Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management,

5 - 7 September 2007, Chennai, India. pp.327-333

Present Scenario of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Dumping Grounds in India
Amiya Kumar Sahu

National Solid Waste Association of India, Mumbai

ABSTRACT

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is being produced since earth’s evolution. During the early
period, MSW was conveniently disposed of in low lying areas with large open land space. The
population growth lead to increase in Solid Waste generation and the problem of waste
disposal and its adverse impact on the environment is recently diagnosed, may be due to
enforcement.

Municipal Solid Waste in India is generally littered on roadsides and disposed in an

unscientific manner without considering the importance of garbage. The waste is dumped in
the outskirts of the cities in low lying areas with no compliance of regulations. The dumped
waste contains organic, inorganic and inert material like debris in mixed form. Even after the
MoEF notification on MSW (Management & Handling) rules, 2000, the ULBs (Urban Local
Bodies) fail to comply with the same. Apart from this, in recent days the dumping grounds are
being used for construction purpose which is a common practice in metropolitans like Mumbai,
Kolkatta, Delhi etc. The environment is adversely affected causing damage of property like
electronic equipments, sensitive computers, server rooms etc, due to release of pollutants like
Methane(CH4), Hydrogen Sulfide(H2S), Methyl Mercaptans CH3SH etc. The author of this
paper experienced one such case of dumping ground on which a business hub centre at
Mindspace Malad (W), Mumbai is situated and has become one of the largest centers of BPO’s
irrelevant of understanding the health and technicality of problem arising from this dumping
ground. This area was the oldest and largest dumping grounds of Mumbai.

Keywords: Municipal solid waste, dumping grounds, status

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Municipal Solid Waste is generally termed as “unwanted or undesired” material. Though the term is
universal it has different concern depending upon the location and living standard of people.
According to Indian MSW, Rules 2000 "Municipal Solid Waste" includes commercial and
residential wastes generated in a municipal or notified area in either solid or semi-solid form
excluding industrial hazardous wastes but including treated bio-medical wastes. India’s population as
per 2001 census is 1027 million, of which 285.3 million people live in 5161 urban areas. The problem
of urban waste management is noteworthy not only because of large quantities of waste but also due
to its spatial spread across 5161 Urban-Local-Bodies and a variety of problems faced in setting up for
systems for collection, transportation and disposal of waste. A general estimation of the MSW
generation from the Metropolitans of India is listed in Table 1.

327
 Present Scenario of Municipal Solid Waste Dumping Grounds in India

Table 1. Major Metropolitan Cities in India

Urban Population in MSW generated

State/Union Territory City
Lakhs (2001) (MT/day)
Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad 3829753 957
Andhra Pradesh Visakhapatnam 982904 246
Bihar Patna 1961532 588
Delhi New Delhi 350000 272
Delhi Delhi 13363471 6000
Gujarat Ahmedabad 4215497 1265
Gujarat Surat City 2433835 730
Gujarat Vadodara 1491045 447
Karnataka Bangalore 1304008 326
Kerala Kochi 275225 69
Maharashtra Mumbai 11914398 7500
Maharashtra Nagpur 2040175 700
Maharashtra Pune 2540000 1000
Madhya Pradesh Bhopal 1482718 445
Madhya Pradesh Indore 1550880 465
Punjab Ludhiana 1429709 500
Rajasthan Jaipur 1870771 561
Tamil Nadu Chennai 4343645 1086
Tamil Nadu Coimbatore 1501373 375
Tamil Nadu Madurai 1233083 308
Uttar Pradesh Kanpur 2725207 954
Uttar Pradesh Lucknow 2262369 792
Uttar Pradesh Varanasi 1250039 438
West Bengal Kolkata 4572876 1143
Grand Total - 70924513 27167

Where does this tremendous amount of waste go? In India there is no segregation of waste. Municipal
Solid Waste is dumped in a mixed form in an unscientific manner on open waste land or low lying
areas even near creeks, forests, rivers, ponds and other ecological sensitive regions. This practice is
commonly known as ‘Open dumping’ and does not meet the norms of disposal specified in the MSW
Rules. It is observed that Cities like Mumbai, Vishakapatanam, Kolkatta, Chennai situated on the sea
coast dump their MSW in the nearby creeks. Similarly cities like Kanpur, Delhi etc dump their waste
near the river banks. Other cities like Bangalore and Jaipur which do not have access to any water
body prefer to dump their waste near the highways. A study made by Centre for Ecological Sciences
& Centre for Sustainable Technologies shows that cumulative requirement of land disposal of MSW
in India would reach around 1400 km2 by 2047. MSW Dumping grounds in the Major Metropolitans
in India are depicted in Figures 1 – 4.

