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Bandhwari to stop intake of waste from March 15
Gurugram: From March 15, the municipal corporations of Gurugram and Faridabad will no longer dump their fresh municipal waste at the Bandhwari landfill, having opted
Gurugram: From March 15, the municipal corporations of Gurugram and Faridabad will no longer dump their fresh municipal waste at the Bandhwari landfill, having opted to process it at alternative sites in Basai (Gurugram) and Sihi village (Faridabad). Meanwhile, efforts to process about 27.5 lakh tonnes of legacy waste at the landfill will continue, but without the involvement of Ecogreen Energy, the MCG’s concessionaire for waste management in the city.
This was mentioned in an affidavit submitted by the MCG to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) late last month. The affidavit dated February 26, a copy of which is with HT, states that the decision to halt further dumping of waste at the landfill “has been necessitated by a lack of available space at Bandhwari to handle both fresh and legacy waste simultaneously”.
In a previous affidavit, submitted to the NGT in early February, the MCG had alluded to space constraints at the plant, which were hampering remediation of the landfill. At the time, the MCG had stated that they were in talks with the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) to make “additional land available to concessionaire in and around Gurugram”.
The MCG has now leased out five acres of land from the GMDA in Basai’s Sector 101, where Ecogreen Energy will continue to process fresh waste as per CPCB guidelines. The lease agreement (a copy of which is with HT) is dated February 25. In Faridabad, the MCF has identified a similar 10-acre site in Sihi village. Gurugram and Faridabad together dump a total of 1,900 tonnes of waste at Bandhwari daily, of which the former contributes at least 1,000 tonnes.
The affidavit also states that the MCG will no longer be relying on its concessionaire for treatment of legacy waste at the landfill site. “MCG will undertake processing of legacy waste on its own through assistance of solid waste management experts, instead of further relying on the concessionaire,” states the affidavit, signed by MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh.
A spokesperson for Ecogreen Energy said, “We have not yet received any official intimation about stopping intake of waste at Bandhwari. There has been some talk about Ecogreen not being involved in treating the legacy waste. We will comply with the NGT’s instructions in the matter.”
The NGT will hear the matter next in July, until then the MCG has been asked to proceed with its revised action plan, submitted to the tribunal on February 27.
Bio-remediation of fresh solid waste at the new site in Basai is scheduled to begin on March 15, while screening and segregation is expected to commence on April 15, after the initial batches of waste are stablised. Leachate collected at the site will be sent to common effluent treatment plants in Manesar and Faridabad’s Sector 25. Both sites, in Basai and Sihi, are being lined with high density polyethylene to prevent percolation of leachate into the groundwater, as happened at Bandhwari.
By April 2020, four trommel machines in Gurugram and three in Faridabad are expected to become operational, with a combined capacity of 2,100 tonnes per day. “This capacity also takes into account an annual 5% increase in waste generation, and will suffice for the next three years, by which time the landfill will be cleared and the waste-to-energy plant operational,” said an MCG official in know of the matter.
The inert material derived from fresh waste will be used as refuse derived fuel (RDF) “in nearby cement kilns waste-to-energy plants,” as per the MCG’s affidavit, while construction waste will be sent to the MCG’s construction waste plant just adjacent to the land identified for waste treatment. Organic matter will be used up by the MCG and MCF in horticultural activities.
MCF commissioner Yashpal Yadav and MCG commissioner Singh did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday. The MCG’s sanitation inspector, Saurabh Nain, could not be contacted despite multiple attempts.
