Bandhwari landfill legacy waste to be processed by March 2023

Legacy waste from the Bandhwari landfill in the Aravallis will be completely processed by March 2023, district administration officials said

Legacy waste from the Bandhwari landfill in the Aravallis will be completely processed by March 2023, district administration officials said. The decision was taken at a meeting of the nine-member committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to resolve the legacy waste issue in Gururgram on Saturday. It was also decided that the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will submit a revised timeline to the NGT regarding the processing of this waste.

Bandhwari landfill legacy waste to be processed by March 2023

The NGT formed the committee, headed by the chairman of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), in the last week of September this year following a petition filed by Gurugram-based environment activists. A statement issued by the district administration said that various issues pertaining to waste management in Gurugram and Faridabad, including the clearing of the Bandhwari legacy waste, treatment of leachate, and setting up proposed decentralised waste processing systems, among others were discussed at length by the committee in its third meeting held at the PWD Guest House in the city.

P Raghavendra Rao, chairman, HSPCB, said, “It has been decided that the MCG and regional officers of the HSPCB will strictly monitor the functioning of the disk tube and reverse osmosis (DTRO) and leachate treatment plants at the Bandhwari site.” HSPCB officials present in the meeting said that the concessionaire, Eco Green, has assured that two DTRO plants, each having a capacity of 200 KLD, and the leachate treatment, having a capacity of 150 KLD, will become operational by November 30. Eco Green has also assured that the engineering (EPC) contract for setting up a waste-to-energy plant will be signed before November 10 and the plant will become operational before December 31 this year, officials added.

The committee also decided that legacy leachate at Bandhwari will be transported to both the sewage treatment plants (STPs) where the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will install the DTROs. Chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal, who virtually attended the meeting, suggested that environmentalists should be engaged to monitor and ensure tankers filled with leachate reach the STPs. Samples of the leachate will be tested before being treated at the STPs and will be dumped thereafter at the DTROs, only if toxic elements are found present within the permissible limit.