Ghazipur plant to process more waste

THE CAPACITY OF THE WASTE TO ENERGY PLANT AT THE LANDFILL SITE WILL BE INCREASED FROM 1,300 TONNES TO 1,900 TONNES TO MANAGE WASTE BETTER

NEWDELHI: Having failed to find a new site for dumping garbage in the area, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to increase the capacity of the waste to energy plant at Ghazipur.

The civic agency generates 2,800 tonnes of waste daily, of which 1,300 tonnes goes to Ghazipur and 500 to Okhla waste to energy plants. The rest 1,000 tonne is dumped at the landfill.

The step has been taken to reduce the burden on the Ghazipur landfill, which has exhausted its capacity. On September 1, two people died after a portion of the landfill collapsed. Lieutenant governor Anil Baijal had imposed a complete ban on dumping waste there after the accident.

But within a week of the ban, dumping started at Ghazipur with the EDMC officials saying that they are using the lower part of the landfill and they have no alternative.

“We have planned series of initiatives to deal with the increasing waste burden, and one of them is increasing the capacity of Ghazipur waste plant. We will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the current operator to increase its capacity from 1,300 tonnes to 2,500 tonnes in one year,” said Ranvir Singh, EDMC commissioner.

But, for the time being only 600 tonnes of addition waste will be consumed, he said.

On Thursday, the standing committee approved the proposal for transferring additional land of 8.33 acres adjoining the WTE plant for enhancing the capacity of plant and deploying additional machinery.

“The plant will start functioning by next month and start consuming 1,900 tonnes (instead of the current 1,300 tonnes) of waste every day,” said Singh.