In a suburb in northeast Mumbai lies a 60-acre dump site in the region of Mulund. The infamous garbage haven contains about 7,000 million tonnes of waste. Packed to the brim, the dump site was closed years ago.
And now that Mumbai is also filled to the brim with people, it was time to reclaim the dump site for better use.
The Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finalised a five-year contract with Mumbai-based Prakash Constrowell Limited to reclaim the dumping ground at the cost of Rs 558 crore.
The reclamation technique of bio-mining will be used and if exercised at this large scale, it would be the world’s largest bio-mining project.
Biomining has seen its popularity grow in India in the past few years. From Bengaluru, Trimbakeshwar and Nandurbar and recently in Chitlapakkam lake in Chennai, biomining seems the way to go. But just what is bio-mining and just how safe is it?
Read about the biomining in Chennai: Chennai Citizens Unite, and Now a Trashed Lake Is Coming Back to Life!
First, we have to know that the biomining is referred to here is actually bio-remediation. Bioremediation is the use of microorganisms to degrade contaminants that pose environmental and human risks.
But how is that going to help the garbage site which is filled with plastic, metals and other ungodly materials, I hear you ask. Well, first, the waste has to be loosened and scraped off by tractor harrows.
After this, the waste is segregated by recyclables, metals and plastics using human labour. Meanwhile, the trenches created by the tractor are later sprayed with bio-culture which will “mine” through the contaminants in the soil. Hence the word bio-mining is loosely used.
The trash is properly recycled, and the bio-culture is then left alone to do its job for 3-4 weeks. After which the soil (technically compost) would have been volume-reduced and will be passed through sieves.
And there you have it, an easy but long-term method to turn waste dump sites into reclaimed land. But the question of its safety remains.
Do not worry, my superior googling skills on “how safe is bioremediation” found an article in the World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology about bio-remediation, where intrinsic bioremediation, the one discussed above, actually has a catch.
The larger the field, the longer it takes for the bio-culture to do its job. So proper risk assessment has to be carried out regularly, to determine the removal of toxicity completely.
And if you think people will be ridiculed to move to an ex-garbage dump site, know that bio-mining is as safe as the nutrients you add to see plants grow.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a document from the National Service Center for Environmental Publications details about bio-remediation and it’s safety stating that:
“The chemicals added to stimulate bioremediation are safe. For example, the nutrients added to make microbes grow are commonly used on lawns and gardens, and only enough nutrients to promote bioremediation are added.”
The project, if carried out successfully will result in about 24 hectares of land. That’s half as big as the Vatican City! And if I moved in here, I can say that I would actually be proud for being eco-friendly.
(Edited By Vinayak Hegde)
