JOIN USCan't be swept under the rug
According to Delhi-based environmentalists, the city produces nearly 10,000 metric tonnes of waste in a day, which is almost eight per cent of what India produces.
Municipal Corporation of Delhi spokesperson Y S Mann says their estimates put the figure at nearly 7,000 tonnes. Either way, that’s a lot of rubbish.
The unified MCD has 60,000 safai karamcharis for collecting waste. Waste management, which includes collection, segregation, treatment and recycling, is also done by New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), Delhi Cantonment Board and the city government. Other stakeholders include NGOs, resident welfare associations and private operators.
But experts say waste is not a policy priority for the government. Drains remain choked in the colonies, and municipal waste is not collected and treated appropriately. “Waste management does not mean that you need to clean only the streets,” says Rajeev Betne, senior programme officer at Toxics Link, an environment NGO.
Other environmentalists argue that the government has only adopted dumping and burning of waste as the disposal mechanism. “The cardinal principles of waste management require that the government must adopt a zero-waste philosophy and a mechanism for waste minimisation, recycling and resource recovery,” says Gopal Krishna, convener of Toxics Watch Alliance .
And there is no mechanism to dispose of waste at the till-recently unauthorised colonies. The government treats this as ‘unaccounted for’ waste. Only registered colonies have been included in the MCD surveys on waste, experts claim.
The MCD had started a door-to-door campaign for disposal of waste from colonies to landfills, in Rohini and Civil Lines on a pilot basis. “Private companies have been roped in to lift garbage from dumping spots to landfills in some areas. Around Rs 70 lakh has been accrued through penalty from these companies as fine till August as they were not able to complete the work on time,” says Mann.
Suneel Pandey, senior fellow with The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), says better segregation at the source is essential and recycling organic waste should be prioritised. He says TERI has suggested some provisions to amend the Municipal Solid Waste (Handling and Management) Rules, 2000.
“These rules are under revision and we have included our recommendations, such as the area identified as a sanitary landfill should be termed as a no-development zone and the rural population should benefit from the landfills or plants. Once the rules are amended we expect less violation,” he says.
Pandey cites the Gujarat government’s industrial waste rules, under which industrial areas are supposed to set up treatment plants on their premises to ensure that residential areas are not affected. “For regulatory authorities it becomes easier to inspect such plants because of their location,” he says.
EPR is a luxury term
The recently notified e-waste rules mandate Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which demands that manufacturers must collect e-waste generated from their products individually or collectively and recycle it. But the rules are not being implemented.
“EPR is a luxury term in India. As of now no concrete steps have been taken to implement and monitor this process. Penalties should be introduced for companies that violate the law,” says Betne.
Members of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) say civic agencies should ensure segregation of different types of waste at the household level. “If e-waste or any other form of waste, except inert materials (chemically non-reactive), are reaching the landfills, then it is illegal. Any hazardous waste being dumped at these sites will be considered illegal,” says a DPCC official.
Landfills not dumping grounds
Land-filling is restricted to non-biodegradable or inorganic waste, as per the law. Since no segregation of waste takes place at the initial stages, all kinds of waste reach Delhi’s three landfills in Gazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa.
DPCC and MCD have identified two more landfills in Jaitpur and Bawana, which will be operational soon. MCD officials say the three existing sites have got saturated and are being used at great risk to both life and property.
Environmentalists have suggested closing the landfills and taking post-care steps at existing sites by capping and plantation. “Landfills are planned as if there will always be land available for continued dumping of waste. There should be a performance evaluation and cost-benefit analysis of landfills before new ones are formed,” says Krishna.
However, MCD officials say closing landfills is not a viable option. “We need to use technology that can process municipal solid waste to the extent of at least 75 per cent, and deposit the residue safely without any adverse impact on the environment,” says an MCD official.
There are two compost plants to treat municipal solid waste in Okhla run by the MCD. Another one run by a private developer is under construction in Bhalswa. A compost plant in Tikri will be fully operational soon. However, Betne says Delhi does not have a single ‘treatment storage and disposal facility’ mechanism in place. “Composting is also not being done properly as all waste is getting mixed up,” says Betne.
MCD also runs a ‘construction and demolition’ (C&D) waste processing facility as construction waste constitutes 20-30 per cent of total waste generation in Delhi. “We held a meeting earlier this week with MCD officials, and have suggested that they identify at least two more sites for C&D waste, like the one we have in Burari,” says a DPCC official.
About waste-to-energy plants, DPCC says the Okhla plant maintained by Jindal Ecopolis Developers is running well, but is not meeting with the Central Pollution Control Board standards. “The Timarpur plant was initially a failure, but now it’s working well. Even then this plant is not meeting with the required standards,” says the DPCC official.
Sensitise public
DPCC believes the situation will not improve until residents are sensitised about their role in maintaining a clean environment. “If garbage is being dumped illegally at any place or a vacant site, citizens should complain to us. Civic agencies should be approached for action,” says the DPCC official.
Some experts say fines can act as a strong deterrent. “NDMC officials were supposed to fine people who litter, but the drive was not successful because the fine was only Rs 50,” says Pandey.
He gives the example of Singapore, where fines are prohibitive. “Back home, in Surat the government has started shaming people who are caught littering. The same needs to be done here too. We need to bring behavioural changes,” says Pandey.
On the positive side, in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions, the MCD has engaged municipal magistrates for on-the-spot fines against those who litter or make their surroundings dirty. In 2011-12, the MCD issued 24,466 challans and collected Rs 1.95 crore in fines.