Dwarfed by the five-feet jumble of trash along Route 13, the lifeline of Laos, he nervously poked his stubby walking stick to dislodge the mound. On further coaxing, the precarious heap collapsed, scattered unceremoniously. Unable to conceal his excitement, a shrill wave of laughter escaped from his mouth. A flimsy polythene bag hung from one side of his trousers, and each time he took a few steps to survey the trash site, the transparent polythene, now full of aluminum cans and plastic cola bottles, clanged against his pants, in sync with his movement. Now, a treasure trove of trash lay ahead of him. In one hand, he held a soiled styrofoam plate and an aluminum cola can on the other. He flung the styrofoam back and walked away with a bunch of cans salvaged from the heap.

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As our per household waste generation increases, so will the load on our landfills. Delhi’s Bhalswa landfill, for instance, was exhausted in 2007 but dumping continues even now. According to data shared by Delhi Fire Services, out of 131 major landfill fires in Delhi, 69 took place at Bhalswa alone. Landfill fires are one of the major reasons for deteriorating air quality in Delhi. “Our Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) suggests that, on average, air pollution is substantially reducing life expectancy in Delhi. It’s possible that air quality is much worse near landfills, and the resulting health impacts are much greater as well,” said Dr Ken Lee, Executive Director, Energy Policy Institute at University of Chicago in India (EPIC).

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