Every
one of us must have witnessed an unfavorable, unpleasant and irritating smell
while passing through National Highway 10 exactly in Martam near to the camp
that forces everyone to cover our mouth while passing by. The biggest question
is why it actually stinks? This article will highlight some of points behind
the stinking highway. This article includes some facts and figures about the
current status of landfill, role of stakeholders and possible solutions. The
interpretation of the facts and figures mentioned here are left to the readers
to come into possible conclusion.
Location
Martam
is a beautiful village known for its natural beauty and famous rice valley but surprisingly
also famous for stinking highway. The exact cause is landfill located in this
region. Dumping site is located few meters below the National Highway, few
metres below the dumping site flows the Rani khola which can be possible source
of water for habitation downstream. ‘Leaching’ refers to the process by which
liquids, including rainwater and groundwater, pass through municipal solid
waste (MSW) landfills, causing the waste to break down and release contaminants
into the surrounding soil and groundwater. Very few studies are conducted on
the leaching and water quality of the river so reader can themselves imagine it’s
water quality. Camp is located near to the landfill and there are some
habitation just few metres away from the landfill. This is legendary example of
people easily adapting in any harsh situation, but at what cost? (cost is
explained later).
Let
me highlight the fact that as per the SWM Rules, 2016, the landfill site shall be 100 meter away from river, 200
meter from a pond, 200 meter from highways, habitations, public parks and water
supply wells , arrangement shall be made to prevent leachate runoff from
landfill area entering any drain, stream, river, lake or pond. In case of
mixing of runoff water with leachate or solid waste, the entire mixed water
shall be treated by the concern authority , Landfill gas control system
including gas collection system shall be installed at landfill site to minimize
odour, prevent off-site migration of gases, to protect vegetation planted on
the rehabilitated landfill surface, landfill gas shall be burnt (flared) and shall not be
allowed to escape directly to the atmosphere or for illegal tapping, ambient air quality at the
landfill site and at the vicinity shall be regularly monitored. There are
various others points in the rules but this article includes a few of them, off
course for a reason.
Present
status of Martam Landfill and Municipal Solid Waste
a)
Landfill Capacity - Gangtok Municipal Corporation under Gangtok district,
Rangpo Nagar Panchayat, Singtam Nagar Panchayat under Pakyong District and
Mangan Nagar Panchayat are availing the landfill facility at Martam, Gangtok
District Sikkim. The capacity of Martam landfill is 50 tonne/day. (SPCB Annual Report).
b)
Monitoring facilities – There is no monitoring facilities available for
monitoring of ambient air, ground water, leachate quality, compost quality and
VOCs. (SPCB Annual Report, 2023-24)
c)
Processing facilities – No vermi-composting plant, biogas/biomethanation ,
RDF/Pelletization, waste to energy plants are operational till date. (SPCB
Annual Report, 2023-24)
Waste
Production, processing and dumping
Graph
1 depicts the amount of waste generated, collected, processed and dumped in
Martam landfill from year 2019 -20 to 2023 -24(As per Annual Report , SPCB ).The
figure is enough to explain the failure of concern department in treatment of
waste. Surprisingly the waste (51.5 TDP) was dumped in year 2019-20 that is
beyond the capacity of Landfill. Total waste of 62.5 TDP was generated in same
year maybe because of lockdown. As we can infer from the figure that majority
of waste is simply dumped, resulting in increasing burden in dumpsite. The
amount of waste production has increased significantly in Gangtok from 0.459 TPD in 2001 to 65 TPD in 2017 with increase in population
(GMC & UDHD, Government of Sikkim, 2018).As per the research, 78% of the
total waste collected from Gangtok are directly dumped in the landfill. Same
research has projected that with increasing population in town the amount of
waste generation would be more than 80 TPD in 2033 which is beyond the capacity
of Martam landfill. This data are enough to prove that one landfill is not
enough for the coming days and maximum processing of waste is required.
Odour and its effect
Coming to the main point, why NH10 stinks?The
municipal waste consist of 60-65% organic waste and 30-35% recyclable waste
(CPCB Sikkim) but due to improper segregation, where only 59% of waste are
segregated in source, organic waste are also dumped in landfill and because of
decomposition , chemical and biological transformation , landfill will generate
landfill gases like methane, hydrogen sulfide, CO2 and other toxic VOCs. Odor
that we witness is because of these gases whose continuous exposure may be
harmful. Methane and CO2 are not only greenhouse gases that contribute in
global warming but also affect human health. Short term exposure to landfill
gases may cause eye, nose and throat irritation, nausea etc but long term
exposure may cause respiratory problems like asthma. People living nearby the
landfill site are subjected to long term exposure and may have been affected by
the same. Since very few research is done in this site, it is assumed that
there is no affect at all.
Improper
segregation and lack of landfill gas management is the basic reason behind the
odor in the landfill area. Following are the stakeholders who are directly or
indirectly involved in management of the landfill.
State
Pollution Control Board, Sikkim
The
Sikkim Pollution Control Board (SPCB) is responsible for implementing and
enforcing pollution control measures in the state of Sikkim but interestingly
as per the report submitted by the Central Pollution Control Board to the NGT
recently in September 2024 , Sikkim reported the most vacancies in SPCB , with
none of the 11 sanctioned posts filled. Readers are requested to estimate the
level of seriousness shown by the board
towards the pollution management in state.
Residents
of Municipal area
As
highlighted above, improper segregation of the waste is the major reason behind
the odor in the landfill area . How many of the people living in municipal area
and commercial establishment have separate dustbin for biodegradable and
non-bio degradable waste? All the waste is generally dumped in one dustbin,
packed as it is and left in a nearby
road side for garbage truck to collect it as it is. Some intelligent people
throw in nearby jhoras and assume water will carry it downstream.
Municipal
Corporation
Municipal
Corporation is indeed trying its best to reduce the waste management but still
failing to convince people regarding the same. It is rare to see concerned
department conducting the awareness programme on waste segregation, management
and transportation. Ban in early disposal of waste before arrival of vehicle
has somewhat improved the condition but the quantity of waste generation keeps
on increasing.
Possible solutions
Sikkim Pollution Control Board should
now think of immediately recruiting manpower and fill up all the vacant posts
and make board functional as soon as possible, start monitoring and take
necessary steps and should focus more on treatment and processing of waste than
simply dumping. They must immediately start monitoring of air , water and soil
quality and establish processing plant and focus on waste to energy conversion
model. Municipal Corporation should
focus more on awareness program on waste segregation and waste minimization at
source itself. Citizens should be
aware of the detrimental effect of excessive waste production and align
themselves with the municipal corporation directives. Excessive purchasing and
improper disposal of waste must be discouraged and eco-friendly lifestyle must
be encouraged. Educational/research institute of Sikkim state and nearby
regions should conduct more research on solid waste management status of Sikkim
and suggest possible solutions to the policy makers. We should not forget that
the odor in Highway is not because of one person or organization, it is a
collective contribution from us and we must realize this as soon as possible.
(Email:
yooglesaps@gmail.com)
