The three-day International Conference on Solid Waste Management (Icon SWM 2014) will be held  at Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University (ANGRAU), Rajendranagar here from Tuesday.

IconSWM, a platform created to bring the customised solutions for sustainable waste management is being organised by the municipal administration and urban development department in association with Centre for Quality Management System (CQMS), Jadhavpur University, Kolkata and International Society of Waste Management, Air & Water (ISWMAW).

The conference will deliberate on various issues related to innovation and implementation in sustainable waste treatment technology in the areas of policy and strategies, technical developments in waste separation and collection, transportation, waste treatment, energy recovery, lifecycle analysis, climate change and business opportunities.

Nearly 800 delegates including state government officials, mayors, councillors, environment planners, consultants would attend the conference.

The per capita of MSW generated daily in the country ranges from about 100-500 gms with an estimated increase of 1 to 1.33 percent annually with an annual generation of nearly 50 million ton.

The average collection efficiency for MSW in Indian cities is nearly 72.5 percent and around 70 percent of the cities lack adequate waste transport facility. There are very few initiatives of energy recovery from wastes, effective composting, recycling and landfill.

Waste dumping is one of the common practices that exists with a handful initiatives of sanitary landfill. The range and complexity of the issues involved in waste management in the country is enormous.

Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy will address the inaugural session and the valedictory session will be addressed by governor ESL Narsimhan on January 30.

The conference will have plenary and technical sessions. Thematic areas of discussion would be on  on municipal, C&D, bio-medical, hazardous and industrial wastes, PPP’s in SWM, case studies on innovative practices.

Rapid economic growth is leading to urbanisation and industrialisation generating waste which is adversely affecting the environment. The percentage of India’s population living in cities and urban areas from 14 percent in 1947 has more than doubled to 31.5 percent (2011).

According to UN’s estimate, about 90 percent of future growth will take place in cities. In 2030, when the global population will rise from the current 6.5 to 8.2 billion people, about 60 percent of the population will live in cities, according to officials.