wastelands-of-india-heres-how-metros-manage-their-trash

For days starting Jan 28, a massive fire swept through Mumbai’s Deonar dump, a 90-year-old landfill that should have long been shut. It’s a similar story across India’s metros — of poor urban waste management leading to mounds of refuse, some as tall as five-storey buildings.

Mumbai

An ageing mound bears the brunt

Daily Waste: 9,600 Tonnes
No. of landfills: 3 – Deonar, Mulund and Kanjurmarg
Agency responsible: The Shiv Sena-held Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

Where is city’s garbage going?

The deadline for clearing the garbage set by the newly appointed BBMP commissioner Rajneesh Goel ended on September 3rd, 2012.  But where is the garbage going, considering only Mandoor landfill is operational right now?

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is there any other Waste to Energy plant in India?

NO, the Okhla Waste to Energy facility is the first large scale integrated waste management project ever being set up in the country, aiming for a sustainable solution taking MSW through an environment friendly combustion process to generate clean and renewable energy from MSW.

Landfills vs. Waste to Energy Facilities

 

• As waste decomposes in a landfill, it produces methane.

• Methane is a greenhouse gas, mostly emitted from decomposing waste in landfills, which is 20 – 25 times the potency of carbon dioxide and is ranked as a dangerous contributor to climate change.

•  Methane gases are also harmful for the ozone layer.  If the ozone layer gets thinner it increases the risk of skin cancer.

• Keeping waste out of landfills means more open space and less risk of leaking toxins into groundwater and releasing harmful air emissions.

• The risk of ground water contamination could be a public health hazard as the groundwater could be used produce drinking water.

• No methane is produced from WtE facilities, nor does the risk exists to pollute the groundwater.

• Waste to Energy facilities avoid the production of methane while producing significantly more electricity from each ton of waste compared to landfills.

• Further GHG reductions are realized by the avoidance of carbon emissions from long-haul transportation methods used to transport garbage to distant landfills.

•  Waste used as fuel in WtE facilities is typically generated in the surrounding area.

• Waste to Energy facilities also recycle metal that would have otherwise been land filled. In total, creating energy from waste is simply a better solution.