328
 Sustainable Solid Waste Management

Figure 1 Gorai, Mumbai on Creek and Mangroves Figure 2 Ghazipur, Delhi Highway

Figure 3 Jawaharnagar, Hyderabad Figure 4 Pallikarani, Chennai

These dumping grounds not only affect the environment by air, water and soil pollution but also
damage the property in the vicinity. The presence of moisture and rainwater leach the pollutant
chemicals produced during degradation to dissolve and flow into the groundwater reserve/sea/river
thereby affecting the flora and fauna of the water body. The dump sites virtually become a breeding
ground for all kinds of diseases. Besides this, it leads to formation of secondary pollutants like H2S,
CH3-SH and other Hydro sulfurous gaseous pollutants reacting with bacteria present in the waste in
the presence of moisture and temperature. CH4 which is one of such toxic gases produced leads to fire
hazards. Dumped hazardous and biomedical chemicals also leak into waterways and aquifers, which
pollute water and soils. Even dumped yard debris harms the environment. in a city like Mumbai where
the land cost is on high rise, by filling such mixed garbage in the low lying area near the creek and
bringing it to a ground level helps the builders to construct the buildings for both residential and
commercial houses and ignoring the adverse impact of garbage reaction underneath. One such case of
MSW dump developed into beautiful commercial and residential complexes at Malad, (Mindspace),
Mumbai and its impact was recently investigated by National Solid Waste Association of India
(NSWAI) Scientists.

329
 Present Scenario of Municipal Solid Waste Dumping Grounds in India

2.0 CASE STUDY

2.1 Mind Space, Mumbai

Mindspace, an area of 125 acres of land at Malad, at North Western Mumbai, Figure 5 is centrally
located on the Goregaon- Malad link Road. The area recently has been developed into a commercial
property of international standards, which is executed by one of the Worlds most prestigious planners
and architects-Skidmore Owings and Merrill.

Figure 5 Bird’s Eye View of Mind Space, Malad (W)

Mindspace accounts for 70% of commercial space requirements demanded by the IT, ITES industries
in Mumbai and 30% for residential area. The companies are employing more than 5,000 workers
working in 3 shifts a day, operating more than 1000 computers and having nearly hundreds of
sophisticated server rooms in each building.

Few years since it was started, Mindspace was a Municipal Solid Waste dumping ground. The area of
the dumping ground was 19.22 hectares and the waste received was approx-1163 tones/day and was
used for variable lengths of time for the disposal of solid waste. The waste received at the Malad
dumping ground was from H/W, H/E, K/W, K/E, P/S and P/N Municipal wards of Mumbai.

This area was initially a low lying area and got filled with garbage along with putrefied waste, bio-
medical waste, hazardous waste, construction and demolition debris, animal manures and even animal
carcasses. Hydrological investigations indicated that, the original soil levels were below the spring
high tide line. The operation of the landfill site was not planned scientifically and therefore the state of
the degradation of the deposited material could not be predicted. The Physico-chemical
Characteristics of MSW at Malad Mindspace is described in Table 2 (Ref: SWM in Greater Bombay,
NEERI, September 1994).

Table 2. Physico-Chemical Characteristics of MSW at Malad Mindspace

Physical Chemical
Bio-degradable 31-44% C/N ratio 28-36
paper 6-12% Calorific value 529.83-711.48 Kcal/Kg
Inert & other material 30-42% Organic carbon Very low

330
 Sustainable Solid Waste Management

The above dumping yard subsequently was cleared for constructional activities for residential and
commercial housing. Since this site was not treated before the construction of the building and there
was no post closure management taken up the solid waste decomposed slowly and during
decomposition, under the anaerobic conditions, the bio-degradable portion produces gases like
Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), Methane (CH4) and Mercaptan (CH3SH).

