What is the issue?
- A recent landfill collapse in Ghazipur, UP, has killed two people and caused injuries to many.
- The incident calls for addressing the problem of over-stressed landfills and adopting proper waste management techniques in cities.
What led to this tragedy?
- The Solid-Waste Management Rules, 2016 prescribes certain conditions for landfill sites:
- a landfill site must not exceed 20 meters in height.
- it must not be older than 22-25 years.
- it must have a clay-lining at the bottom to save the land and ground water.
- As against these specifications, the Ghazipur dump-yard is 50 metres high and almost 33 years old.
- The other two un-engineered" dumping grounds in Delhi include Okhla and Bhalaswa sites.
- Experts say that Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalaswa could not be called "landfill sites" but just "dumping yard", as they do not follow the prescribed norms.
- A joint-efforts of rains, fire and excessive pressure due to running out of space led to the recent collapse of the site.
What are the flaws in the approach?
- Following the tragedy, the National Green Tribunal questioned the Delhi government and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).
- The EDMC told the green court that it had moved a plea seeking allotment of land to develop new landfills.
- NGT has rejected EDMC’s alternative landfill site at a new place on the grounds that the site falls in an environmentally-sensitive zone.
- The issue here is that the heaping garbage is increasingly posing environmental and public-safety hazards.
- Finding new landfills would only mean relocating the problem and not solving it.
- Also, this is not a problem restricted to Delhi alone but is the case with most Indian cities handling municipal waste.
What is desired?
- The tragedy calls for solving the unending waste management problems in Indian cities.
- The 'un-engineered' dumping sites in the name of landfills should be transformed into "decentralised processing centres".
- ex: Bio-methanisation plant could be an option.
- These centres should carry on segregating waste at source into recyclables, organic wastes and toxic wastes.
- Non-profits and educational institutions could be roped in to engage in public awareness campaigns.
- Rather than having a one-size-fits-all approach, the waste problems of urban India should have a region centric approach based on the needs, demands and resources.
Source: Indian Express, Business Standard
