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[Display omitted] • Characterization of MIBA from 3 MSWI plants in Delhi to assess disposal or reuse. • Compilation of 50 studies on MIBA leaching to identify CoCs critical to fate of MIBA. • Comparative assessment of CoCs to evaluate variability across countries. • Emphasis on mandatory inclusion of the identified CoCs in future studies. Present study characterizes municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MIBA) from three incineration plants in Delhi with an intent to serve the dual objectives: a) assessing the disposal/reuse options for Delhi MIBA, b) evaluating variability in results across the countries (including India) and assessing if is significant enough to influence the fate of MIBA of varied origin. A review on leaching studies of MIBA (50 research papers) was conducted which aided in achieving both the objectives. Delhi MIBA samples were analysed for chemical composition. The two commonly adopted leaching tests i.e., TCLP and EN 12457–2, were conducted and the results were checked against regulatory threshold levels (RTLs) to achieve the first objective. Leaching concentration of the contaminants was compared with the compiled literature and RTLs to accomplish the second objective. The compendium of literature most importantly revealed the physicochemical parameters which are pivotal in determining the fate of MIBA but have been missing from many studies. Ten such parameters were identified: Cr, Cu, Mo, Sb, Cl - , SO 4 2- , Cd, Pb, Ni and Zn and are referred as contaminants of concern (CoCs). Delhi MIBA was found suitable for disposal to non-hazardous waste landfills and unsuitable for unrestricted reuse. CoCs identified in Delhi MIBA were identical to those observed in literature (except Cd, Pb and Zn). The variability in leaching concentration of CoCs, observed from comparative assessment of results, spanned nearly 2 to 3 log 10 magnitudes for Cu, Cr, Pb, Sb and Zn while 1 to 2 log 10 magnitudes for Mo, Cl - and SO 4 2-. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing population in the developing countries tend to generate more quantity of solid wastes, which are to be disposed through the proper Solid Waste Management (SWM). Landfill is one of the most common methods in SWM used for the disposal of solid wastes. However, evaluating the suitable site for establishing a landfill is more complex due to the integration of multi-factors. In such conditions, GIS-based Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) techniques play a major role in incorporating various factors and guidelines for identifying the suitable landfill site. Thus, the present study is conducted to select the suitable site for establishing a landfill in Thiruverumbur taluk of Tiruchirappalli district. For which, various factors (cultural, physical, demographic and environmental) and sub-factors (geomorphology, geology, soil texture, slope, settlement proximity, road proximity, rail proximity, industrial proximity, land use/land cover, NDVI, population density and household density) were utilised. The weights of level 1 and level 2 factors were determined using Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and the ratings for each class were obtained through fuzzy linear membership. Based on the weights and ratings, the Solid Waste Landfill Suitability Index (SWLSI) of has been derived and the SWLSI values indicates 15.29% of the study area is very highly suitable; 25.4%, highly suitable; 28.8%, moderately suitable; 19.6, low suitable and 10.7% very low suitable for situating a site for landfill use. Furthermore, based on the results and field observations, two candidate sites of landfill were proposed for the societal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unfortunately in India, most landfills are located along the banks of rivers flowing through the cities. The interaction of two big, diverse and delicate ecological systems - rivers and landfills - has been investigated in this paper. During 2000, the estimated quantity of waste generation was more than 9,000 tons per day. This is one of the biggest sources of environmental degradation in Delhi, India's capital It contributes to river pollution in a significant way through landfill leachate and runoff, especially during the rainy season. Since the 1950s over 12 large landfills have been packed with all sorts of non-biodegradable and toxic wastes from Delhi. The area covered by landfills is at least I percent (14.83 sq.km) of Delhi's total area. An the landfill sites except Tilak Nagar, Hastal and Chattarpur are located close (0–6 km) to the river Yamuna. Further, these landfills are not engineered sanitary landfills and the waste is dumped at open sites without proper compaction. A high mountain of waste can be seen at all landfill sites without a cover. The leachate produced by landfills finally percolates to the porous ground surface at the landfills or finds its way to nearby drains. A large portion of landfill leachate and runoff produced by these landfill sites finally reaches the Yamuna through ground water flow or surface water flow through the drains. The results of analysis by investigations and environmental mapping during the study clearly indicate that river water quality is affected by the presence of landfill locations, i.e. landfill leachate and landfill surface runoff [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]