Kolkata faces mounting Dhapa waste load with 1 crore tonnes of legacy garbage

Kolkata’s Dhapa dumping ground has crossed the 1-crore-tonne mark in legacy waste, with the site continuing to receive thousands of tonnes of waste every day while extraction of old waste has halted.

The dumping ground on the eastern fringe of Kolkata has been under pressure after the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) suspended the contract of the private agency appointed to extract legacy waste, reported The Times of India.

The agency was appointed in 2020 with a 2023 deadline but failed to complete the work within the stipulated period, according to civic officials.

The situation has also been compounded by the poor functioning of existing garbage conversion plants at Dhapa and the continued non-use of a 73-hectare plot acquired next to the dumping ground for additional recycling facilities.

A KMC official said, “The 73-hectare land adjacent to the existing Dhapa site remains underutilised. If we cannot take immediate decision to set up the proposed garbage recycling plants there, we cannot prevent an imminent disaster at the existing dumping ground.”

Dhapa began operations in 1987 with a capacity to handle around 2,500 tonnes of waste a day.

It now receives around 4,500 tonnes of waste daily from the city’s 144 wards, along with another 500 tonnes from Salt Lake, New Town and Panihati.

The civic body has also been asked to accommodate an additional 300 tonnes from Howrah, potentially increasing the daily load further.

A civic official said, “The dumping ground is on the verge of collapse. A disaster much bigger than the Belgachhia dumping ground fiasco in Howrah could happen at Dhapa if urgent steps are not taken.”

KMC had earlier sent an SOS to the state government after officials warned that overloaded waste mounds at the site could give way. A fresh reminder was sent following the Belgachhia incident in Howrah.

Civic engineers have prepared a vulnerability report on Dhapa and stressed the need for additional landfill and recycling infrastructure.

The solid waste management department currently has the capacity to process about 1,500 tonnes of waste a day into products including fertiliser, compressed natural gas and plastic furniture.

KMC plans to increase this processing capacity to 2,500 tonnes a day by expanding its facilities.

The immediate focus is therefore on restarting legacy-waste processing, expanding recycling capacity and creating additional landfill infrastructure to reduce the pressure on Dhapa.