waste to energy

The big mountain of trash on the Gurgaon - Faridabad road, now higher than the surrounding Aravalli hills witnessed loud cries of ‘Remove this Polluting Landfill from our Aravalli Forest’ and ‘We do not want a Toxic Waste-to-Energy Plant in our Aravallis’ by more than 60 adults and 30 children on Sunday, 24th January 2021. The motley group gathered at the Bandhwari landfill hailed from the cities of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Delhi as well as the surrounding villages of Manger and Bandhwari.  “The theme of our campaign is Green vs Black. The adults have come dressed in green attire to…

Indian government wants to develop a ‘green city’ in every state of the country, powered by renewable energy. The ‘green city’ will mainstream environment-friendly power through solar rooftop systems on all its houses, solar parks on the city’s outskirts, waste to energy plants and electric mobility enabled public transport systems. India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) on December 3rd unveiled a concept note stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi desires one city in each state to be developed as a green city that will meet all its energy requirements from renewable sources of energy. The ministry notes that the idea…

On the face of it all, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) could not care less, even though the city is union defence minister Rajnath Singh’s constituency. The cleanliness survey conducted earlier this year by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) ranked Lucknow as one of the dirtiest cities in the country. The city’s ranking dropped to 121, from 115 last year. Despite having an army of 9350 sanitation workers, 6281 of them on contract, and showing an increase in monthly petrol consumption of 1.5 lakh litres for transporting solid waste, the municipal corporation has fared poorly in…

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister of India, Dharmendra Pradhan has an ambitious new solution to tackle the problem of solid waste in India. Earlier this year in October, Pradhan announced his massive plan to set up 5000 biogas plants across the country over the next five years that will convert agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste into usable biogas. This biogas will then be compressed and distributed as a replacement for vehicular fuel CNG. Will it make your city any cleaner, then? India generates 62 million tonnes of waste every year. As citizens it may be hard to…

On a recent trip driving past North Delhi towards Haryana, I noticed what looked like a mountain range in the distance. This was a pleasant surprise as I was not aware that there were any hills in the region. As I came closer, I realised it was not a range but a single peak. I came still closer and to my horror, realised that this was no natural mountain range. This was a mountain yes, but a mountain of trash! From the side that I was approaching, it looked like one long thin strip of a natural mountain. And then…

It’s not every day that you hear of a municipal waste dumping ground that is a tourist attraction. But in Vengurla taluka, a half-hour drive from India’s tourist hub of Goa, it isn’t just the pristine beaches that are drawing people. In 2017 so far, the municipal waste dumping ground, where every piece of waste is recycled, has received 7,000 visitors. They’re travelling to see how the small municipality is recycling 7 tonnes of waste generated each day and transforming their community. It is earning a hefty income, which is being ploughed back into municipal activities. In 2015, under the watchful eye…