INTRODUCTION

Marble occur abundant in nature. It is used and mined many places in the world
since early time. Around 90% of the world's production of marble comes from India
and approx 85% of India's production is received from Rajasthan and almost all
mining and processing activities are concentrated around Makrana.Waste marble
powder is generated as a by-product during cutting of marble. The waste is
approximately in the range of 20% of the total marble handled. The amount of
waste marble powder generated at the study site every year is very substantial
being in the range of 250-400 tones. The marble cutting plants are dumping the
powder in any nearby pit or vacant spaces, near their unit although notified areas
have been marked for dumping. This leads to serious environmental and dust
pollution and occupation of vast area of land especially after the powder dries up

The industry involves mining, cutting and Tiling units for the production of Slabs,
tiles and strips for floors and articles. The waste is produced at each and every step.
The marble industry is totally different from other industries. Because of the real
fact that the marble is a "Dimensional Stone", it means that the Marble stone is sold
by the size not by the weight.

1.1
2

GENERATION OF MARBLE SLURRY

In general there are two types of waste named as quarry/ cutting/ sawing
from in-situ stone site and polishing waste from construction sites. During
the processing of stone, the raw stone block is cut as demanded either
into tiles or slabs of various thickness (usually 2 or 4 cm), using diamond
blades. Water is showered on blades while stone blocks are cut into
sheets of varying thickness, to cool the blades and absorb the dust
produced during the cutting operation.

MARBLE WASTE
Types of Waste generated
Waste generated during Quarrying
Waste generated during Processing