Mumbai: Air quality drops with rise in garbage, overflow at landfills

MUMBAI: As the problem of open burning rages across the city despite complaints, urban local bodies like BMC are coming under greater scrutiny for solid waste management and redressal mechanisms. Introducing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the kitchens of the poor under a government scheme is one solution that has helped reduce burning of biomass like wood and coal to an extent in recent years.However, as waste continues to swell in volume, its disposal remains a challenge.
Satish Sinha, associate director of Toxics Link, a Delhi-based NGO said, “Urban local bodies need to provide resources to citizens to ensure that waste is disposed of in the right manner. Currently, waste collection isn’t available at the last mile in several pockets of the city. The civic body must provide for compost of dry garden waste which is often burnt every few days. Once there is a provision for disposal, the civic body can take penal action against those who do not use it.”

A frequent hot spot for open burning is near recycling units such as in Dharavi. Hence experts suggest that government provide designated spaces for it. “Unorganised, unregulated units burn all the waste they gather to separate metal from plastic. These fires are very harmful to human health. Instead, government must provide space away from residential areas where recyclers can set up their sheds and carry out their work,” said Vinod Shetty, director, Dharavi Recyclers' Collective.
Several non-profits are also aiming for micro solutions. For instance, Pune-based Samuchit Enviro Tech has developed a stove that uses dried leaves and twigs as fuel and emits less smoke. The group has been encouraging housing societies to provide these to security staff that use bonfires to stay warm during winters.
Environment activist Sumaira Abdulali said awareness was the key not just among citizens but also authorities. “People must report whenever they see an instance of open burning. Social media could be used to report with pictures as well,” she said. Abdulali, over the last year, monitored air quality near open burning sites in Bhiwandi and found concentration of particulate matter was nearly 100 times the permissible limits.
To cut pollution from solid fuels burnt for cooking, the Central mission for 'smoke free' status has gained momentum in the past four years with introduction of LPG in the kitchens of the poor. By replacing more than 3,000 wood-fired stoves with LPG in the state daily since 2016, as many as 44,22,390 households have now said 'No' to smoke and are using clean fuel for cooking.
Under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) launched in 2016, LPG connections were subsidised besides providing a loan to meet the cost of LPG adoption. The scheme resulted in over 44 lakh new connections in Maharashtra, of which over a lakh were in Mumbai metropolitan region. The emphasis was more in rural areas where the problem was severe, but urban households, especially in the slum pockets, were covered, a senior official from an oil marketing company said.
Household air pollution caused mainly by burning of solid fuels—firewood, charcoal, coal, dung, and agricultural waste—and ambient air pollution were the factors which led to the government launching the scheme nationwide in 2016 in 715 districts, including 36 in Maharashtra.
During the pandemic, the scheme was a huge relief to beneficiaries as government gave free of cost LPG refills to Ujjwala consumers for three months -- April, May and June, 2020.