Jamshedpur develops ‘Scientific Landfill’ to improve waste disposal

JAMSHEDPUR: Jamshedpur becomes the first urban centre to discard the garbage at a scientific landfill site. Disposal of waste in scientific landfill eliminates the risk of groundwater contamination, methane emission, uncontrollable fires and resultant cardiovascular diseases.

Krishna Kumar, Special officer of Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) on January 14 said that four acers of vacant land in Jamshedpur has been turned into scientific landfills, following a thorough inspection. It has a capacity of over 300MT (Metric tons).

As per the experts, scientific landfills has a thick base layer made of clay and are topped with a plastic liner which help to eliminate this risk of contamination. The layer above is a drainage layer of medium thickness made up of soil and then a thin vegetative layer to minimize soil erosion. These layers prevents leachate (water that has passed through waste) to mix with the underground water.

Scientific landfills can reduce the production of methane as it act as degassing system. The methane is generated slowly in scientific landfills as compared to the generation speed in ordinary landfills, since the layers soak most of the impurities in the waste disposed. Vertical wells installed in scientific landfills help extract methane regularly, and the gas can then be used for energy generation.

Jharkhand hopes to improve its ranking in Swachh Survekshan 2019. A senior JNAC official said that the landfill is their ticket to a better rank compared to the last year.