Landfills get dumped?

Landfills get dumped?
The Hindu

Bangalore: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike is in flagrant violation of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules (2000), which mandate urban local bodies to identify scientific landfills for future use by December 31, 2002, and set up waste processing and disposal facilities by December 31, 2003.

Three years have passed since the deadline and only one scientific landfill at Mavallipura is working, that too at half its capacity. A waste-to-energy project at Mandur has forever been delayed and officials say that it will be completed in a year. Scientific landfills at Kannahalli (29 acres), Kyalsanahalli (45 acres) and Seegehalli (7 acres), were abandoned midway because there is too little land to make the projects viable.

Land for scientific landfills has to be large enough to allow for the non biodegradable waste to be buried for at least 20 years so as to make the investment feasible. Scientific landfills are where the waste is segregated into non-biodegradable (later buried) and biodegradable (turned into compost).

Yet, another 522-acre landfill is being planned at Manavarthe Kaval near Kanakpura Road, for which the BMP Council recently approved a resolution requesting the Government to allocate land. Officials expect trouble from local people and Government departments in the construction of this landfill.

Currently, the 2,200 tonnes of garbage goes into abandoned quarries, raising concerns about the health of people and the ecology around the areas.

Even when the Mavallipura and Mandur landfills start functioning, the BMP would have earmarked scientific dumping space for only about 1,900 tonnes of garbage for the future. With Greater Bangalore coming into force, the amount of garbage generated will increase to at least 3,000 tonnes, thus leaving the BMP short of space for 1,100 tonnes of garbage.