Chapter 9: Social Enterprise–Government–Private (SEGP) Partnership for Municipal Solid Waste Management in India

Absence of effective waste management measures leads to multidimensional consequences like environmental pollution, spreading of epidemics and land degradation. Along with an increase in waste generation, there is no corresponding increase in waste management measures in India. Innovative methodologies are required for addressing waste management and related issues. This chapter intends to develop an innovative waste management model for India. The authors reviewed the literature on waste management models across the globe with a focus to devise a waste management model suitable for India. The authors proffer a six-level Social Enterprise–Government–Private (SEGP) partnership for municipal solid waste (MSW) management. The focuses of various levels of the model are the reduction of plastic use and waste minimization, helping the poor, waste sorting at source and transferring it to colored waste bins, development of waste collection infrastructure, revenue generation from waste and development of waste management infrastructure. The revenue generated from the SEGP model will overcome the funds’ deficiency-related problems of the government for waste management. The model intends to address the core objective of MSW management with a focus on solving a set of social challenges, such as poverty alleviation, unemployment, pollution and contamination of rivers and oceans.