Introduction:

Mumbai is an enormous bustling metropolis with an intense population

density. It is the most populous city in India, and the second most populous city in
the world, with a population of approximately 14 million. Along with the
neighbouring urban areas, including the cities of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it is one
of the most populous urban regions in the world.

Fig. Shows composition of materials in urban waste.

This colossal population lives, works and generates thrash. Lots of thrash in the
colonial age, with when the mega-city comprised of just seven islands and a
miniscule population, the government simply transported all the garbage to the
Deonar landfill, where it would be unceremoniously dumped in an area earmarked
for garbage disposal. Over the years, Mumbai's population exploded. From a tiny
fishing village it metamorphosed into the gargantuan mega-city it is today. The
cotton mills grew into mega-corporations. The city and its populations steam rolled
on the path of progress. Yet the garbage disposal system, never evolved.
For decades, the city authorities continued to pile unprocessed garbage into the
Deonar landfill, expanding it in area as the demands of the city rose.
 Trucks carry urban waste in huge amount.

As the new century dawned, environmental activism caused the government to

acknowledge its mistake. But instead of taking positive steps to rectify it error, like
it always has, passed the buck. The landfill was improved to an abattoir. Now, along
with pollutants damaging the soil, and entering the water table, they were being
spewed into the air as well, hundreds of cubic meters at a time. All this while the
metropolis engulfed the area into its residential territories. A combination of years
of government apathy, lack of foresight and unchecked expansion has caused the
Deonar abattoir area to be one on the most polluted populated sites in the world.
Location:

Deonar is a neighbourhood in the eastern suburb of Mumbai, India. It lies on the

Eastern Express Highway. The closest railway station is Govandi. It comes under the
Mumbai Suburban district, parliamentary constituency: 'Mumbai South Central'. It
is governed under Zone 5 – Ward M for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Environmental Impact:

All the issues generally associated with landfill regions plague Deonar. A
large number of adverse impacts may occur from landfill operations. These impacts
can vary: fatal accidents (e.g., scavengers buried under waste piles); infrastructure
damage (e.g., damage to access roads by heavy vehicles); pollution of the local
environment (such as contamination of groundwater and/or aquifers by leakage
and residual soil contamination during landfill usage, as well as after landfill
closure); offgassing of methane generated by decaying organic
wastes (methane is a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide,
and can itself be a danger to inhabitants of an area); harbouring of disease vectors
such as rats and flies, particularly from improperly operated landfills, which are
common in Third-world countries; injuries to wildlife; and simple nuisance
problems (e.g., dust, odour, vermin, or noise pollution). Environmental noise and
dust are generated from vehicles accessing a landfill as well as from working face
operations. These impacts are best to intercept at the planning stage
where access routes and landfill geometrics can be used to mitigate such issues.

Vector control is also important, but can be managed reasonably well with the daily
cover protocols. Most modern landfills in industrialized countries are operated with
controls to attempt manage problems such as these. How ever due to government
apathy, neglect, lack of funds and a governmental aversion to improvement
projects, the landfill at Donar remains largely anarchic.It continues to be a source
for many vector and water borne diseases. The toxins from the waste matter have
seeped into the water table and local soil.
The air around the landfill is laden with landfill off-gasses and has a putrid stench
to it. The area has been rendered unfit for human habitation. Landfill Gas
production results from chemical reactions and microbes acting upon the waste as
the putrescible materials begins to break down in the landfill.

The rate of production is affected by waste composition and landfill geometry,

which in turn influence the bacterial populations within it, chemical make-up,
thermal characteristics, entry of moisture and escape of gas. The spatially
heterogeneous nature of most landfills mean that there will be a wide range of
physical conditions and biological ecosystems co-existing simultaneously within
most sites. This heterogeneity, together with the frequently unclear nature of the
contents, makes landfill gas production more difficult to predict and control than
standard industrial bioreactors for sewage treatment.

Due to the constant production of landfill gas, the increase in pressure within the
landfill (together with differential diffusion) causes the gas's release into the
atmosphere. Such emissions lead to important environmental, hygiene and security
problems in the landfill. Due to the risk presented by landfill gas there is a clear
need to monitor gas produced by landfills. In addition to the risk of fire and
explosion, landfill gas migration in the subsurface can result in contact of landfill
gas with groundwater.

This in turn can result in contamination of groundwater by organic compounds

present in nearly all landfill gas. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent
methane, with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide.
Landfill gas also contains varying amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, sulfur,
and other contaminants. Most of these other contaminants are known as "non-
methane organic compounds" or NMOCs. Some inorganic contaminants (for
example mercury) are also known to be present in landfill gas. There are sometimes
also radioactive contaminants (for example tritium) found in landfill gas. Landfill
gases have an influence on climate change.

The major components are CO2 and methane, both of which are greenhouse gas.
These gasses degrade the air quality and increase the greenhouse gasses in the
area. Their putrid smell makes human habitation in the area difficult and
unhygienic.
Landscape polluted due to waste.
Solutions and Control Measures:
The alternatives to landfills are waste reduction and recycling strategies.
Secondary to not creating waste, there are various alternatives to landfills. The
BMC has also agreed to set up a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) to scientific
segregate and recover recyclable waste. Only bio-degradable waste will be pushed
into the landfill.
Through this technology, which is being used for the first time in Mumbai, the civic
body hopes to quicken the process of degradation of the waste dumped at the
landfill site.

People recycling plastic

Work on a peripheral road, a compound wall, an administrative building, water

supply, service reservoirs and plantation of trees on the periphery has begun. Chief
Engineer (Solid Waste Management) B P Patil said it will be functional by October
2011.
Message written on walls to spread awareness about waste management.

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