New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has been struggling to implement source segregation of household waste in all its wards. In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court in Sept, the civic body acknowledged that only 55% of waste generated in the municipal wards was being segregated at source.
With around 11,300 tonnes of solid municipal waste generated every day in the city, the focus seems to be on the disposal of waste through incineration at waste-to-energy (WTE) plants. This is despite the fact that CSIR-NEERI, in its report to the National Green Tribunal on the operations of waste-to-energy plants in Aug concluded that any plant based on mass burning of mixed waste was not a feasible option for India.
Wet and mixed waste not only result in incomplete combustion and generation of hazardous waste but also cause emission of highly toxic gases if the incineration temperature dropped to 850 degrees Celsius, stated the report.
Of the 11,300 tonnes of waste generated daily, the four existing WTE plants working in association with MCD consume 7,300 tonnes. To increase incineration and minimise dumping at the Bhalswa and Ghazipur landfills, it was planned to increase the capacity of the WTE plants at Okhla and Tehkhand to take care of 1,000 tonnes each and to set up a fifth WTE plant at Bawana to consume 3,000 tonnes. The target is to have these operational by 2026.
"The problem is that MCD is looking for a quick fix to rid the city of its garbage," opined Swati Sambyal, a circular economy expert. "The amount of smoke and ash generated at the plants is evidence of mixed waste being incinerated there." She pointed out that Delhi didn't have a robust infrastructure for decentralised processing, segregation, recycling, composting or bio-methanisation plants to handle organic waste, which constitute 45-50% of total waste. "To feed the energy plants, we are diverting even recyclable material. WTE plants are ideally meant for non-recyclable products, which form 20% of the total waste and should be last in the pyramid of initiatives taken to process waste," added Sambyal.
MCD officials pleaded that while achieving 100% segregation at source might take time, the incineration process at WTE was meeting all norms. "All WTE plants were established under the PPP model, with MCD responsible only for delivering waste to these facilities," said a municipal officer.
"The Union environment ministry and Delhi Pollution Control Committee are responsible for statutory clearances for environmental safety and plant operation. The concessionaire must adhere strictly to all stipulated norms under the oversight of DPCC and CPCB."
The official added, "Besides daily waste, we also are under pressure to process over 159 lakh tonnes of legacy waste at the three landfills. When land is reclaimed, we will develop more facilities to fix the demand gap."
In its Aug report to NGT, CSIR-NEERI argued that promoting WTE plants for mixed waste defeated the purpose of waste segregation, which is mandatory under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. On Monday, the Supreme Court too expressed concern at the lack of enforcement of the SWM Rules and highlighted lacunae like unchecked waste accumulation at landfills and the risk of fires at waste storage areas.
The court observed, "As we are noticing in other cases, the 2016 Rules have remained on paper. If we find that all the authorities do not come together and tell us the time-bound schedule for implementation of the 2016 Rules, the court may have to consider passing a harsh order." It directed the chief secretary to call a meeting with all stakeholders and file a report by Dec 13, detailing compliance timelines.
Ravi Agarwal of Toxic Links, an organisation working on environmental poisoning, said that the norms for the operation of WTE plants were comprehensive and strict and the real problem was enforcement and governance. "Likewise, the SWM Rules detail every aspect and responsibility of the stakeholders, including extended producer responsibility for the companies. But the central govt can only make rules, and it is the state govt which has to implement them and the corporates that have to adhere to the stipulations in a dedicated manner," said Agarwal.