Aafrin Kidwai 
The Headquarters of Chennai Municipal Corporation, Ripon Building
The Greater Chennai Corporation has started biomining of the 50-year-old landfill in Sathangadu near Tiruvottriyur in North Chennai. The GCC says it will be wrapped up by early 2022. The New Indian Express reports that though the tender period of the project, taken up at a cost of Rs 9 crore, is three years, the contractors Srinivasa Waste Management Services have been asked to wrap it up by March 2022.
The dumpyard, alongside the Buckingham Canal Road, has waste up to 1.25 lakh cubic metres. “For decades, Tiruvottiyur Municipality used to dump waste there and then a few years ago, Tiruvottriyur came under the Corporation limits. The dump yard was then closed and waste is now sent to Kodungaiyur directly,” a GCC official said.
The civic body had conducted an assessment study on the dump yard along with Anna University last year. According to the study, the legacy waste is over 10-foot deep and spread across 17.39 acres. “Waste is segregated as per its density. 25 mm waste is shredded and sent to cement factories while it can also be used as mixing agents for laying roads,” the official added.
Picture Credit: CC BY-SA 2.5
