The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) expects to earn Rs 72 crore by way of carbon credits by 2015.

The civic body has till now received Rs 24.51 crore for the scientific closure of the Gorai garbage dump ground, which became the first waste site to earn carbon credits.

"The Gorai ground has become the first garbage dumping site in the country to earn carbon credits. The first installment of Rs 24.51 crore was received in September 2009.

This amount was generated by flaring 300 to 400 cubic metre of methane gas," BMC Solid Waste Management, Chief Engineer B B Patil told PTI.

"By 2015, we are expecting to receive Rs 72 crore from carbon credits," Patil said.

Carbon credits are a key component of global attempts to mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases. One Carbon Credit is equal to one tonne of Carbon.

The closure of Gorai dumping ground was carried by Indian firm, United Phosphorus Ltd and Dutch firm Van Der Weil at the cost of Rs 37 crore.

The BMC received its first cheque of Rs 24,51,39,862 in September 2009 from Asian Development Bank (ADB), with whom the administration has signed an Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement in 2008, where in the Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) or carbon credits generated at the Gorai dump would be sold to.

"The amount would depend upon the quality and quantum of methane gas. The amount might come down. We are expecting another installment in six months or may be a year," Patil said. .

The money essentially is for the capture and combustion of methane gas emanating from the dump which results in a substantial reduction of greenhouse emissions, he said.

The 19.6 hectare Gorai dump stopped accepting garbage on January 2008, 30 years after it was designated a landfill site. By then, it had accumulated an estimated 2.34 million tonne of trash.

Garbage was being dumped at this plot adjoining the Gorai creek since 1972. Thirty-five years later, when the dump was closed in December 2007, it was receiving 2,200 tonnes of refuse a day and the 2.3 million tonnes of accumulated waste had stacked up to 32 metres, Patil explained.