Preparations in full swing to clear legacy landfills by 2026

• A public dashboard showing the status of dumpsites, and remediation plans under Swachh Bharat is likely to be soon.

Background:

• Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0 was launched in 2021 with the aim to make cities free of garbage and ensure safe water by the end of the five years.
• The remediation of all legacy landfills in the country was one of its targets.
• Online portal would contain the exact number, size, and remediation plans of the sites, which are estimated to be around 2,200.
• These “sizeable” landfills each contain at least 1,000 tonnes of waste.

Understanding legacy waste:

• Legacy wastes or aged wastes are the wastes that are collected and kept for years at some barren land or a place dedicated to a Landfill (an area to dump solid waste). Legacy waste can be grouped into four categories:
  • Contained and stored wastes (wastes stored in tanks, canisters, stainless-steel bins, etc will come under this category)
  • Buried waste
  • Contaminated soil and groundwater
  • Contaminated building materials and structures waste.

Composition of Legacy Waste: Legacy waste composition majorly depends upon the age of the landfill. The legacy waste composition is primarily based on four significant fractions. Such as,

• Fine soil / sand-like material: These are the decomposed and mineralized organic wastes mixed with silt, sand, and fine fragments of construction and demolition (C&D) wastes. This is the major fraction in the majority of landfills.
• Scrap polymeric and combustible materials: These include plastics, paper, cardboard, textiles, etc.
• Stones (greater than 20 millimeters in size)
• Miscellaneous items: These include broken glass, sanitary waste, diapers, and metallic fractions such as razors, needles, etc.

Challenges in Managing legacy waste:

• Presence of heavy metals
• Not enough data available on legacy waste
• Do not have enough capacity to process these landfills
• Unable to follow the CPCB guidelines

Potential applications of legacy waste:

1. The polymeric wastes obtained from dumpsites can be utilized in manufacturing refuse-derived fuel (RDF).
2. Electricity produced from RDF can be utilized by energy-intensive industries and households.
3. Construction and demolition (C&D) waste are to be recycled into building materials and bio-soil that is used to fill in low-lying areas after passing a check for heavy metals.

Significance:

• Possible to track the progress of cities’ action plans for the remediation of legacy landfills.
• The plans cover everything from the remediation of the landfill to the eventual reuse of the land.
• It is expected that clearing of the landfills, would free up 15,000 acres of land.