Legacy waste processing to be over by Dec-end: Chandigarh Administration

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, June 7

The UT Administration has stated that bioremediation of the current landfill of 8.28 acres at Dadu Majra will be completed by December 31 this year.

In an affidavit submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Department of Environment, UT, stated that bioremediation of old dump of 20 acres was started on October 22, 2020, and the entire legacy waste of 5 lakh metric tonne (LMT) had been processed and 20 acres were reclaimed.

20 acres reclaimed, work on 8.28 acres on

• In an affidavit submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Department of Environment, UT, stated that bioremediation of old dump site of 20 acres was started on October 22, 2020. The entire legacy waste of 5 lakh metric tonne (LMT) had been processed and 20 acres were reclaimed.
• Further, bioremediation of the current landfill of 8.28 acres was started on August 26, 2022, and out of 8 LMT, 7.67 LMT waste has been processed. The work will be completed by December 31 this year.

Further, bioremediation of the current landfill of 8.28 acres was started on August 26, 2022, and out of 8 LMT, 7.67 LMT waste has been processed and the work will be completed by December 31 this year.

The NGT had earlier directed the department to plug the gap in waste processing by setting up of additional facilities to process biodegradable and non-biodegradable and other waste, estimated to be 468 tonnes per day (TPD), along with the legacy waste of 5.5 LMT.

In the status report submitted to the green tribunal, the department stated that in the month of May, nearly 430 TPD of the total 500 TPD solid waste generated in the city was processed. There was a gap of nearly 70 TPD of mixed waste in generation and processing. The department further stated that nearly 100 TPD, including 30 TPD rejects/inerts after processing of waste, was dumped in landfills.

“There is no gap between waste generation and processing capacity. However, in order to ensure 100% processing of municipal solid waste, the Municipal Corporation will install new machines in the next six months to segregate and further process this mixed waste,” stated the department, and added that thereafter, the entire waste generated in the city would be processed.

The department stated that 100% waste is collected door-to-door from households in four categories, namely dry, wet, sanitary and domestic hazardous waste. The 100% collected dry waste (nearly 200 TPD, including recyclables), sanitary waste (nearly 0.5 -1 TPD) and domestic hazardous waste (nearly 0.1 TPD) at the material recovery facilities is sent for processing.

Approximately 300 TPD of wet waste, including horticulture waste, is being generated in the city. In addition to the compost plant of 120 TPD capacity, another facility has been set up to process 300 TPD of wet waste. It was operationalised on February 29 this year. Therefore, the capacity to process wet waste through composting has increased to 420 TPD. The entire wet waste generated is being processed and the compost so produced is being utilised by the MC.

Further, the department stated that 100% horticulture waste is being processed. One horticulture waste processing plant of 30 TPD capacity has been established where waste generated by pruning of trees is processed to make bio-briquettes, which are sold through auction.

To address the long-term solid waste processing requirements, an integrated solid waste management facility is being set up, which shall cater to the waste processing needs of the city for 15 years. Two bids have been received for the work and these are under evaluation.