MCDs mulling ‘engineered landfill sites’ to solve woes

With an aim to dispose of maximum quantity of garbage generated daily in the Capital, the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs) have announced that they would develop at least one “engineered landfill site” in each MCD area. 

The Corporations, which have to chalk out a 10-year long plan, have claimed that if materialised, the move will not only solve garbage dumping menace at the landfill sites but will also help in disposing of over a billion tonne of garbage stored at the four landfill sites of the city. 

“As our sanitary landfill sites have overflowed, we cannot dump more garbage there. We have been looking for new places for new sites so we could dispose of the city’s garbage efficiently. We have asked Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for new lands in all three Corporation so we could put forward our plan,” said Vijay Prakash Pandey, Leader of the House of North MCD.

The Corporations, under their proposed plan, have claimed 100 per cent Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) efficiency with ensuring collection of waste from door-to-door. Segregated garbage collection, mechanical sweeping of roads and hygenic/efficient transportation to the landfill sites are also under consideration. The plan has included integrated process, mainly garbage recycling and treatment facilities. Landfill sites will be equipped with new technology for collection, odour reduction, processing and treatment of solid waste, reclamation and extraction from existing sites and their conversion into “engineered landfill sites” too.

In order to execute the plan, MCDs have been mulling to construct waste-to-energy plants which will run by Refused Derived Fuel (RFD). The agencies, with World Bank assistance, has also announced of carrying feasibility study of gas recovery and reuse from the sites and for this an MoU has been signed with GAIL. Under gas recovery and reuse initiative, Methane will be extracted from garbage 

and will be converted into CNG. 

Under treatment facilities construction of compost plants and construction and demolition (C&D) waste processing units are also on the cards. The Corporations have claimed to work on at least eight compost and C&D waste plants across the city.

“As city’s sanitary landfill sites have got saturated due to multiple-time more dumping of garbage than their actual capacity, we will not be able to dump more garbage in the near future. In such circumstances we will have to develop new sites having 85 to 100 per cent capacity to dispose of dumped material daily. 

Additionally, we need to dispose of stored material from the existing sites so we could reclaim the lands and could develop additional “engineered landfill sites”. To achieve the goal we have been working on Delhi Cleanliness and Sanitation Bylaws also,” said Pandey.

Notably, the city produces nearly 8,000 metric tonne garbage daily which goes to four sites — Narela-Bawana, Bhalaswa, Ghazipur and Okhla. Due to lack of advanced technology, the civic bodies can only dispose of nearly 10 to 15 per cent of the dumped garbage daily which in turn causes piling up of garbage. With excess dumping, heights of the sites have touched 70-metre from the approved height. The dumped materials not only prove hazardous for the health but also pose a challenge to the agencies in proper disposal.