Garbage from Ghazipur to help make national highways
NEW DELHI: Paving the way to tackle the mounting heaps of garbage at the Ghazipur landfill, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) tied up with the ministry of urban development and National Highway Authority of India to use the waste for the construction and repair of roads in the Capital.
Initially, the Ghazipur waste will be used to construct the Delhi-Meerut Expressway — a 90-kilometre stretch on NH 24 — said senior municipal officials. Later, it will be replicated on the city roads.
The decision was taken after the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Central Road Research institute (CRRI) gave their nod, said municipal officials.
The recycled waste will be mixed with bitumen, among other processes, to lay roads, said corporation officials.
“The municipal corporation had approached the NHAI, seeking help in proper utilisation of the garbage. Based on our request, the NHAI conducted a survey through various agencies and it was found that approximately 60% to 70% of the garbage lying at Ghazipur can be used for construction of roads,” said EDMC standing committee chairman, Jitender Chaudhary.
The Ghazipur landfill, operational since 1984, is spread over 30 hectares and the garbage pile is over 50 meters high. Every day, 4,000 tonnes of garbage is dumped at the site. A total of 12 million cubic metres of garbage is at the landfill.
The Ghazipur landfill site has a waste-to-energy plant which converts 2,000 tonnes of garbage into 12 megawatts of energy. A part of the waste is biodegradable. Chaudhary said an internal report suggested an additional 10% of the garbage will get degraded.
“The corporation officials have been directed to allocate space to NHAI at Ghazipur landfill, wherein they will set up their own module to ready the garbage as per their own needs. The obligations of the corporation would mainly include cooperation and ensuring security,” said Chaudhary.