ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Ghazipur Landfill is a 37 year old, unscientific and over saturated dumping ground that lies under the jurisdiction of East Delhi Municipal Corporation. The 70 acre landfill site has crossed the 70 meter height mark, and is still being used to dump fresh garbage because of lack of any other dumping site in the region. Despite being ordered to terminate further dumping at the site on various occasions (year 2002 and 2008), the landfill continues to receive about 2000 metric tonnes of waste per day (as of 2021).This is a serious concern for the people working on site as it translates to several health issues in addition to the environmental hazards.There have been many reports and studies by various organizations conducted on the Ghazipur landfill that have determined the course of action and activities for the landfill. However, the component of sanitation workers and their health has been missed by them. 44 municipal sanitary workers, over 150 contractual workers and many informal workers earn a living off the landfill site and spend major portions of their day in the man-made mountains of waste. The study aims to highlight the health and sanitation of the municipal sanitary workers at the Ghazipur landfill. Secondary literature in the form of reports, studies, research papers, policy documents, and news paper articles, and primary surveys in the form of interviews with the officials and workers was utilized for the same. The importance of information education and communication activities for the municipal landfill workers has also been looked at, and some suggestions based on this have been made.
Keywords: municipal sanitary landfill workers, landfill, health, sanitation, information education and communication.
