Dump yards In India: Impact

and Challenges
How People Live On A Flaming Garbage Dum
Thousand of people risk their life in collecting trash in one of the India’s largest landfills. They sort all kind of waste even used syringes. In
recent years fires have become more and more common threatening people who work here and live nearby. The Bhalswa landfill burned for
almost 2 months starting from April to to June. Firefighters extinguished open flames after 2 weeks. People are still struggling to breathe
because they have lived next to smouldering plumes the whole time. As garbage piles up and planet gets warm landfills fire are expected to get
worse. People make living next to the flaming mountain of world wide waste. Every day the tens of millions of people who live in the city of
Delhi generates 10,000 metric tons of waste nearly all of it ends up in three surrounding landfills Bhalswa, Ghazipur, Okhla. Most of these
dupside has gone beyond their capacity and are ovreflowig . Bhalswa was suppose to close 10 yrs ago. But it keeps accepting garbage upto 600
truck load everyday. Backhoe operators cranes, moves waste to make path for trucks to drive till top. Around 75,000 people in India called as
ragpickers make their living from Delhi’s dump. Average rag picker earns 200-300 rs everyday with plastic and metal being most valuable item.
Even when not on fire these landfills pose major health hazards. Water near these landfills no drainage so water makes it way into ground water.
Highly poisonous and toxic. Scientist one study said air pollution lead to 1.6 million premature death in 2019. There are everyday dangers of
rag picking. So how did the landfill fire starts. Lithium ion batteries which are increasingly entering the waste stream can spontaneously
explode but in India the brutal heatwaves was the most likely culprit, In addition to plastic and another trash the methane from decomposing
garbage fuels fire. The fumes contain all kind of chemicals. SO2, Nox, ….which can cause tuberculosis in short time and cancer if inhaled for
long time. The fire make a bad situation worse. Putting out these fires require lot of manpower and equipment. JCM works for extinguishing
fire. It took 80 trucks and 200 firefighters to quench the fire burning from April to June. But mostly these fires fizzle out on their own. Locals
want these sites removed. Local government was fine 65,000 thousand dollar on not taking serious measure to subside fire. Delhi government
is planning to remove all 8 million metric tonnes of waste from this site by end of 2023. Since 2019 government has operated what are known
as trommels that seprate recyclable trash from what can be burned to create energy. Rest of the leftover are suppose to be moved to another
dumpsite, Delhi plans on opening another waste facility here by 2025. And is suppose to expand service for ragpickers. One solution to ever
growing landfills is segregating the waste before it gets there. Despite the increasing garbage Americans throws out 8 times as much garge as
Indian. But Indian recycle industry is kept afloat by informal ragpickers who make pennies every day. For years India Fedral govt has tried to
crackdown waste.
Gazipur dumping ground
MUMBAI Deonar

• The Deonar dumping ground is a waste dumping ground or landfill in the city of Mumbai. Located
in Shivaji Nagar, an eastern suburb of the city, it is India's oldest and largest dumping ground, set up
in 1927. The dumping ground is managed by the city's civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (also known as Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai), which also manages two
other dumping ground in the city; one in the neighbourhood of Mulund and one recently opened in
Kanjurmarg. The dumping ground extends over 132 hectares and receives 5,500 metric tonnes of
waste, 600 metric tonnes of silt and 25 tonnes of bio-medical waste daily. Between March and June
the daily amount of silt rises to more than 9,000 metric tonnes because of drain cleaning in advance
of the monsoon season.
• Sprawling mountain in east Mumbai 18 story high made of entire of waste 16 million tonnes of it.
In the hundreds of alley that wind around the mountain the trash seeps into the life. Piles of plastic
everywhere you look. It is literally way of life for rag pickers who find plastics and metals. Entire
ecosystem thrives around it despite health hazarads. Deonar dumping ground was initiated in
1940s. Orders for closing it were given 10 yrs ago. Still no success in attempting a closure
• 2 crores Mumbaikar send 4000 metric tonnes of garbage
India’s dumping grounds
• India has around 3159 garbage mountains and has 800 metric ton
waste in them