Opportunities For Entrepreneurs in Household Solid Waste Management In Smart City Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

The research paper examines the role of entrepreneurs in solid waste management sector at developing smart city Dharamshala of Himachal Pradesh. The day to day human activities produce household wastes i.e. solid and liquid, among which solid waste is the one which needs to be managed very carefully. The research was conducted at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh which is a renowned tourist place. The survey was based on stratified systematic random sampling as the data was collected from every ward of Dharamshala city. The primary data was collected by circulating a questionnaire to the households and secondary data was collected from secondary data resources available both online and offline. The findings revealed that people dispose their household waste by themselves and there are no garbage collection services initiated by municipal corporation Dharamshala. The study explores the opportunities for new entrepreneurs in the field of household solid waste management, since Door to Door (D2D) services are not provided for garbage collection. These entrepreneurs can earn by garbage collection as most of people find no time in disposing their household waste to government authorized dumping sites or government run electric dustbins. The earnings by D2D services can vary between Rs. 2,57,970to Rs.10,97,800. The study reveals that most of the people dispose their household waste at open dumping sites or in plastic bins provided by government instead of government run electric dustbins. The reason behind is lack of awareness in using government run electric dustbins, choked underground dustbins and not following the practice of waste separation. If, municipality Dharamshala would start disposal plants, problem of poor waste management can be solved better.