Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

 There is evidence that hazardous compounds are finding their way to safe landfills meant only for non-toxic municipal solid wastes (MSW). The source of this contamination could be household hazardous waste (HHW), which often contains a wide variety of highly toxic ingredients like solvents, heavy metals, acids, bases, oxidizers, reactive chemicals etc. Many of these compounds do not degrade with time and enter the food chain spontaneously and are responsible for a variety of health issues such as hormone disruption, reproductive disorders, learning disabilities, heart diseases etc. This paper reviews various issues related to MSW and its possible impact on the environment. Several literatures, cited reveal that there is policy and institutional failures in managing the MSW sustainably. There are hazardous substances mixed with MSW which are subsequently getting dumped in secured landfills. These hazardous substances later not only degrade the SLF but also pollute the surrounding environment. Contaminated leachates often take various pathways, like air, soil, water and vegetation and find their way into food chain. This review recommends few alternate measures to strengthen the policy. Organizing campaigns, strengthening the segregation system at household scale and establishment of temporary collection points/centers, application of spatial database and analysis tool to integrate various spatial attributes related to soil, water, natural vegetation, proximity to habitation etc. for establishing an SLF.

Keywords: Household hazardous waste, environment, toxic substances, municipal solid waste.