Delhi govt to set up waste-to-energy plant at Ghazipur Mandi

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has planned to set up a waste-to-energy plant at the Ghazipur Mandi in a bid to recycle the garbage collected from this wholesale market. The government will also redevelop the mandi as promised in the budget this year.

"The plant will come up at the Murga Mandi and this will help us to recycle all the garbage generated from the mandi," said an official.

Currently, Delhi has three WTE plants in Ghazipur, Bawana, and Okhla. Of the 10,050-tonne waste generated in the capital, 50 per cent or 4,900 tonnes of waste is treated every day in these three WTE plants. But a calculation made by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) shows that the proposed WTE plant will be able to treat only 10 per cent of the total waste generated in the city.

Delhi generates 10,050 tonnes of waste per day. Of this, 50 per cent or 4,900 tonnes of waste is treated every day in three waste-to-energy plants. To calculate the amount of waste that the proposed plant can treat, we looked at the waste that can be treated, said a source at CSE. On an average, about 10 per cent of the waste is expected to continue to be recovered for recycling by the informal sector, 65 per cent could be treated using either biological or thermal treatment technologies and the remaining 25 per cent is an inert material that cannot be treated using either biological or thermal treatment technologies.

The Delhi government will also make shades at the Ghazipur Mandi which is a part of the redevelopment plan for the Ghazipur Mandi. "We have planned it in the budget to develop all the mandis in Delhi and work will be started from the Ghazipur Mandi. We think that by the end of this year the work will be completed," said an official.