging materials that are bio-degradable should be made available across cities. 

 Clearly, the issue is disposal of wastes, however, statistics shows the impact on environment due to improper disposal of non-biodegradable wastes. The recycling part of non-biodegradable wastes is as low as 5%.  As a resolution for 2018 and beyond, we should commit ourselves to the use of less plastics at our homes.  If every household makes a sincere attempt to avoid using plastics, the awareness will slowly spread across the society.  The best ambassadors of such practices are the citizens themselves as some of these practices are adopted through the network on a trust basis.   In addition to the ban on environmental unfriendly substances, novel methods for proper disposal of wastes should be encouraged.  For this some residential communities in India have adopted a ?segregation at door step? approach.  So the disposal of wastes does not become the responsibility of someone else. 

Clean city initiatives recently introduced in India have triggered a series of changes for the good which hopefully should sustain as we move forward.  However, sustenance of good change initiatives such as waste management, cleaning public places on a constant basis have faced resistance and challenges historically.  In order to preserve these good practices in waste management, governments and private organizations should display clear leadership and ownership.  Once we see this commitment from the government, it is sure to succeed in the long term as enforcing best practices should complement any campaign on environmental awareness. 

Image source 1: http://intotheoutdoors.org/topics/household-hazardous-waste-in-our-environment/

Image source 2: https://www.slideshare.net/anshikamehrotra7/generation-of-waste-71694726