Thousands of metric tonnes of solid waste, including cow dung generated across the city daily, would now serve as currency for waste-to-energy plants and be available to form the foundations of interstate highways in Delhi's gradual move towards making the city completely self-reliant in processing and re-using it instead of adding it to towering mounds at landfill sites, announced Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Satyendar Jain.

“The government's medium-term goal is to ensure that garbage processing capacity across Delhi increases...Our existing waste processing capacity is around 5,000 Metric Tonnes Daily (MTD) of which around 50 per cent is not processed,” Mr. Jain, who heads the inter-ministerial task force to tackle air pollution and solid waste management in Delhi and also holds the Power and Health portfolios, said at the conclusion of its second meeting here on Wednesday.

Mr. Jain said the government has revived the proposal to convert the Rajghat power plant, shut since last year for being a major source of Delhi’s air pollution, into a waste-to-energy plant which also received the consent of the three BJP-led municipal bodies. If things go according to plan, he said, the proposed plant would have the capacity to process 4,000 MTD of solid waste, the Minister added.

Solution

“Converting the shut plant into waste-to-energy plant seems to be a solution. A viable option is converting the Rajghat power plant to waste-to-energy plant as the location is ideal given its centrality. The three MCDs have agreed and it will be able to process 4,000 tonnes of waste daily,” he said.

Currently, two such plants in Ghazipur and Okhla produces around 12 and 16 MW of electricity respectively. Another 1,550 MTD capacity plant in Bawana is stuck due to disagreement in revenue sharing between the north MCD and the private contractor.

Such processing plants have also been opposed by environmentalists and local residents for “affecting” health and, as per Solid Waste Management Rules, they also have to be located at least six km from residential colonies.

“I was surprised to know that around 1,000 tonnes of cow dung is produced daily in the city. The city has around 1 lakh cows. Right now there are no facilities to process it and the slush which is around 600 tonnes,” he said adding that the government is also considering to process 3000 tonnes of waste produced by the markets around the city “on spot” and that a similar model could be followed in hotels and large housing societies as well.