The general anaerobic transformation of solid waste with the help of microorganisms can be described
by the following equation.

Organic matter + H2O + Bacteria + temperature

→ new cells + resistant organic matter + CO2 + CH4 + NH3 + H2S (1)

Under the reducing condition, sulfate reduces to sulfide which subsequently combines with hydrogen
to form H2S.

2CH3CHOHCOOH + SO42- → 2CH3COOH + S2- + 2H2O + 2CO2 (2)

Lactate Sulfate Acetate Sulfide
Ion
4H2 + SO42- → S2- + 4H2O (3)
2-
S + 2H+ → H2S (4)
Hydrogen sulfide
The biochemical reduction of an organic compound containing sulfur radical can lead to the formation
of malodorous compound such as Methyl Mercaptans as shown in the schematic equation.

CH3SCH2CH2CH (NH2) COOH → CH3SH + CH3CH2CH2 (NH2) COOH (5)

Methionine Methyl Aminobutyric acid
Mercaptans
3.0 OBSERVATIONS

It was observed that,

ƒ Mindspace has got a hard rock layer above which the garbage is dumped. There was no proper
system for garbage compaction with daily cover and therefore the garbage got compacted
naturally.
ƒ This site was not treated before the construction of the building; therefore the solid waste got
decomposed slowly and during decomposition, it generated toxic gases like methane, H2S,
Mercaptans and other sulfurous compounds as shown in (Figure 6).
ƒ The ground emits these gases through crevices, openings and through intracellular spaces of the
garbage present inside the ground.
ƒ The open nullah connected with sewer system and other low lying area near the buildings leach the
gases produced in the dumping ground and enter into the sea where they get concentrated and
vaporizes during the daytime.
ƒ The property loss: the commercial and residential colonies constructed on the dumping yards are
affected by the pollutants like Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), Mercaptans (CH3-SH), and Methane (CH4)
emitted from the ground (garbage dump reaction). The commercial buildings have repeated

331
 Present Scenario of Municipal Solid Waste Dumping Grounds in India

complains of their server failure and are losing millions of rupees worth of equipments a year
(Source: NSWAI Study of BPO Centers in Mindspace).

Figure 6 Typical Building Structure at Malad Dumping Yard

ƒ Continuous break down of electronic appliances in residential places, deterioration of fabric paints
used by the artists etc are observed as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 Malad Resident Showing Conked Off TV and Blackening of Silver Metal

332
 Sustainable Solid Waste Management

ƒ The human health: The pollutants emitted from the dumping grounds no doubt the concentration
is very low, but the impact on human health will be intensified in long period exposure.
ƒ The concentration of pollutants varies from season-to-season depending on ambient temperature
and precipitation. They are emitted all over the ground haphazardly and this phenomenon is more
significant in summer. During monsoon, it gets settled with precipitation and effect is not very
significant.
ƒ A garden on garbage dump has been developed by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai
looks beautiful superficially but it emits gases like H2S, CH3SH, CH4 etc in a very high
concentration through the vents provided on the dump yards and pollute the air significantly.

4.0 CONCLUSION

The existing dumping grounds are being used for construction of commercial and residential complex.
Due to the chemical reactions below the ground, obnoxious gases emit throughout the year. However
it is intensified during summer and affects the human health, damage sensitive equipments like
computers, electronic devices etc. Our country desires to have a scientific method of disposal of
Municipal Solid Waste.

REFERENCES

Solid Waste Management for Economically Developing Country, Luis F. Dias & others (October
1996) (ISWA, Copenhagen)
Solid Waste Management in Greater Bombay, NEERI, (September 1994)
Anaerobic Digestion and Reuse of Digested Products of Selected Components of Urban Solid Waste,
Chanakya & others (February 2006) (Centre for Ecological Sciences & Centre for Sustainable
Technologies)
Dumping Grounds: After Effects, NSWAI Newsletter (Sixth Issue), (September 2006).
Personal Interview Reports Mindspace NSWAI, (April 2006).
www.atsdr.cdc.gov

333