Why do landfills catch fire during summers?

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Last Updated16/03/2023

Recently, the Brahmapuram plant landfill located in Kochi caught fire and toxic fumes were seen spreading from the site.

Solid wastes collected and accumulated at landfill sites are mainly made of
Biodegradable material (60%),
Non-biodegradable content (25%)
Inert materials (15%) such as silt and stone.
Municipalities in India are required to process the wet and dry waste separately and must also ensure that the recovered by-products are recycled.
However, the rate of processing of waste in the country is very low compared to the rate of waste generation.
Thus, the unprocessed waste remains accumulated in open sewage plants or landfills for an extended period of time.
Such sewage plants or landfills sites also consist of openly disposed waste which includes flammable material with relatively high calorific value (about 2,500-3,000 kcal/kg).
During summer months, biodegradable material composts faster which increases the temperature beyond 70-80°C.
This higher temperature along with the flammable materials such as low-quality plastics, rags and clothes causes the landfills to catch fire.

Landfill fires will have a direct impact on the life of workers of facilities and people living close to such sites as toxic gasses such as dioxins, furans, and polychlorinated biphenyls are emitted.
Exposure to the toxic fumes can cause large-scale throat pain, headache and eye allergy and other respiratory problems.
Instances of landfill fires also impact the ambient air quality due to the emission of various hazardous air pollutants.
Landfill fires also result in the emission of harmful pollutants such as particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3).

Measures must be undertaken to divide the site into smaller blocks based on the nature and type of the waste.
Blocks with fresh waste must be separated from blocks with flammable material.
Drain or soil bunds can be used to separate each block, as this reduces the chance of fires spreading across the blocks.
The blocks or portions which consist of plastics and cloth are the most vulnerable part of the landfill and hence these portions must be capped with soil.
The fresh-waste materials should be provided enough moisture by sprinkling water and they should be turned regularly for aeration as this process helps cool the waste.
landfill operator must classify incoming waste on arrival at the site and dispose such waste in the designated blocks.
Non-recyclable and non-biodegradable wastes are to be segregated and sent to the cement kilns instead of collecting and accumulating such wastes in the landfill sites.
Efforts must also be made to clear the dry grass and dry tree materials from the site if any.

Capping the landfill materials completely using soil, and closing landfills in a scientific manner.
Clearing the heaps of waste through bioremediation, which is a process of detoxifying contaminants present in the sludge through biological means.
Segregating flammable refuse-derived fuel (RDF) such as plastics, rags, clothes, etc. from biodegradable material by using automated sieving machines.
Sending the segregated RDF material to cement kilns which can be used as fuel, and distributing the biodegradable soil to farmers which can enrich their soil.

However, implementing such a solution takes over two to three years of time.
Formulating stringent Solid Waste Management Policies, which emphasises on decentralised waste treatment, reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery of waste phase-by-phase.
Ensuring that cities have a systematic waste-processing system in place where wet and dry wastes are processed separately and their byproducts are treated accordingly.