Isramart: MCD first civic body in India to win carbon credits

Isramart news:
New Delhi: The MCD today claimed that it has become the first civic body in the country to win carbon credit through its municipal solid waste compost plant in Okhla area of south Delhi.

An advance of Rs 5 lakh against net carbon emission reduction (CER) earning at the plant was handed over to MCD Commissioner K S Mehra by Infrastructural Land and Finance Services (IL&FS) Waste Management and Urban Services Limited.

The CERs issued from the Okhla composting clean development mechanism project is the first for any municipal solid waste management project in the country and also the first for any municipal solid waste composting project in the world, the MCD said in a press statement.

The Okhla compost plant has been revived in public private partnership between MCD and IL&FS wherein an agreement was signed to upgrade it in May 2007 with CDM benefits.

Waste processing projects avoid methane emissions from anaerobic decomposition of municipal solid waste in a landfill site. Moreover, Methane is a green house gas with high global warming potential, hence eligible as a CDM project activity, it said.

The project contributes to sustainable development through cleaning up the urban landscape thus improving health and hygiene and saving precious land at the solid waste disposal site. The project also leads to integrated plant nutrient management in the country since municipal solid waste compost is the most biologically rich organic source increasing the soil productivity.

MCD said the project was successfully registered with UN Framework Convention on Climate Change on June 22, 2009.

The implementing agency performed monitoring and verification of the Okhla plant in December 2009 and 5127 CERs have been reported by IL&FS in its monitoring report. The report has been submitted to UNFCCC for issuance of CERs.

As per the concession agreement with MCD, 25 per cent of the net CER earning (for the first 5 years) has to be shared with MCD.