CHENNAI: You may want to reconsider the next time you dump a plastic bag full of bio-degradable waste into the street-side bin. The pile of waste is burning a hole in your pocket without you ever noticing.For instance, take the Athipattu landfill in Ambattur (Zone 7). Greater Chennai Corporation pays a private contractor 1.79 crore of taxpayer money just to prevent the landfill from flowing over its boundaries. Aside the plausible reason that the corporation's flawed source segregation policy contributed to the situation, it is also a marker to the increasing flow of waste into the city's landfills."Athipattu has been taking in additional waste (around 100 tonnes) generated in Valasaravakkam (Zone 11) for the past 12 months or so," said a corporation source.The difference is evident. In 2012-13, the corporation paid around 2 crore per annum to a contractor to shift out 315 tonnes of waste per day from Athipattu to the Kodungaiyur landfill. Today, the corporation pays nearly the same amount but for 120-day contracts. The contractor, on paper, is expected to shift out 415 tonnes per day.It represents a 34% spending increase for the corporation from the last 120-day contract which ended in March ( 1.34 crore), yet somehow the situation doesn't ring an alarm bell for the civic body. "The increase in cost of waste transfer is also due to rise in fuel price. Wages for workers involved in the process too have gone up," a corporation officer said.Reclamation of the Athipattu landfill was proposed when Ambattur merged with Chennai corporation in 2011. However, the proposal continues to gather dust."We forwarded the proposal to the government a few months ago. We are still waiting on an administrative sanction. We are confident of reclaiming the site," said N Mahesan, chief engineer, buildings and solid waste management.

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