Another landfill for city? Greens say not a solution

Gurgaon: After the Haryana urban local bodies minister (ULB) Friday said he would take up the proposal for a second landfill site with the CM, city-based environmentalists Saturday said a new site for temporary waste dumping would harm the environment. They claimed it would not be a step in the right direction for ensuring waste management in the city.
On a visit to the Bandhwari landfill on Friday, ULB minister Kamal Gupta asked Gurgaon mayor Madhu Azad to submit a proposal for a new landfill site so he could discuss it with the CM. Azad even suggested an area in Faridabad, 4km away from Bandhwari.
Environmentalists, however, said that in-situ composting is a much better way to ensure solid waste management.
“Nobody needs a landfill. Nobody needs waste generated by someone else in their backyard. The waste of cities gets dumped in villages, and villagers are now well aware of the health hazards and harms that causes. The solution to the garbage problem is not more landfills; the solution is in-situ composting. Why are these politicians so misguided by bureaucrats, and why are these bureaucrats so uneducated about solid waste management? The bulk waste generators should take care of wet waste. Dry waste can get recycled,” said Vaishali Rana Chandra, a city-based environmentalist.
The alternative landfill site proposed by the mayor “is a forest area and protected land”, added Chandra. “I fail to understand why government agencies want to create landfills in forest areas.”
Earlier, MCG officials informed Gupta that there are space constraints at Bandhwari and they would require additional land of at least 50 acres. Mixed waste of at least 2,000 tonnes gets dumped at Bandhwari daily.
Environmentalists, however, proposed a decentralised waste management system to lessen the burden on Bandhwari. “The solution does not lie in creating another big landfill site for dumping mixed waste. Municipal corporations of Gurgaon and Faridabad need to ensure waste segregation at the source and waste processing in a decentralised manner on a war footing. That will sustainably take care of more than 80% of the waste generated by both cities," said Neelam Ahluwalia from the Aravalli Bachao citizens’ movement.
“The civic bodies have to dispose of only 10-15% of the waste, which is non-compostable and non-recyclable, in a secure, scientific landfill site set up in a wasteland area away from eco-sensitive and water recharge areas like the Aravalis, as well as human habitation,” she added.
It is disastrous in terms of pollution and public and environmental health to promote waste management by landfilling, said Ruchika Sethi Takkar, a founder member of Why to Waste Your Waste and Citizens for Clean Air, a civil group society.
Landfilling also wastes the energy stored in waste. “Around 60-70% of the waste is biodegradable and can undergo bio methanation, 20-25% can be profitably recycled and brought back to encourage a circular economy, and the rest can undergo composting. The government must think through what is most beneficial for public and environmental health. After all, it is trying to position Gurgaon as a global city,” she added.