LIFE WITHOUT LANDFILLS

1
LIFE WITHOUT LANDFILLS

• Almitra H Patel
• Member, Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste
  Management in
• Class 1 Cities in India
• almitrapatel_at_rediffmail.com
• www.almitrapatel.com

2
BANGALORE HAS TWO CHOICES FOR WASTE MGT

• Immediately start cleanup of Mandur and
• Mavalipura Unload all new waste in windrows to
  STABILISE it, or
• Manage all waste within the city as no new
• village will allow it and KSPCB wont allow
• fresh open dumping at a new site.
• So Blr must SHOW it can manage
• its existing sites properly.

3
REDUCING BLR WASTE IS A FIRST STEP FOR BOTH
OPTIONS

• 3500 tons/day mixed waste will reduce to
• 2800 t if dry waste is collected Wardwise.
• 2800 tpd reduces to 1960 tpd wet if bulk
  generators manage their own waste
• Blr must follow its 2 good notifications at once
• Weekly collection of clean Dry Waste (and Daily
  for Wet waste)
• Decentralised mgt by bulk waste generators

4
NO NEW LANDFILLS ARE NEEDED

• 1960 tpd wet waste can be easily handled by
  existing area
• This will need only 16-20 hectares as GoI
• norms are 4 ha land for 500 tpd composting.
• Why should BBMP acquire a few hundred more acres,
  far from city?
• Why police protection? To open dump again?
• New villages will must object, as leachate from
  open dumps pollutes village ground-water,
  flies, smell, pests, smoke.

5
BBMPS CRISIS IS TOTALLY SELF-INFLICTED

• Caused by open dumping of mixed waste,
• violating MSW Rules Env Protection Act.
• Compost plants awarded to private parties are not
  monitored by BBMP.
• BBMP already has enough land for proper
  composting of waste for next decades Even
  3500tpd needs only 28 hectares (70 acres)

6
CORRUPTION IS AT THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

• BBMP pays private parties (and someone shares?)
  Tipping Fees to open-dump waste transported by
  BBMP to BBMPs own land given on long lease at
  trivial cost.
• (Tipping fees abroad are compensation for massive
  capital investment in private lands)
• Buffer zones were suddenly reduced to allow
  development close to the waste-sites.

7
DO NOT CLOSE EXISTING SITES !

• This proposal only rewards land speculators who
• want dumps to be dirty so as to buy cheap plots
  and then demand closure to raise land values .
• That is why MSW Rules require a Buffer Zone of NO
  NEW DEVELOPMENT.
• Restore Buffer Zone, freeze all work in it !
• Compensate farmers within Buffer Zones.
• Make host villages partners with private parties
  in waste mgt and site cleanup.

8
IMMEDIATE URGENT CLEANUP OF EXISTING SITES IS A
MUST !

• Technologies are available . Work should start
  from many points at once, allotted in multiple
  packages, giving pref-erence to local youth
  wastepicker SHGs.
• Leachate treatment allot each pond to a
  different agency and compare results.
• Further works can be given to the best performer,
  not just to lowest bidder.

9
MSW RULES REQUIRE CITIES TO MINIMISE WASTE TO
LANDFILL

• Just begin now! Dont await perfection.
• Wet food wastes free of plastics can go to
  farmers _at_ 20 tons per farmer or acre.
• Collect Dry Recyclables weekly in separate
• trip 15 less waste by wt, 30 less volume.
• Specify Plastic Roads in BBMP contracts.
• Only 10 of collection will need landfill !