BMC to conduct ‘odour audit’ at Kanjurmarg waste facility after worsening stench

BMC to conduct an odour audit at Kanjurmarg waste facility amid rising complaints, aiming to identify and mitigate sources of foul smell.

MUMBAI: Complaints of the stink emanating from the Kanjurmarg waste-processing facility from Kanjurmarg, Vikhroli, Bhandup and even further have been a regular phenomenon for the past decade. But having noticed an uptick in grievances, and parallelly juggling a PIL in the Bombay high court, the BMC will conduct an odour audit of the waste-processing site and come up with a mitigation plan.

BMC to conduct ‘odour audit’ at Kanjurmarg waste facility after worsening stench

“Antony Lara Enviro Solutions, which handles the waste-processing site, already takes various steps to reduce the odour,” said an official from the BMC’s solid waste management department. “But as complaints have increased in the past few months, we are conducting this audit to see what more can be done.”

The audit will include inspections at 26 different sites to identify the source of the gases, their severity, and how they interact differently according to time, season, temperature and so on. Six of these spots are in the bioreactor landfills, where 5,000 MT of waste is sent daily to decompose; another three are at the material recovery facility where waste is segregated before being sent for composting; four testing spots are at the composting site and an additional four in nearby residential areas.

The audit will be conducted over three months at a cost of approximately ₹13 lakh. The chosen contractor will also be tasked with recommending solutions to lessen/nullify the stink.

Environmental activist Stalin D, who lives at Kanjurmarg, is no stranger to the stench. “I’ve been complaining about it since 2012, and it’s got worse of late,” he said. “When the garbage is turned and mixed to make space for more waste every few days, the stink becomes unbearable. Deodoriser is sprayed but not on a consistent basis—besides, it is potentially harmful to the health of residents around.”

In January, the Vikhrolikar Vikas Manch had submitted a complaint to the BMC with over 13,000 signatures of residents as far as Nahur, along with letters from doctors and political representatives. “We have intervened in the petition regarding the Kanjurmarg site citing the public health issues caused by it such as asthma, respiratory illnesses and skin diseases,” said member Sanjay Yelve.

“The processing site takes several measures to reduce odours. In the bioreactor landfills, we have a mechanism to collect the landfill gas as well as a misting curtain that sprays deodorants to minimise the smell, as well as a piian solution to neutralise the smell. In the composting facility, we have fog canons which spray fragrant oils, which we function every evening when winds pick up speed,” said Nigam Sahoo, project manager at the Kanjurmarg site. “To a certain extent, however, the stench in unavoidable, especially when the westward wind is strong and as there are homes in the close vicinity to processing site that have sprung up in the years after we started, inside the 500 meter buffer area that is supposed to be maintained.”