Saturday, April 10, 2010

GORAI SHOWS THE WAY

It is interesting to see that the long long pending capping of the Gorai garbage dump site by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) is now being termed as 'Waste to Wealth' operation. For decades the residents in the vicinity suffered, but finally they heaved a sigh of relief when good engineering practice of at least capping from the top has been adopted. Now that there is scope for land fill gas capture (whatever residual that my still be left !!) and we have the carbon missioneries offering credits, this is being recognised as a viable model for 'waste to wealth' ......... notwithstanding the issue of 'paucity of land', as it was already blocked for last 20-30 years any way.

This initiative has also led to wealth creation in terms of appreciation in property values in the surrounding areas and thereby higher potential for property tax collection for the MCGM.

It will be imperative to draw positive policy lessons from this initiative of the MCGM and check out how this option is more robust, sustainable and viable vis-a-vis the current policy of setting up factories for 'beneficiation' of the mixed municipal solid waste into compost, biogas or RDF.

No comments: