Plan to reclaim one-third of Ghazipur landfill

Stench emanating from the Ghazipur landfill site could soon become a thing of the past with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi  embarking on a move to remove some garbage from the spot within three years and then build a plant for generating energy from solid waste.

If things go as planned, almost one-third of the site located in east Delhi would be free from garbage within three years and could be reclaimed for fresh use.

“After reclaiming the site, a plant for generating energy from solid waste will be installed. Garbage will be processed there and waste would be dumped at Jaitpur mines,” said Subhash Arya, MCD Leader in the House. The Planning Commission has already given its nod for the proposal to process the garbage lying at Ghazipur landfill site, spread in 31 acres and in operation since 1984.

According to MCD documents, the landfill site has accommodated the garbage beyond its capacity. The average height of landfill site is 25.5 metres while at some point touches 30.5 metres. The total volume of garbage dumped at the site is about 46 lakh metric tonnes. As per the plan, the MCD will take out 2,000 tonnes of garbage from the site daily and spread it on concrete platform for drying.

After this, it will be put on conveyor belts for recoverable. Going through magnetic separator and air density classifiers, ferrous metals, stones and plastic would be extracted. About 4.5 lakh metric tonnes garbage will be removed to the Jaitpur mines which will entail an expenditure of around Rs 25 crore. It will take 10 years to remove 46 lakh metric tonnes of garbage from the site and would cost approximately Rs 250 crore for the whole project, Arya said.

He added the MCD would be able to dispose solid waste in a proper manner without acquiring additional space and extract recyclables from the dumped garbage over the years. The fine soil may be used for earth filling and embankments.