It is said that adversity brings out the best in us. As Covid-19 spread across the world, most advanced countries in Europe and elsewhere reeled under it. India calibrated its response systematically and dealt with the situation with unprecedented innovations and ingenuity. The manner in which we were able to provide for food and other essentials during the lockdown and vaccinate a billion and more of our people has been a remarkable feat. Indeed, there were problems about oxygen availability and drugs shortage. But we faced the situation with fortitude, thanks to the thousands of our health care personnel. As the world is limping back to normalcy, it is becoming clear that not everything that happened during the pandemic was bad. Big innovations in health care technology and pharma industry happened during the period, often because of the urgency necessitated by the pandemic.
The pandemic changed the world as we knew it. This was also a period when THE WEEK came up with some of its best stories. It was the first Indian magazine to talk in detail about the looming threat of the pandemic in a cover story from China in February 2020. While most publications focused on the consequences of the spread of the virus, THE WEEK embarked on a mission to find its origins in another cover story in June 2021.
I would like to take this opportunity to bring to your notice the endemic issue of air and water pollution and mounting solid waste in Delhi. Even as we grapple with ways and means to address the challenges posed by the former two, we have been able to make a substantive beginning in the disposal of solid waste. And, it seems to be on the right track of reaching its logical conclusion.
All of us have seen these unseemly and stinking mountains of waste in the east, south and north of Delhi. These are mountains of legacy garbage being dumped at these sites over the past three decades. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged these unseemly health and environmental hazards as the capital’s “Mountains of Shame” on October 2, 2019, the total legacy waste accumulated at these three sites was around 280 lakh MT.
Bioremediation of solid waste is the only sustainable way of disposing solid waste. The MCD made several efforts to get rid of these mountains. It did achieve success, but to a limited extent. Segregation of solid waste through trommeling and its disposal on the principles of recycle, reuse and reduce in a sustainable manner is what bioremediation is mostly about.
Apart from the existing legacy waste at the three dumping sites, Delhi generates about 11,000 MT of waste every day.
We increased the number of trommel machines from 6 to 50 during the last few months. About a week ago, another 25 trommel machines were added. These machines are converting waste into far more reusable products than before.
Processing of garbage through trommel machines produces the following by-products:
• Inert (soil & dust): Used for filling, road construction and making interlocking blocks
• Construction and demolition waste (C&D waste like bricks, concrete and stone pieces): Used for filling, road construction and making interlocking blocks
• Refuse-derived fuel (plastic, clothes): Used for burning in waste-to-energy plants
About 8,000 MT of RDF is being consumed/burnt at four waste-to-energy plants in Delhi, which leads to production of about 100MW of electricity. We made a public appeal to lift inert and C&D waste from landfill sites for free. In less than five months, over 40,000 MT of inert and C&D waste have been taken by people at their own transportation cost. National Highways Authority of India is the biggest consumer of inert and C&D waste. NHAI has committed to use about 30 lakh MT from our landfill sites.
We did a comprehensive study of measuring the gross calorific value of RDF, and upon finding it suitably competitive, made an appeal to cement industries to use RDF as a substitute to coal. An MoU was subsequently signed with a cement company for lifting 50,000 MT of RDF annually. In less than two months, 4,000 MT of RDF has been lifted from Delhi’s landfill sites. This bold step resulted in a win-win situation for all. Earlier, MCD used to pay Rs1,765 per MT for lifting RDF from landfill sites, but now MCD is getting rid of the legacy waste and also earning from it. On the other hand, the industry is obtaining fuel at just Rs100 per MT, compared with Rs6,000 per MT that it paid for coal.
These steps resulted in expeditious bioremediation of waste accumulated at Delhi’s three landfill sites. From June to October 2022, about 30 lakh MT of waste was disposed, compared with 51 lakh MT between 2019 and May 2022. The monthly disposal rate increased from 1.4 lakh MT to 6.52 lakh MT. The aim is to level and finish these garbage mounds of shame within the next 18 months and I am sure that we will be able to do it.
However, our bigger aim as a city should be that no new garbage dump comes up and no fresh waste is added to the existing three sites. This can be possible only if we concurrently dispose our daily garbage in a sustainable manner. I am happy to share that we have taken many steps in this direction. Of about 11,000 MT of waste being generated by Delhi every day, about 9,000 MT is being recycled and reused every day. We are hopeful that the balance 2,000 MT will soon be processed concurrently.
No enterprise can succeed without the proactive participation of its most important stakeholders. In this task, while the government and its agencies are implementers, the people are the stakeholders and indeed owners.
I appeal to you to come forward and become leading stakeholders in the task of making Delhi clean and healthy.