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.