Next October, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will shut the Gorai creek dumping ground using a new ‘capping technique’, ridding Borivli of not only a major eyesore and health risk but also earning Rs 1.3 crore by way of carbon credits.

Shutting of the dump thus is expected to cut Carbon Emission Rates or CER by 31,033 tonnes/ annum. If the BMC plan fructifies, which includes partial closure of two other dumps at Mulund and Deonar, by 2009 it may earn almost Rs 11.82 crore by trading CER of 2,81,508 tonnes/annum.

The burgeoning city’s population of 1.3 crore produces, on an average, 6,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day. It goes to the three dumping grounds at Deonar (4,000 tonnes/day), Mulund (600 tonnes/day) and Gorai (1,200 tonnes/day).

It was a Supreme Court directive to shut the Gorai dump as it had attained its highest capacity (1,200 tonnes/day) that got the BMC thinking out of the box.

Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) R A Rajeev, who is executing the project, points out that till now the BMC was only concerned about dumping the garbage. When one dump got full, they just looked for another site. “But with the SC directive, we thought of using a scientific closure method so that garbage dumps were as clean as other parts of the city. Since there were monetary benefits in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we also thought of earning carbon credits,” he says.

One CER is equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide reduced. Under the Kyoto Protocol, governments and companies in the European Union can use these credits to offset their carbon emissions and meet part of their reduction targets. Carbon credits are generated mainly in the developing countries because of the lower project cost. India has cornered nearly 43 per cent of the carbon credits issued so far by the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) Executive Board.

Currently, the BMC is in talks with the consultant for the Gorai dump closure, IL&FS Ecosmart Ltd, for selling the carbon credits. Rajeev says the World Bank has proposed that the carbon credits be traded at $10 per unit of CER cut.

Instead of following the normal technique of closing the dumping ground —- which results in generation of large amounts of methane —- the BMC would use the ‘capping technology’, wherein layers of ground, gravel and solid material are used to seal the dump.

Chetan Zaveri, who is the Project Director and Head, Environment Compliance and Risk Management, IL&FS, points out that methane is 21 times more potent than carbon. “Pipes will be laid to collect methane at the dumping ground while the black watery leachate (pollutant) would be collected separately,” he said. Instead of being emitted into the atmosphere, the methane will be used to generate electricity.

“The capture and combustion of methane will result in a substantial reduction of greenhouse emissions and thus has the potential to earn carbon credits,” Zaveri said. He claims the capping technology is being used for the first time in the country. The BMC plans to later convert the Gorai dump into a green space.

While the closure of the Gorai dump is already in process through Indian firm United Phosphorus Ltd and Dutch firm Van Der Weil, the site operations will continue till December 2007. The closing of dumping grounds through the Public Private Partnership route is also the first of its kind sanctioned under the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The Rs 476 crore for the project —- of which Rs 254 crore will be invested by private companies —- will also be used to partially shut the Mulund and Deonar dumps and construct a new landfill site at Kanjurmarg. At the 141-hectare site, waste will be processed and disposed of scientifically, and the BMC expects it to meet the city’s needs for at least two years. The Centre approved the first tranche of Rs 62.57 crore in November end.

The head of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Rakesh Kumar, agrees that the plan is a smart move by the BMC. “Earning carbon credits is currently the ‘in-thing’ globally. India has a large number of projects which are sanctioned for carbon credits. Although the civic body’s project will not make much difference, it will surely help create awareness and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases locally,” he said.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Rajeev says their goal is the same. “More than the monetary part, we want to bring awareness about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a psychological, environmental, physical change towards dumping grounds,” he says.Shweta Desai

MUMBAI, DECEMBER 10

As R K Pachauri received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Oslo on Monday, there was good news on global warming from a most unlikely source back home: a 17-hectare dumping ground that has been taking a large part of Mumbai’s waste for the past 25 years.

Next October, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will shut the Gorai creek dumping ground using a new ‘capping technique’, ridding Borivli of not only a major eyesore and health risk but also earning Rs 1.3 crore by way of carbon credits.

Shutting of the dump thus is expected to cut Carbon Emission Rates or CER by 31,033 tonnes/ annum. If the BMC plan fructifies, which includes partial closure of two other dumps at Mulund and Deonar, by 2009 it may earn almost Rs 11.82 crore by trading CER of 2,81,508 tonnes/annum.

The burgeoning city’s population of 1.3 crore produces, on an average, 6,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day. It goes to the three dumping grounds at Deonar (4,000 tonnes/day), Mulund (600 tonnes/day) and Gorai (1,200 tonnes/day).

It was a Supreme Court directive to shut the Gorai dump as it had attained its highest capacity (1,200 tonnes/day) that got the BMC thinking out of the box.

Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) R A Rajeev, who is executing the project, points out that till now the BMC was only concerned about dumping the garbage. When one dump got full, they just looked for another site. “But with the SC directive, we thought of using a scientific closure method so that garbage dumps were as clean as other parts of the city. Since there were monetary benefits in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we also thought of earning carbon credits,” he says.

One CER is equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide reduced. Under the Kyoto Protocol, governments and companies in the European Union can use these credits to offset their carbon emissions and meet part of their reduction targets. Carbon credits are generated mainly in the developing countries because of the lower project cost. India has cornered nearly 43 per cent of the carbon credits issued so far by the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) Executive Board.

Currently, the BMC is in talks with the consultant for the Gorai dump closure, IL&FS Ecosmart Ltd, for selling the carbon credits. Rajeev says the World Bank has proposed that the carbon credits be traded at $10 per unit of CER cut.

Instead of following the normal technique of closing the dumping ground —- which results in generation of large amounts of methane —- the BMC would use the ‘capping technology’, wherein layers of ground, gravel and solid material are used to seal the dump.

Chetan Zaveri, who is the Project Director and Head, Environment Compliance and Risk Management, IL&FS, points out that methane is 21 times more potent than carbon. “Pipes will be laid to collect methane at the dumping ground while the black watery leachate (pollutant) would be collected separately,” he said. Instead of being emitted into the atmosphere, the methane will be used to generate electricity.

“The capture and combustion of methane will result in a substantial reduction of greenhouse emissions and thus has the potential to earn carbon credits,” Zaveri said. He claims the capping technology is being used for the first time in the country. The BMC plans to later convert the Gorai dump into a green space.

While the closure of the Gorai dump is already in process through Indian firm United Phosphorus Ltd and Dutch firm Van Der Weil, the site operations will continue till December 2007. The closing of dumping grounds through the Public Private Partnership route is also the first of its kind sanctioned under the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The Rs 476 crore for the project —- of which Rs 254 crore will be invested by private companies —- will also be used to partially shut the Mulund and Deonar dumps and construct a new landfill site at Kanjurmarg. At the 141-hectare site, waste will be processed and disposed of scientifically, and the BMC expects it to meet the city’s needs for at least two years. The Centre approved the first tranche of Rs 62.57 crore in November end.

The head of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Rakesh Kumar, agrees that the plan is a smart move by the BMC. “Earning carbon credits is currently the ‘in-thing’ globally. India has a large number of projects which are sanctioned for carbon credits. Although the civic body’s project will not make much difference, it will surely help create awareness and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases locally,” he said.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Rajeev says their goal is the same. “More than the monetary part, we want to bring awareness about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a psychological, environmental, physical change towards dumping grounds,” he says.

Gold in garbage

closure: 31,033 tonnes/annum of

CER reduced

closure: 50695 tonnes/annum

closure: 1,99,780 tonnes/ annum