Fire at Bandhwari landfill site points to untreated waste hazard

Gurugram: Fire at Bandhwari landfill site highlights that not having waste management in place is resulting in dangers piling up at the 30-acre landfill site nestled in Aravallis.

The fire was caused on Monday. The main causes of the fire were attributed to the extreme heat caused due to the summer that led the methane gas present in the garbage to catch fire.

Despite the assurances that waste at the landfill site will be treated, it is expected that there are 25 lakh tonnes of garbage of Gurugram and Faridabad combined dumped at the site.

The extreme dangers get further added to it has come to fore that leachate (a poisonous liquid substance that emanates from the garbage) has again begun to percolate outside the landfill.

Even though the problem was solved on temporary measures, the urgency of finding a long term solution has again been raised with problems resurfacing.

After repeated complaints, there can finally be a solution to the challenge of the toxic underground water table at Bandhwari and the areas around it caused due to the leachate of the presence of the 30-acre-landfill site.

To tackle this issue, a leachate treatment plant was expected to be set up at an area. At present more than 1,000 tonnes of garbage from Gurugram and Faridabad is discarded daily at the area that is nestled in the green belt of Aravallis.

Based on the proposal, the plant will treat more than 100 kiloliters of leachate daily. It will be set up the Chinese company Eco green that has also been entrusted with the responsibility of recycling the waste in the area into the creation of power and other useful forms.

As the layout of the projects, works presently are being undertaken.

Commissioned in 2008, Bandhwari landfill was created with an objective of segregation and recycling of waste generated from Gurgaon and Faridabad.

Set up with an investment of Rs 300 crores the was to operationalise a power plant and plastic recycling at the site. After laying defunct for more than four-and-half years the recycling unit was again set up after a lot of protests.

There is criticism that work at the plant has not been carried out the pace as was promised and the waste continues to be dumped as it was done earlier.

To reduce the amount of waste being dumped at the site the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram is encouraging composting among various residential and commercial sites.