Yesterday morning I was pleasantly
surprised to get an e-mail through the Change.org from the Govt. of NCT of
Delhi requesting to share suggestions on the biggest challenge on hand –
deteriorating Air Qaulity. Come to think of it, we have reached a stage of
development where mere ‘bijlee, sadak and pani’ are no longer the issues, now
we are facing the threat to our fundamental right to breath clean air ! The
following submissions have been made for their consideration and I thought it
would make a good reading for the members of this group. I hope you find this
interesting and would like to share your feedback!
There are multiple aspects to the
current problem of air pollution in Delhi. I will focus only on the issue of
solid waste - MSW, construction debris and fly ash. First of all let us
recognise that the mountains of garbage on the outskirts of the city at
Gazipur, Bhalaswa and Okhla are not the 'LANDFILLS' s as wrongly termed by
municipal officials, journalists and politicians alike. They are OPEN DUMP
SITES and they represent one of the major sources of air pollution - waste is
spontaneously burning all the time due to the methane that is getting generated
underneath as a result of the rotting organic waste. They are also equivalent
of 'biological bombs' as trillions and trillions of bacteria and viruses breed
there and spread out with wind in adjoining and distant residential areas. As
regards these disposal sites, Delhi Govt. has to recognise that it cannot
continue with 'business as usual'; instead it has to develop 'SANITARY LANDFILL
SITES' (SLF) to ensure safe disposal of waste. An SLF constitutes an essential
infrastructure for any modern and healthy city as it offers a safe repository
for disposal of all offensive, rotting, objectionable and pathogenic waste. An
SLF is most robust, reliable, dependable, affordable, elastic and forgiving
facility which works in all weather conditions, 365 days. One of the reasons
for the sorry state of waste management in the city and the country as a whole
is that there is not a single SLF worth its name.
Secondly, the GoNCTD has to recognise
that MSW is NOT a 'misplaced resource', instead it is a public health liability
and its safe disposal has to be paid for. In this respect it has to recognise
the fallacy of the paradigms of 'segregation of waste', 'waste to wealth',
'waste to energy' and 'garbage to gold', etc. Any putrefying, rotting,
offensive and objectionable matter that has come to the 'end of life' stage
cannot be a 'resource', instead it is a major threat to public health as is
becoming evident in the recent months with the outbreak of viral diseases of epidemic
proportions, followed by bird flu and now incidence of serious air pollution.
The problem of municipal solid waste in NCT Delhi is huge - we have about
10,000 MT of it generated every day, and therefore simplistic solutions will
not solve the problem. After some point, 'resource recovery' through
composting, etc. is impractical and not financially viable. As a matter of
fact, when poorly implemented, such facilities themselves become threat to the
environment, public health and the socio-economic setting of surrounding areas
- take the case Okhla Compost Plant which causes severe odour nuisance in
Ishwar Nagar, New Friends Colony, Holy Family Hospital, Apollo Hospital, Shahin
Bag and Sarita Vihar localities.
Thirdly, since composting is not
viable and there isn't land for setting up a decent sanitary landfill site for
'dignified burial', it has to be recognised that commingled MSW in such a large
quantity then only deserves 'dignified cremation' in the form of 'mass burn'/
'incineration' supported by state-of-the-art pollution control facility. In
this respect, it has to be recognised that the main objective(s) of an
incineration plant (and for that matter any other technology based waste
treatment plant) are to (a) reduce the nuisance value of the waste and thereby
safeguard environment, (b) eliminate chances of breeding of disease vectors and
thereby safeguard public health, and (c) reduce the volume of waste for safe
and economical disposal into an SLF. Further, it has to be recognised that
during the process of incineration any net positive 'energy' that gets
generated is incidental - its only a bonus, and not the main output of plant.
The main outputs of an incineration plant are the intangibles as listed above
and therefore, it should not be perceived as a 'waste to energy plant', as made
out to be by technology providers. Therefore it has to be recognised that if
the operation and maintenance of a 'waste to energy' plant are to be sustained
over long-term, then the local government has to place a premium on the
intangibles and pay for all the waste that gets incinerated there. Otherwise
the operator has no incentive in running the pollution control system or in
ensuring its long-term operational sustainability. Currently the municipal
bodies are not offering any incentives in the form of tipping/gate fee to the
operators of the three incinerator plants and as a result there are concerns as
regards the measures taken for emission control as well as for upkeep of the
plant to meet future challenges over its life cycle. In this context, if GoNCTD
intends to safely get rid of its huge quantity of MSW in the coming decades
then it must consider creating additional capacity for waste incineration using
state-of-the-art technology and offer genuine and appropriate financial
incentives to the operators. It could set up new plant(s) under DBO (Design,
build and Operate) or BOT (Build Operate and Transfer) formats of Public
Private Partnership, but it must recognise its financial responsibility in
return for the intangibles delivered by such plants. To this effect it must
mobilise resources through user charges in return for offering an improved
quality of life to its residents.
The flyash ponds next to the
Indrapasth and Badarpur Power Plants are the other major scars on the urban
landscape. In summer months they contribute a great deal of dust (PM10 and PM
2.5) into the environment. We cannot go on neglecting them. Genuine and
effective solutions (e.g., maintaining water layer or providing vegetative
cover) need to be developed for them.
Lastly, GoNCTD has to recognise the
challenge of horticulture waste. In terms of green canopy/ tree cover and
lawns, while Delhi claims to be the greenest city in the country, this tag also
comes with the challenge of handling a large quantity of brush/ horticulture waste
(dry leaves, fallen trees and branches, grass cuttings, etc.). This is not a
waste, but a resources given in 'segregated form' by the mother nature.
Unfortunately it is seen that instead of collecting and stocking this
'resource' separately, municipal workers typically set it on fire in
residential, commercial and institutional areas alike. While there is
tremendous misplaced emphasis laid in the revised MSW Rules, 2016 on
'segregation' of putrefying food waste from residences and establishments for
'resource recovery', it is ironic that the municipal bodies do not give
importance to this 'segregated resource' which is literally found on the roads
and which can be easily converted into value added products such as leaf-mold
and mulch which help improve soil productivity conserve soil moisture. It is
ironic indeed because this 'segregated resource from the mother nature' gets
disposed of into the same open dump sites at Bhalaswa, et.al. where it
contributes to the might of the fire that has been always burning. If GoNCTD is
serious about waste management and control of air pollution, then it must
initiate on priority a set of measures to prevent burning of brush and its
treatment as an independent stream.
I hope you find the above submissions
of interest and use. Should you desire, I will be happy to present a
comprehensive analysis on the challenges of treatment and safe disposal of MSW
and how the city can meet its objectives. This is coming out of countrywide
experience of dysfunctional treatment plants and overseas functional plants and
working in the domain for last 30 years.
Re: Action at the individual level
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