Conventionally, a landfill separates humans and the environment from substances and material that is no longer usable for its original use.
In urban and semi urban areas in India, landfills are located on the outskirts. Unsegregated waste will be dumped in these landfills.
Landfills and dump-yards are a health and environment hazard.
The landfills are gradually becoming mountains and towers over the surrounding areas inhabited by slum dwellers, rag picker. The inhabitants have their lifespan severely cut short. The average age of people living in Dhapa(Kolkata) is 50 years and people living in Deonar(Mumbai) is just 39 years.
Also read: Deonar, Mumbai slum waste dumping ground.
The people living in these surroundings frequently contract life threatening diseases such as Tuberculosis, Diarrhea, Malaria etc. Rats, mosquitoes and flies infest their dwellings. Due to limited access to proper medical facilities, people succumbing to the life threatening diseases is a common scenario.
Apart from the poor health conditions of the inhabitants, the landfills have dire effects on the water table, air quality and soil quality of the area. The decomposing gases in the landfills which include Methane (Methane is 84 times more effective at absorbing sunlight than CO2, hence making it one of the most potent contributor to global warming and climate change), CO2, Hydrogen Sulfide among others reduce the quality of air to a large extent.
The water quality also reduces as Leachate from the landfills can contaminate groundwater tables or aquifers. Informal ways of dumping waste lead to serious environmental issues such as soil erosion and polluting the water resources.
Is there any hope?
There are organizations that help individuals and business establishments deal with the daily waste generated by them. Recyclers, Producer Responsibility Organizations(PRO) are encouraging people to reduce the waste being dumped in these landfills by encouraging them to segregate waste at source.
Waste segregation & recycling can help the people living around these landfills fight against life threatening diseases and help them have a longer lifespan.
RecyclEarth Foundation is a section 8 company based in Hubballi, Karnataka. It has initiatives planned to reduce the improper dumping of E-waste and plastic waste in dump-yards and landfills.
Read more: What is E-waste? How can we Reduce, reuse, recycle?