Municipal Solid Waste Management Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The answer is Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

SAIL's Bhilai Steel Plant was reported in 2017 as set to be the first industry in the country to use plasma technology to dispose of hazardous waste, such as PCB-contaminated waste, under a project with UNIDO and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. That is the claim the question is built on.

Madras Rubber Factory, Madras Fertilizers and BSNL have no such plasma waste disposal project linked to them, so they are the distractors. The 'first' claim depends on that report: plasma pyrolysis units had earlier been set up at institutions such as hospitals, so the question's wording is a matter of how 'industry' is read.

Answer: A

The rules were notified under The Environment Protection Act, 1986.

The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 were issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in exercise of its powers under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. They replaced the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, made under the same Act, and extended the rules beyond municipal areas.

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 deals with water pollution. The Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964 and the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 are state laws that govern local bodies, which carry out the rules but are not their source.

Answer: B

The earthworms are A and B, so the answer is Only A and B.

Eisenia fetida (the red wiggler) and Lumbricus rubellus (the red earthworm) are surface-dwelling (epigeic) earthworms that feed on decaying organic matter, breed quickly and tolerate crowding, which makes them the standard species for vermicomposting. Eudrilus eugeniae and Perionyx excavatus are also widely used in India.

Caenorhabditis elegans is a tiny nematode (roundworm) used in laboratory research, not an earthworm. Platyhelminthes is the phylum of flatworms, such as tapeworms and flukes. Options including C or D are therefore wrong.

Answer: D

Bioplastic is made from maize starch.

Bioplastics are made from renewable biological sources. Starch from maize (corn) is a common raw material, either used directly as thermoplastic starch or fermented to lactic acid and polymerised into polylactic acid (PLA), which is biodegradable.

Nylon, Teflon and polyethylene are conventional synthetic plastics made from petrochemicals.

Answer: C

A plant for disposing of solid wastes is an incinerator.

An incinerator burns solid waste at high temperature, reducing its volume to ash and gases; it is used especially for hospital and hazardous wastes.

A generator produces electricity, a heater produces heat for warming, and a smelter extracts metal from ore. None is built to dispose of waste.

Incineration reduces waste volume by about 90%, but it must be fitted with pollution controls because burning waste can release dioxins and other harmful gases.

Answer: D

The biodegradable pollutant is sewage.

Sewage consists largely of organic matter that bacteria and other decomposers break down into simple, harmless substances, though in large amounts it depletes oxygen in water.

DDT is a persistent pesticide that resists breakdown and accumulates along food chains; plastic lasts for centuries; and asbestos is a mineral fibre that does not decompose. All three are non-biodegradable.

Answer: C

Of the options, the biological method is the sanitary landfill.

In a sanitary landfill, waste is spread in layers, compacted and covered with soil, and its organic part is broken down by micro-organisms (largely anaerobic bacteria), producing landfill gas and stabilised material. The decomposition is biological.

Incineration and pyrolysis are thermal methods that burn or heat waste, and shredding is a mechanical process that only reduces its size.

Answer: C

The pollutant that is not biodegradable is Insecticides.

Many insecticides, especially the organochlorines such as DDT, are synthetic compounds that microorganisms break down only very slowly. They persist in soil and water for years and accumulate in food chains (biomagnification), which is why they are classed as non-biodegradable pollutants.

Paper, food and plant waste, and wood and cellulose are natural organic materials. Bacteria and fungi decompose them into simple substances within weeks to months, so they are biodegradable.

Answer: B

The keyed answer is infectious laboratory waste.

Under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, microbiology, biotechnology and other clinical laboratory waste, such as cultures, stocks and specimens of microorganisms, must be pre-treated on site by sterilization or disinfection before it leaves the laboratory, because it carries pathogens in high concentration. Only then does it go for incineration.

Expired medicines are returned to the manufacturer or incinerated, with no disinfection step. Sharps and glassware are decontaminated as part of their own treatment at the facility, but the category the rules single out for disinfection before disposal is the infectious laboratory waste.

Answer: B

The Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 specify 4 categories.

The 2016 rules sort waste by colour into four categories:

• Yellow: anatomical waste, soiled dressings, expired medicines and laboratory waste, mostly for incineration.
• Red: contaminated recyclable plastics such as tubing and catheters.
• White (translucent): sharps.
• Blue: glassware and metallic body implants.

The earlier 1998 rules used ten categories. None of 5, 6 or 8 corresponds to either set.