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Top1. Introduction
Stone and marble industry of India is one of the oldest ornamental and building material that has history dating back from 3200 BC. These dimensional stones have left deep imprints in the architectural heritage of country. A number of temples, forts, and places of ancient Indian civilization have been carved out locally. These stone architecture has even contributed to the present era with modern buildings like the Presidential house, Parliamentary house and Supreme Court made from a high-quality sandstone from Rajasthan. The increasing fame of Indian stone has forced the demand for its extraction, these stones are also being exported to many countries like USA, Germany, France, etc. Due to its high demand and extraction at the same time has led to tons of waste deposits. Due to the lack of proper waste management has led to the waste being dumped on open lands is causing severe threat to the environment in Rajasthan and in nearby areas of the state. Taking note of the situation, and being promoted by a local NGO (Non-government Organization) and other environmental organizations, the Supreme Court ordered a complete ban on marble mining in 2002, over the whole state of Rajasthan. But this ban did not last long, due to various reasons; some of them being: concerns of the state government for development activity, fear of un-employment, changes in the policy and permission regimes.
Over the past decades, there has been a huge rise of concern for environmental protection. Human activity has brought harmful effects on the environment in several ways, and it is a source of concern to deal with issues such as environmental sustainability, preservation of natural resources for the future generations, energy efficiency, change in the climate and many more. Some countries have already undertaken environmental safeguard policies, wither trying to reduce the pollution emissions by minimizing the usage of non-renewable resources. Building activities is the major cause of demand for construction materials. The need for raw materials for building makes quarrying activity strategically important for global economy. Construction materials either aggregates, or dimensional stones are used in the development of all buildup environments, such as housing, building bridges, other civil engineering works like local hospitals, schools, roads, railways and other infrastructures.
Machining waste require careful management to ensure the long-term stability of storage and disposal facilities and to prevent and minimize air, water, soil contamination (Rankin, 2011). The inappropriate or unsafe management of waste at processing units continues to generate opposition from local communities, the general public, and non-government organizations and has contributed to the negative public perception on marble processing’s. The technological advances and changes in the regulations have resulted in the significant changes in the waste management practices over the last 10 to 20 years, processing wastes at modern units are better managed than that were in the past (Bhargav Prajwal, Gupta, Kishan, & Mali, n.d.; Aureli, Medei, Supino, & Travaglini, 2016; Jasgurpreet Chohan, Rupinder, & Kamaljit Boparai, 2016; Zyl, Sassoon, Digby, Fleury, & Kyeyune, 2002; White, Sarpong, & Ndrecaj, 2015; Finkbeiner, Schau, Lehmann, & Traverso, 2010). Waste management plans are developed before a processing plant is constructed, and the reclamation of waste dumps and tailing ponds are incorporated into the design of the new processing plant.