The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will generate electricity from the garbage for which it will set up a “waste to energy” plant on 50 acres of land at Tehkhand area in South east Delhi. The plant which is expected to be operational from the next year will have the capacity of handling 1,200 tonnes of waste. Also, it will set up a biogas plant at three dairies and two cow shelters with ambitious plan of generating electricity from cow dung.
The biogas plants are proposed to set up at Nangli Dairy, Goyala Dairy and Kakrola Dairy and at two cow shelters - Manav Gau Sadan Rewla Gaushala and Ghuman Hera Gramin Gaushala in Najafgarh to produce electricity from cow dung so as to address the twin problem of waste disposal and power generation.
Bhupender Gupta, Standing Committee Chairman told The Pioneer that the inspection of these three dairies has been conducted. There are more than 20,000 cattle in these dairies and they generate more than 400 metric tonnes of waste that choked drains and create problems by now once the plant start function, it will be used to generate electricity.
Biogas typically refers to a mixture of different gases produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Biogas can be produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste or food waste.
Gupta said that the SDMC has taken a number of measures to make the city garbage free. “With the commissioning of the plant at Tehkhand, 1,200 metric tonnes of waste would be utilised to generate 15-megawatt powers.
SDMC generates approximately 4,000 MT tonne waste per day, out of which 2,000 MT of waste is already being processed at Okhla energy plant. The remaining waste is proposed to be processed at Tehkhand energy plant, he said.
SDMC has also partnered with IIT-Delhi who will work to stabilise the Okhla landfill site that has reached a staggering height of 160 feet.
the East Delhi Municipal Corporation's step to join hands with the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) to find a solution in disposing of the mammoth garbage.
Gupta further said that the fleet of 30 Fix Compactor Transfer Station, 38 MTS has already been deployed to achieve “zero waste” in the city with the help of public awareness campaigns.
He said that the mobile transfer stations will bring a visible change in the primary collection, secondary storage and secondary transportation” of garbage in the capital. “The scientific collection, systematic segregation and compressed volume of garbage will lead to dumping of less garbage in sanitary landfills and will provide enough scope for recycling,” he added.
According to the estimates, Delhi produces over 9,500 tonnes per day (TPD) of solid waste, but all three of its dumping grounds, with a collective capacity of 4,600 MTD are operating beyond their saturation point and also posing “risk to human lives'. In addition, it is expected that the national Capital will need an additional area of 28 square km till 2020 to dump 15,000 tonnes of garbage daily.
However, all the three landfill sites in Delhi has reached a saturation point (50 meters while 20 meters allowed) almost 10 years ago but still ignoring hazards, authorities kept a blind eye, resulting in recent tragedy at Ghazipur landfill site.
The city has three waste-to-energy plants at Okhla, Ghazipur and Narela Bawana to process waste into energy. Together they have the capacity to process around 4,000 MTD. North Delhi Municipal Corporation is collecting 3,900 MT 'Municipal Solid Waste' per day of which Narela-Bawana waste to energy plant is utilising 2000 MT for generating 24 MW of electricity. The crisis is still remaining unsolved due to an alternative site to dump the waste.