Waste analysis shows one-fourth of trash at Gurgaon landfills is plastic

Gurgaon: Plastic materials constitute 20-25% of the total waste in the city. Food and green waste accounts for 20-24%, while soil and sand content ranges from 20 to 24% across these locations. In the absence of a decentralised waste processing and waste segregation, all of this waste ends up at the landfill site in Bandhwari.

A detailed waste analysis — sampling major secondary collection sites at Khandsa, Beri Bagh, Prempuri and Carterpuri — has revealed the breakup. MCG conducted the waste assessment following directives from the urban local bodies (ULB) department to both the city civic body and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF). MCG additional commissioner Mahabir Prasad said, "This analysis will enhance the effectiveness of our waste processing methods."

After a fire incident at the landfill recently, Supreme Court expressed grave concerns and directed MCG to present an action plan for the treatment of legacy waste at the landfill. ULB officials said the ultimate goal of this exercise is to achieve complete waste diversion from landfills and moving towards a zero-waste model, which the MCG officials have been promising for years, but have miserably failed to achieve.

Environmental activist Vaishali Rana said, "A city's urban waste contains plastic, food waste, etc. However, what has the MCG done so far to deal with this plastic waste? Have they tied up with any recyclers? All of this is going to Bandhwari landfill, which was on fire recently." Rana said, "What the city should be doing is clearly mentioned in the Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules, 2016. However, MCG is just going round and round in circles."

ULB officials said this initiative aims to establish a comprehensive waste management framework across all local bodies, including Gurgaon and Faridabad. The department instructed these corporations to undertake waste segregation analysis to identify principal contributors to the waste volume.

The study has said the city's waste composition primarily consists of three main components, plastic materials, organic matter (food and green waste) and soil or sand deposits.

The presence of sand/soil in the waste also raises questions on the payment model that is followed in the corporations, where the agencies are paid on the basis of the quantity of waste transported to the landfill.

At the Carterpuri waste collection site, samples collected revealed plastic materials comprising 24.48%, organic matter at 20.50%, sand or soil at 23.81% and textile waste at 9.93% of the total sample. The Khandsa location showed different proportions with sand/soil being predominant at 23.57%, followed by plastic materials at 22.92%, food waste at 20.45% and textiles constituting 11.10%.

The sample collected from Beri Bagh displayed organic waste as the primary component at 24.8%, with plastic materials at 23.9%, sand or soil measuring 20.6% and textiles accounting for 10.4%. The Prempuri waste assessment indicated plastic materials as the highest component at 25%, while organic waste measured 22.85%, sand or soil registered 22.7% and textile waste amounted to 12.4%.

ULB commissioner and secretary Vikas Gupta has said MCG and MCF "must conduct or arrange" for waste analysis and characterisation tests at least monthly at various locations within their jurisdiction. At a meeting chaired by him, he said, these tests, essential for determining the actual composition of solid waste, should be performed by NABL-accredited laboratories without exception.