Japanese delegation visits Ghazipur landfill site

A high-level Japanese delegation on Tuesday visited the Ghazipur landfill site, spread over nearly 30 hectares in east Delhi, as part of its aim to understand the waste management systems in India.

The 11-member delegation, arrived in Delhi yesterday and met with East Delhi Mayor Satya Sharma and other senior civic officials.

“They visited the Ghazipur landfill site in the morning and are flying out of the country tonight. As of now, no partnership has been planned, but if a proposal later comes from their way, to improve our waste disposal mechanism, we may look into that,” Sharma said.

The delegation was led by Sato Izumi, lawyer from Daiichi Tokyo Bar Association, and included high-level officials of different companies who wish to understand the waste management systems in the country, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation said.

“Yesterday (Monday), they were briefed about waste generation, the process of its collection and disposal. The delegation was keen on knowing the model of waste management,” the Mayor said.

“It was informed about the Ghazipur landfill site, construction and demolition plant, waste-to-energy plant, pilot project of extraction of methane at the landfill site and ways to collect primary and secondary waste,” the Mayor said.

Ghazipur landfill site was commissioned in 1984, and per day 2,500 tonne of garbage is dumped there. A total of 130 lakh tonne of garbage is currently dumped at the site and average height of the dump is 50 metre.

Solid waste from the landfill site would be used in the construction of Delhi-Meerut Expressway, a section of the NH-24, EDMC said.

The move aims at curbing pollution in the city, and Sharma said the EDMC House has cleared the proposal and work on this project would begin later this month.

“The delegation was also apprised of the various challenges being faced by the EDMC, such as no engineered dumping site, stray dogs, high density, non-segregation of waste, high waste generation,” it said.

In order to comply with the new Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, EDMC is chalking out a new plan that would further improve the waste management process in the region.