Harajyoti Mazumdar, Pranjal Rajbongshi, Pinku Kalita, Mridusmita Das, Silpishikha Mahanta and Debabrata Choudhury
Solid waste problem and its management is one of the major issues now a day for the environment. Different wastes were reported but in variable percentages in both selected rural and urban areas. Street sweeping, grass cutting, drain and public toilet cleaning were found to be more in rural areas than urban ones. Removal of dead bodies, garden wastes and bulky wastes also contribute to solid waste which was mainly observed in urban areas. Different components of solid wastage do not show any significant differences (p=0.397) in both rural and urban areas. Components such as paper, plastic, vegetables, aluminum, wood etc were mostly found in rural areas than urban ones. However different types of wastes found in selected regions shows that there was a significant differences recorded (p=0.047). These include domestic, industrial, institutional, street wastes which were again found to be more dominant in rural areas than urban areas. Individual houses on selected localities in both areas observed establishment of significant differences (p=0.031) in compositions of solid wastages. Different wastages dumped nearby localities or burnt in other places include paper, glass, metals, textile, plastics, wood, food wastes etc. This study observed that solid wastages are still a major problem in our rural areas. However, its percentages are decline from earlier years due to its proper managements.
