With the three existing landfill sites oversaturated, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is going to make its Narela-Bawana landfill site operational from next month. This is the first scientific landfill site in the city where close to 1,300 metric tonnes of solid waste will be segregated and processed to obtain refuse derived fuel (RDF) for industrial use, manure, recyclable material etc.

This is likely to bring down the burden on the three sites — Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa — which have more than 30-metre-high piles of garbage as against the permissible limit of 20 metres. The site will be used to process garbage collected from Rohini and Civil Line zones. “It is an important project and will be completed in two phases. In the first phase, we are going to scientifically dispose of the solid waste and in the next phase, we will convert the garbage dumped at the site into energy. Only 25% of the total garbage collected will be dumped at the site. The rest will be processed,” said Deep Mathur, director, press and information, MCD.

Built at a cost of Rs 70 crore, the site will have facilities for material recovery, treating leachate (toxic water discharged from garbage during decomposing), trapping harmful gases and make RDF. The leachate will be collected and treated before being released in the storm water drains. “The solid waste will be first segregated and all the recyclable material will be extracted. Bio-degradable materials will be sent to the composting plant. Others will be used to produce RDF. All the waste from these processes will be dumped at the site. The RDF produced from the site can be used by industries,” said a senior MCD official.

None of the landfill sites now has a mechanism to prevent toxics from seeping into the soil, thereby polluting the ground water. “But at the Narela-Bawana site, we put up a thick liner to prevent leachate from leaching down. The landfill will be lined with two layers of clay and a high-density polythene layer in between,” said an official. There is also a provision to trap the harmful gases released into the atmosphere during decomposition. “There is a mechanism in place to collect the harmful gases and flare it before releasing in the atmosphere. This will bring down air pollution level near the site,” the official said.

The site will be run on a PPP model and officials say it can take the load for next 25 years. Over 7,000 metric tonne solid waste is generated in the city daily. Last month, the Delhi government had denied permission to the MCD to use a portion of the Bhatti mine area as a landfill site as it fell within a wildlife sanctuary. Delhi high court had asked the Union environment ministry to find out if there is any possibility of the area being used as a landfill site without it posing any environment threat to the sanctuary.

In the next phase, MCD will increase the capacity and also set up a waste-to-energy plant.