Foundation stone for Bandhwari waste unit likely to be laid Feb 15

A waste-to-energy plant and a leachate treatment plant have been proposed at the site. The WTE is expected to commence operations from June 2019 onwards.

The foundation stone for the waste-to-energy (WTE) treatment plant at Bandhwari is likely to be laid on February 15.

Thousands of tonnes of municipal solid waste from Faridabad and Gurgaon has been lying untreated at the Bandhwari plant, which is now just a dumping site. (HT Photo)

“The MCG has started work at the Bandhwari landfill and a date for laying the foundation stone for the WTE plant has been set aside for February 15,” MCG Commissioner V Umashankar said.

Though the WTE is expected to commence operations from June 2019 onwards, the announcement holds importance as the waste processing plant at the site has been defunct since a fire gutted the unit in 2013.

MCG officials did not confirm if chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar will be present at the ceremony which is on the same day as the inauguration of two Rs10 canteens at Bhim Nagar and Sector 11.

Thousands of tonnes of municipal solid waste from Faridabad and Gurgaon has been lying untreated at the Bandhwari plant, which is now just a dumping site.

The leachate from the untreated waste at the site contaminated aquifers nearby, stated a report by the Central Pollution Control Board in October 2017.

A Rs3.5 crore leachate treatment plant has also been conceptualised at the site and will open at the same time as the WTE.

The WTE plant was proposed to use the solid waste to generate refuse-derived fuel (RDF) that can power a boiler for generating electricity.

The MCG wrote to the state government for setting up a WTE plant at the existing Bandhwari waste processing unit In February 2016, when it said restarting the processing plant was not feasible as the “volume (of garbage) was beyond control”.

According to officials, the plant, once operational, will produce 10 MW of electricity daily and process over 25 lakh tonnes of waste that has collected at the site in the past five years.

The estimated cost of the project is around Rs430 crore.