Household Solid Waste Management and the Composting-Utilisation Gap in Mawlai Kyntonmassar, Shillong, Meghalaya, Northeast India

Abstract

Household solid waste (HSW) constitutes the dominant fraction of municipal solid waste in the hill towns of Northeast India, yet the household is the level at which waste management is least well characterised. This study examined HSW generation, segregation, disposal, recycling and composting practice in Mawlai Kyntonmassar, a peri-urban locality of the Shillong Urban Agglomeration in East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya. A structured questionnaire was administered to a simple random sample of 127 of the 402 owner-occupied households (31.6%) across the locality\'s three blocks, of which 122 returned complete responses. Households generated an estimated 1.21 kg of waste per day, equivalent to approximately 0.22 kg per capita per day and about 0.48 t d?¹ for the locality as a whole; 78.7% reported generating plastic, paper and organic waste together. Municipal collection served 45.9% of households and private operators a further 25.5%, while 17.2% burned and 11.4% openly dumped their waste. Although 59.5% of households reported segregating waste on an organic–inorganic basis, only 48.7% disposed of it separately, and the collection fleet consolidates segregated streams into a single vehicle, nullifying source separation. The central finding concerns composting. While 73.1% of households composted organic waste, overwhelmingly at home (83.2%), only 35.5% reported converting that compost into manure and only 29.0% actually used the manure they produced; 76.6% did not sell compost at all. Household composting in Mawlai Kyntonmassar therefore functions principally as a volume-reduction strategy rather than as nutrient recovery, and the productive potential identified in the study\'s premise remains largely unrealised. Awareness of waste management rules stood at 63.0%, and 77.6% of households expressed willingness to pay for improved collection, two-thirds of them at Rs 100 per month - a latent revenue of roughly Rs 4.5 lakh per year for the locality. Respondents identified awareness building (42.9%) and stricter penalties (31.1%) as the highest priorities. We conclude that the binding constraint in Mawlai Kyntonmassar is not household willingness but the absence of a segregated collection chain and of any downstream demand for household compost, and we propose measures to close both gaps.

Introduction

Household solid waste (HSW) is the domestic component of municipal solid waste and consists mainly of plastics, paper, glass, metals, organic matter and wood. Poor management of household waste has serious environmental, health and socio-economic consequences, including pollution, ecosystem degradation and climate change. In Shillong, around 196 tonnes of solid waste are generated daily, with most being transported to the Marten landfill, where inadequate segregation reduces opportunities for recycling and composting. Outside the Shillong Municipal Board area, waste management is overseen by the Dorbar Shnong (traditional village council), making community institutions central to waste management practices.

Previous studies show that although organic waste dominates household waste streams in many regions, practices such as waste segregation, recycling and composting vary widely. Awareness alone does not ensure effective waste management, and little attention has been given to what happens to compost after it is produced. This study therefore examined household solid waste management in Mawlai Kyntonmassar, focusing particularly on the fate and potential use of the organic waste fraction.

The study was conducted in Mawlai Kyntonmassar, a residential locality in Shillong comprising about 402 owner-occupied households. Waste management is administered by the Dorbar Shnong, but waste collection is limited to a single vehicle that mixes segregated waste during transport. Population growth, inadequate collection services, and practices such as open dumping, burning and burying waste have increased environmental concerns.

A simple random sample of 127 households was selected, with complete responses obtained from 122 households. Data were collected using structured questionnaires covering household characteristics, waste generation, segregation, disposal methods, recycling, composting and awareness of waste management practices. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the responses. Estimated household waste generation averaged 1.21 kg per household per day, equivalent to 0.22 kg per capita per day, with the locality producing approximately 0.48 tonnes of household waste daily (about 177 tonnes annually).

The surveyed households were predominantly medium-sized (4–7 members), with nearly half living in independent houses. Household heads represented a mix of self-employed, government-employed, private-sector workers and unemployed individuals.

Results showed that 78.7% of households generated a mixed waste stream containing plastic, paper and organic waste, while only small proportions generated mainly organic, plastic or paper waste. Daily waste production was generally low, with 45.9% of households producing less than 1 kg per day, 37.7% producing 1–2 kg, and 16.4% producing more than 2 kg. The estimated per capita waste generation was lower than that reported for the Shillong Urban Agglomeration because the study focused solely on household waste rather than commercial or institutional sources.

Overall, the study highlights that although household waste generation in Mawlai Kyntonmassar is relatively modest, ineffective segregation and collection practices limit resource recovery. Strengthening waste segregation, compost utilisation, recycling systems and community-led waste management through the Dorbar Shnong could significantly improve environmental sustainability and reduce pressure on Shillong's landfill.

Conclusion

Households in Mawlai Kyntonmassar generate a modest and largely mixed waste stream of approximately 0.22 kg per capita per day, of which the organic fraction is composted by nearly three-quarters of households. On the strength of that figure alone the locality would appear to be a model of domestic resource recovery. It is not. The compost that these households produce is converted to manure with any regularity by only a third of them, used by fewer than three in ten, and sold by almost none. Household composting in Mawlai Kyntonmassar is a volume-reduction practice, not a nutrient-recovery practice, and the study\'s founding premise - that domestic waste here could be converted into profitable compost - is at present unfulfilled not because households will not compost but because the compost has nowhere to go. The same structure governs segregation. Approximately half of households separate their waste, and a single collection vehicle remixes it. Both failures lie downstream of the household, in the collection chain and in the absence of any market for the recovered material, and both are therefore susceptible to institutional rather than behavioural remedy. The Dorbar Shnong holds the collection authority and the fee-setting legitimacy required; the households have already stated, at a rate of 77.6%, their willingness to fund the necessary service. What remains is to build the two links that are missing - a segregated collection round, and an offtake channel for household compost. Future work should weigh a sorted sample of the household stream to replace the self-reported composition data, and should test whether the composting–utilisation gap documented here recurs in other localities of the Shillong Urban Agglomeration.

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Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Anamika Upadhaya, Wallambok Shangdiar. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.