Solid waste management and its role in mitigating environmental degradation with special reference to recycling of wood wastes

Due to rapid industrialization, urbanization and population growth in India, solid waste generation has been increased to a large extent. In recent years,  disposal of solid wastes has caused serious environmental  hazards and economic problems.  India generates 1.45MT of wastes per day at present. Annual increase in overall quantity of solid waste is assessed at about 5% and nearly three-fourths of the waste is generated in urban areas. Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) amount is expected to increase significantly in the near future as the country strives to attain an industrialized nation status by the year 2020. When solid waste is disposed off on open lands or in low-lying landfill areas, it causes an adverse impact on the environment, such as ground water contamination, generation of inflammable gases, acidity to surrounding soil, release of green house gases, etc. Huge quantity of wood wastes generated through forestry and agricultural practices, paper pulp industries, wood-based industries, and many agro-industries also pose an environmental pollution problem. Sadly, much of the lignocellulose waste is often disposed by biomass burning, which is not restricted to developing countries alone, but is considered a global phenomenon. This chapter discusses the environmental impacts of improper solid waste management, structure and sources of waste generation and regulations and also deals with the details of waste processing techniques with special reference to the low-cost methods of converting wood wastes and residues from plywood and other wood-based units into useful products.