Assessment of solid waste management practices in budgam town, jammu and kashmir: Trends, composition, and infrastructure gaps

Budgam town, which is quickly becoming more urbanized in Jammu and Kashmir, is producing a lot more municipal solid waste (MSW) because the population is growing and people's consumption patterns are changing. This study gives a full picture of how Budgam handles its MSW based on field data collected from 13 municipal wards through household surveys, waste quantification, site inspections, and stakeholder interviews done between January and May 2024. The results show that the amount of waste produced every day has gone up sharply, from 6.5 metric tons in 2022 to 8.8 metric tons in 2024. This is mostly because more homes and businesses are being built. Waste composition analysis shows that biodegradable materials make up most of the waste (about 60–65%), with food waste alone making up 40.3%. This shows that decentralized composting interventions could work. However, the lack of a scientifically managed landfill, the low level of household segregation (12.5%), and the poor infrastructure, on the other hand, pose serious risks to the environment and public health. The study suggests a multi-pronged approach that includes wardlevel composting units, material recovery facilities, and community awareness programs, and strict enforcement of source segregation in line with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. These results give municipal planners and policymakers a data-driven basis for improving waste management in small cities like Budgam in a way that is both sustainable and open to everyone.