As per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in India, which one of the following statements is correct?

Answer: (c) The Rules provide for exact and elaborate criteria for the identification of sites for landfills and waste processing facilities.

The Rules include detailed criteria for choosing landfill and processing sites.

The idea

The 2016 Rules replaced the municipal waste rules of 2000 with two big changes. The duty starts with the waste generator, who must segregate at source. And the Rules reach beyond municipal limits to every place where people gather.

Generator separates waste: wet, dry, domestic hazardous → Collected separately → Wet waste → compost or biogas → Dry waste → recycling → Only the inert remainder → landfill

Why the others are wrong

(a) Generators must segregate into three streams (wet, dry, domestic hazardous), not five.

(b) The Rules extend beyond urban local bodies — to census towns, SEZs, railways, airports, places of pilgrimage, and more.

The trap

(b) sounds limited and official. The 2016 Rules deliberately widened coverage.

Elimination technique

Option (b) ends with “only” and option (d) says “cannot be moved”. Absolute words such as only, all and cannot usually mark the wrong statement in Environment PYQs.

Also know

Other features: user fees, spot fines for littering, bulk generators must process wet waste on site, and no landfill in hill areas. These Rules have now been replaced: the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 came into force on 1 April 2026 and require four streams: wet, dry, sanitary and special-care waste.