Landfills are highly hazardous to the environment. There is always wet waste that is rotting, polluting the groundwater and soil, methane gas is coming out because of the decomposition of the wet waste, which is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. Secondly, the gas is also a part of whole the climate change thing and lastly there is always a risk of diseases as there are a lot of flies and mosquitoes which breed on this waste. Currently, at the Ghazipur landfill we have all kind of waste – be it sanitary waste, covid masks, battery or e-waste. The landfill is basically a dumpsite, which gets each and everything that the city uses. Not just environment, it is very harmful for the people living nearby. Daily inhalation of all the toxic fumes coming out of the landfill is very dangerous. You can imagine, when you pass by the landfill or the garbage dump you close your mouth because the smell is just unbearable. Imagine, the life of people who work in the landfill. They have constant headaches, nausea, vomits, bronchitis, spinal problem, all this is part of their daily life. People are living all around the landfills, this in itself is a big no no.
Chitra Mukherjee, consultant, waste and sustainable livelihood
