New Delhi’s Garbage Politics

When we throw things in the trash, not many of us know the processes this waste material undergoes over the remainder of its life cycle. It could be recycled, repurposed, and what is most likely (and coincidentally, cheapest), thrown in a landfill. Landfills have been a monolithic obstacle in the progression of climate change activism and environmental advocacy more generally. There have been numerous linkages found between landfills and the production of greenhouse gasses — not only from their production and transportation but even from their laying and decomposing in a landfill. Particularly, when food is discarded it is not merely the food that is going to waste, but also the industrial manufacturing processes that go into its production, processing, transportation, and storage. When this food waste ends up in landfills, it does not cease to harm the environment but continues to do so by producing methane, a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. Add to this, that most landfills do not only contain food waste, but other, less easily decomposed forms of waste as well, be it electronic, textile, or plastic. It is thus that landfills pose a major issue to the advancement of climate change redressal mechanisms.

In the Delhi NCR region, there are three major landfills that have built up over time, with the one in Ghazipur having started as far back as 1984. As it stands now, there are three major landfills in the Delhi NCR region - in Ghazipur, in Okhla as of 1996, and in Bhalswa as of 1994. Over many years, these landfills have collected waste from neighbouring areas and are now so monumental that they are often referred to as ‘trash mountains.’

On a related note, the issue of climate change is one that has been and continues to be, politicized world over. This has taken a variety of forms: either negatively, such as Bolsonaro’s destruction of the Amazon rainforest, or positively, such as Bernie Sanders’ Green New Deal. Regardless of the direction in which it swings, the politicization of climate change is both an undeniable fact, and a necessary step towards its abatement. And India is no exemption to the rule.

With the recent polls for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, or MCD, the three landfills mentioned above have become hotspots for political activity. With the current Chief Minister of Delhi on one side accusing the BJP for allowing the landfills to get to this point over the past fifteen years, and BJP officials calling out the AAP for not having addressed them despite having promised to.

Irrespective of ‘who is right’ in this debate, the fact of the matter remains that the politicization of climate change has the potential to do good — when carried out with the intention of aiding climate change efforts as opposed to performance in elections. In other, but similar instances, it has been found that often parties will claim to have cleaned up landfills when they have actually only covered the problem sites with concrete — a practice that could be doing even more damage. It is thus that the politicization of climate change needs to be reconfigured from being about popularity and its aesthetic requirements, and more about real, tangible action.

Sources:

https://www.outlookindia.com/national/i-am-shravan-kumar-for-the-people-of-delhi-kejriwal-claims-at-ghazipur-landfill-ahead-of-mcd-polls-news-232815

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2022/01/24/food-waste-and-its-links-greenhouse-gases-and-climate-change#:~:text=Food%20loss%20and%20waste%20also,even%20more%20potent%20greenhouse%20gas.

http://scertdelhi.nic.in/wps/wcm/connect/7701e3004c7b7a5a84aa94b05f83afbf/Status+of+landfill+Site-1.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=942394189