The Centre on Friday issued an advisory on reclaiming landfill sites, suggesting to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to treat and dispose solid waste through environment-friendly bioremediation process.
Urban areas account for a third of the country's population and generate 54.75 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, according to government figures given in the "Landfill Reclamation" advisory. Releasing the advisory at a 'World Environment Day event, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that almost all of urban India is open-defecation free now.
Scientific processing of solid waste which was mere 18 per cent at the start of the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014 has more than tripled to 65 per cent, he said. In the advisory, the ministry said that over 10,000 hectares of urban land is locked in as dumpsites in the country.
These dumpsites generate methane (a greenhouse gas) and other landfill gases which contribute to global warming, the advisory said.