A few days ago, a sparsely attended meeting in Panaji revealed something unique -- an interesting way to manage the city’s solid waste. A presentation was made by a European company, the Holland based Plastic Export Zundert. This company claimed that it can use landfill gas technology to treat not just Panaji’s but Tiswadi’s waste. As far as solutions go, on the face of it, this seems to be a far better solution than other solutions presented in recent times. This solution will also make use of isolated locations for landfills. But the most important part, landfill gas can be turned into an essential commodity -- electrical power. No doubt, landfill gas does also contain methane, a potent
greenhouse gas, albeit in smaller percentages, anything
between 40-60 percent. But this gas is extracted under controlled
circumstances and is not allowed to come into contact
with air. The technology too is not as labour intensive as other
options and is quite cost effective. This anaerobic (without air)
process is carried out in a pit and
the gas extracted through tubes in
an interconnected system. For the
pit, the company has suggested
using dead mining pits and stone
quarries, which makes sense.
Interestingly, the methane which
is extracted can be used to create
power. The average waste collected
in Panaji every day is around
70 tonnes, which makes it almost
25,000 tonnes a year. This might
not generate massive megawatts of
power but it might serve to supplement
power requirements in the city. Since the waste generated
is from the entire taluka of Tiswadi, there is potential for a
decent amount of power generated from waste sites.
All this is good news. For too long now, Panaji has been tussling
with the problem of dumping garbage. Now with this
presentation, this issue may have turned a corner. Another
positive is the fact that the recent elections threw up a more
stable panel for the CCP, one that the Mayor , the panel and
its backers seem to stress on. There is no doubt then that, barring
the search for suitable locations, this technology might be
implemented soon. However, there is still the matter of more
research needed to find out whether this technology has any
downsides. Along with methane and carbon dioxide, there
is the possibility of other toxic compounds like mercury that
could be generated, in minute percentages. These cannot be
burned or converted into power, so it remains to be seen how
these gases will be extracted and dealt with in a green manner.
There have been a few accidents at landfill gas sites, so safety
is another concern. But proper research will show us how to
prevent these disasters.
The more pressing matter at hand is finding landfill sites.
Goa’s land mass is limited and locating sites for land fills is a
hazardous job. Nonetheless, once all the hurdles are cleared
Panaji could lead the way because the rest of Goa needs
solutions to their waste management problems too.
