Sustainable Solid Waste Management: Challenges, Opportunities and Threats

By Dr. Rajeev Pratap Singh, Prof.Amitava Rakshit | Banaras Hindu University

Learners enrolled: 50

ABOUT THE COURSE:

Understanding the types and volumes of waste produced from different sources is a crucial step in the complex process of managing wastes in general. The course is designed to introduce the concepts and fundamentals of integrated solid waste management covering theoretical and practical aspects. Rules and regulations pertaining to handling for municipal solid waste, biomedical waste, fly ash, nuclear waste, hazardous waste and E-waste in India. This will act as precursor in order to shape appropriate waste management practices, adherence to the Swachh Bharat Mission involving best management available practices and regulatory options.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Diploma/Under Graduate/Post Graduate

PREREQUISITES: 10+2

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Core
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	8 weeks
Category :	Environmental Sciences
Credit Points :	2
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	18 Aug 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	18 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	29 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	25 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 7.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1:

Solid Waste :definition, types and sources
Current status of Solid Waste and associated challenges and threats

Week 2:

Guidelines and rules associated with SWM
Swachh Bharat Mission, and the Smart Cities Program
Regulation on Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste Management

Week 3:

Functional elements of SWM
Material flow in society and circular economy associated with SWM

Week 4:

Various Solid Waste Management Strategies: pro and cons
Open burning, Incineration and landfilling

Week 5:

Various approached for agricultural residue management
Composting and Biochemical Processes for Waste Treatment

Week 6:

Different waste to energy approaches from Solid Waste: An Overview
Plastic Waste Management and the Governing Rules

Week 7:

Biomedical waste management : a brief preview
Legal Aspect of Biomedical waste management

Week 8:

Electronic Waste (E-Waste) Management: Issues and Global Perspectives
Insights into E-Waste Management Rules 2016 and the Associated Challenges

Books and references

1.William A Worrell and P. Aarne Veslind Solid Waste Engineering, 2nd Edition (SI Edition) Cengage Learning, 2012 (ISBN-13: 978-1-4390-6217-3)

2. George Tchobanoglous, Hilary Theisen and Samuel A Vigil, Integrated Solid Waste management, Tata McGraw Hill

3. Manual on Solid Waste Management, prepared by The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization(CPHEEO), India

4. MSW Management Rules 2016, Govt. of India, available online at CPCB website.

5. Electronic Waste Management Rules 2016, Govt. of India, available online at CPCB website

6. Circular Economy in Municipal Solid and liquid waste, Government of India, available on https://mohua.gov.in.

Instructor bio

Dr. Rajeev Pratap Singh

Banaras Hindu University

Dr. Rajeev Pratap Singh, Associate Professor in Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi works in an area of waste management and have worked on various kinds of waste i.e. fly ash, sewage sludge, tannery sludge, palm oil mill waste, contained water irrigation etc. Many publications in reputed journals on waste management and similar topics. Dr Rajeev Pratap Singh have received several international awards, like – ‘Green Talent’ award from Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany; Prosper.Net Scopus Young Scientist award, DST Young Scientist Award etc. Also, Dr Singh have co-authored 8 books and more than 50 highly cited research and review articles on different aspect of environmental science. Recently, availed Water Advanced Research and Innovation (WARI) Fellowship, a fellowship supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF), University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the Robert Daugherty Water for Food Institute (DWFI). Dr Singh is also a Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Science (NAAS), New Delhi. Dr Singh has also been awarded with Prof Archana Sharma Memorial Award 2020-2023 by ISCA, Kolkata at 108th Indian Science Congress, Nagpur on 7th January, 2023. Recently, Dr. Singh has been awarded with Prof.C. N. R. Rao Award for Excellence in Scientific Research by Banaras Hindu University.

Prof.Amitava Rakshit

Prof. Amitava Rakshit, an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus is presently Professor at the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University .Dr.Rakshit worked in the Department of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal in administration and extension roles. He has visited Scandinavia, Europe, Africa, UAE and Bangladesh pertaining to his research work and presentation. He was awarded with TWAS Nxt Fellow (Italy), Biovision Nxt Fellow (France), Darwin Now Bursary(British Council,UK),Young achiever award , Award for Excellence in Education and Research in Soil Science by Indian Society of Soil Science and Best Teacher’s Award at UG and PG level by BHU- ICAR ,state level by Uttar Pradesh Academy of Agricultural Sciences and at national level by All India Agricultural Students Association in 2009, 2012,2018 and 2019 respectively. He is serving as review college member of British Ecological Society, London since 2011, member of Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition of FAO, Rome and Commission on Ecosystem Management of IUCN. He has published 120 research papers, 55 book chapters, 28 popular articles, three manuals and authored thirty nine books from Springer, Elsevier and CRC Press.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: 25 October 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 6 assignments out of the total 8 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup. It will have the logos of INI and BHU.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- INI Team