Kejriwal learns waste management lessons from NDMC

The Delhi government is looking at the waste-to-energy (WTE) initiative of the NDMC and keen to involve people in waste management, said an official on Thursday.

Garbage segregation would be the big focus of the government by involving the district development committees and public – through residents welfare associations and civil society – for segregating garbage before further use.

After Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal showed keen interest during the New Delhi Municipal Council’s meeting, in which a presentation was given on waste-to-energy (WTE), the government is now planning to involve experts and public on innovative solutions to manage the growing waste problem in the city.

“A conference on the issue is likely to be held in the coming week to invite suggestions on how to involve people in finding solutions like garbage segregation and recycle waste,” said an official.

Senior officials in the NDMC have suggested to Kejriwal that the total quantity of waste generated is enough for meeting the entire power requirement of 6,000 MW in the city if waste-to-energy model is adopted.

The Chief Minister was reported to be a little wary about the technology but a presentation at the NDMC showed that the civic agency’s waste-to-energy plant – based on gasification technology - starting this month will convert two tonnes of waste into 1 MW power every hour.

Sources said the Delhi government is considering to go big on a proposal called pyrolysis that uses up unsegregated waste for production of power.

In Delhi, sanitation and waste management is the constitutional duty of the civic agencies and the Delhi government has very little control over it.

But as the municipal bodies, which get central funds through the Delhi government, can be advised by the Kejriwal government to adopt waste-to-energy projects, said an official.
Approximately 8,000 metric tonnes garbage is generated daily in Delhi.
The existing Okhla WTE plant generates 16 MW power and Ghazipur plant generates 10 MW.