The best out of Deonar’s waste: Garbage piles to make space for treatment plant

The dumping ground, which holds about 12 million metric tonnes of waste, is 14km from the airport and hence falls in the runway funnel zone – area around the airport which is in the flight take-off and landing path.

Garbage mounds at the Deonar dumping ground may soon go higher – up to 50m (height of a 15-storey structure) from the current 25-30 (height of an eight-storey structure) – to make space for a waste-energy plant.

Increasing the height of Deonar’s garbage mounds will, however, lead to challenges such as stabilizing the slope and preventing fire while the garbage is being moved around. The garbage releases trapped methane, a leading cause of fires, and leachate into the adjoining creek. (HT FILE)

The dumping ground, which holds about 12 million metric tonnes of waste, is 14km from the airport and hence falls in the runway funnel zone – area around the airport which is in the flight take-off and landing path. Around two years ago, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) published a colour-coded map, listing exact height caps for structures in the funnel zone.

“This gave us clarity on where the dumping ground stands. We can have garbage mounds rising up to 50m,” said a senior official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) solid waste management (SWM) department.

As it will not be able to take garbage after December 31, civic authorities have been looking for ways to tackle the existing waste since January 2016, when 11 fires were reported within two months. Over the past nine months, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been looking for contractors to install a waste-energy plant at Deonar, with a capacity to process 600 tonnes of waste a day.

Increasing the height of garbage mounds will, however, lead to challenges such as stabilizing the slope and preventing fire while the garbage is being moved around. The garbage releases trapped methane, a leading cause of fires, and leachate into the adjoining creek.

Ashok Khaire, deputy municipal commissioner of the SWM department, said, “The BMC will undertake synthetic sheet piling – putting up vinyl sheets on the creek boundary. This is used internationally as it is durable against leachate, and can withstand the pressure of high garbage mounds. If the garbage mound collapses and enters the creek, we will not be able to clean it.”