Why in the News?
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, replacing the SWM Rules, 2016. The rules will come into force from April 1, 2026.
About Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026
- Focus on Circular Economy, Extended Producer Responsibility, and scientific waste management
- Strengthen compliance through the Polluter Pays Principle
- Emphasis on source segregation, decentralised processing, and digital monitoring
Key Provisions
- Four stream segregation at source
- Mandatory segregation into Wet Waste, Dry Waste, Sanitary Waste, and Special Care Waste
- Wet Waste to be processed through composting or bio methanation
- Dry Waste to be sent to Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for recycling
- Sanitary and Special Care Waste to be collected by authorised agencies
- Environmental compensation
- Imposed for non compliance, false reporting, forged documents, or operating without registration
- Guidelines issued by Central Pollution Control Board
- Compensation levied by State Pollution Control Boards or Pollution Control Committees
- Bulk Waste Generators and EBWGR
- Bulk Waste Generators defined as entities generating 100 kg waste per day, or area above 20,000 sq m, or water use above 40,000 litres per day
- Includes government offices, PSUs, institutions, commercial establishments, and housing societies
- Introduction of Extended Bulk Waste Generator Responsibility (EBWGR)
- Mandatory on site wet waste processing where feasible
- Bulk generators account for nearly 30 percent of total solid waste
- Online monitoring and land allocation
- Creation of a Centralised Online Portal for tracking waste generation, collection, transport, processing, disposal, and legacy waste remediation
- Online registration, authorisation, and reporting made mandatory
- Graded buffer zone norms for waste processing facilities above 5 tonnes per day
- Material Recovery Facilities and local bodies
- Formal recognition of MRFs for sorting of solid waste
- Local bodies responsible for collection, segregation, and transportation
- MRFs may act as collection points for e waste, sanitary waste, and special care waste
- Local bodies encouraged to generate Carbon Credits
- Refuse Derived Fuel usage
- Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) defined as fuel from high calorific non recyclable waste
- Cement plants and waste to energy plants mandated to use RDF
- Fuel substitution target raised from 5 percent to 15 percent over six years
- Landfills and legacy waste
- Landfilling restricted to inert and non recoverable waste only
- Higher landfill fees for unsegregated waste
- Mandatory mapping, biomining, and bioremediation of legacy dumpsites
- Annual landfill audits by SPCBs with District Collector oversight
- Hilly areas and islands
- Levy of User Fees on tourists
- Regulation of tourist inflow based on waste handling capacity
- Decentralised wet waste processing by hotels and restaurants
- Designated collection points for non biodegradable waste
| [2019] As per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in India, which one of the following statements is correct?
(a) Waste generator has to segregate waste into five categories (b) The Rules are applicable to notified urban local bodies, notified towns and all industrial townships only (c) The Rules provide for exact and elaborate criteria for the identification of sites for landfills and waste processing facilities (d) It is mandatory on the part of waste generator that the waste generated in one district cannot be moved to another district. |
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