when it comes to waste generation, let there be no doubt, that western countries, especially USA is a leader.

with huge consumerism and a culture of use and throw, landfills in america are huge in size.

but one thing is that as they generate waste, they also aggressively manage waste. so only you have san franscisco pushing all grocery shops to ban plastic carry bags, you have the same city cranking upto 80% of recycling among consumer discards, corporations like starbucks looks keenly on green cups, cupholders, etc.

and the local bodies in america also take an aggressive view on wastage and promote several schemes to reduce it. pollution related agencies like environmental protection agency(epa) putting and enforcing stringent norms of managing waste.

but in india the situation is totally different. the neo rich, city urban elite goes jolly trashing away and the suburbs of the city, especially crucial wetlands, getting slammed by pollution.

and an alarming article in timesofindia, points out as below
In what could trigger a major health concern, municipal corporations of Delhi and Mumbai have signed MoUs to use incinerator-based waste disposal technologies now being phased out in Europe and the US for producing cancer-causing pollutants and heavy metals like lead and mercury.

it is interesting to read from von hernandez, the anti-incinerator activist from the Philippines is one of the recipients the prestigious Goldman prize about incinerator.
Since incinerators were being touted as the solution, Von and his colleagues informed local communities that waste incinerators are the largest source of hormone-disrupting dioxins, one of the most toxic chemicals known to science.

when it comes to 'developement', india's urban elite, politicians and officials make sure that they have no clue on how to manage/monitor/regulate the ill effects of this one sided development.