India generates more than 90 million tonnes of waste every year from municipal, industrial mining, agricultural and other activities. Indian municipalities still struggle to showcase their proper waste management skills and dispose of around 70-90% of unsegregated waste in dumpsites. Due to poor waste management, 70% of the waste from metro cities and 50% from small cities is dumped in landfills. The unscientific management of landfill poses several environmental problems like fire hazards, groundwater pollution, dust, and air emissions in addition to a large footprint area meant for waste containment. 

Due to improper handling and the absence of segregation, the existing landfill gets filled faster. In metro cities, it is always challenging to find land area, especially for landfills. Thus, the concern of SWM is acquiring an alarming dimension in India. The concerns encountered in the management of landfills also include the treatment of leachate. 

Bioreactor landfills with suitable interventions (enzyme addition, controlled aeration) have the potential to address the SWM and leachate issues, and my research intends to explore the same. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the possibility of enhancing waste degradation in a landfill by adding enzymes and chemicals. Biological technologies are much more advantageous and sustainable when compared to chemical-physical processes. Another objective is to evaluate the removal efficiency of biodegradable matter from young leachate using biological reactors and pretreatment techniques.

Journals

1.  “Remediation of a typical municipal solid waste dumpsite in Bangalore city”, P Sughosh, B  Prathima,   M Arunkumar, N Anusree, GL Sivakumar Babu, Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste  (2020)

2. “Parametric Study on Applicability of MBT Waste as Biotic Systems in Landfills for Maximum Oxidation Efficiency”, TG Parameswaran, N Anusree, P Sughosh, GL Sivakumar Babu, Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste 24 (4), 2020

3. “Garbage Enzyme-Mediated Pretreatment of Landfill Leachate: A Sustainable Approach”, N Anusree, Prerana Prakash, GL Sivakumar Babu (under review)

4. “Landfill leachate and solid waste treatment using fungi and enzymes: A Review”, N Anusree, P Sughosh, GL Sivakumar Babu, Sreenivasan Ramaswami, Biodegradation (under review)

Conferences

1. “Suitability of MBT waste for Landfill Covers”, T G Parameswaran, N Anusree, P Sughosh, GL Sivakumar Babu, T.K.K Chamindu Deepagoda, International Symposium on Construction Resources for Environmentally Sustainable Technologies (CREST 2020) 

2. “Estimation of Landfill gas emissions and energy recovery potential from landfills of Bangalore and Mysore: A case study”, P Sughosh, N Anusree, B Prathima, GL Sivakumar Babu, World environmental and water resources congress 2019: Groundwater, sustainability, hydro-climate/climate change, and environmental engineering,432-439.

3. “Life Cycle Analysis as a Tool to Assess the Sustainability of Waste Management Practices in Bangalore City” P Sughosh, N Anusree, GL Sivakumar Babu, Geo-Congress 2019, 125-134, American Society of Civil Engineers, 3/2019.

4. “Quality Assessment of Water Bodies in Eruthenpathy Panchayat of Palakkad District”, N Anusree, R Gopika, P S Akhil, C V Jithin, V U Rejani, International Conference on Water resources by University of Kerala (2018)

5. “Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum Load Bearing Panel” N Anusree, P Deepa  in National Conference  by  The Institution of Engineers and Indian Society for Technical Education (2015)

6. “Resource recovery from existing landfills: A Case study analysis” N Anusree, P Sughosh, GL Sivakumar Babu, 9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics Conference (Abstract accepted)

7. “Closed landfill as an Anaerobic digester for treating young landfill leachate: Laboratory study” N Anusree, P Sughosh, GL Sivakumar Babu, 10th International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management Conference (Abstract accepted)

Seminars

1. “Approach for Bioremediation of Municipal Solid Waste Dumps” G.L. Sivakumar Babu, P Sughosh, B. Prathima, T G Parameswaran, N Anusree, International Seminar on Contaminated Sites (2020)

2. “Cellular lightweight concrete”, N Anusree, R Gopika, All India Seminar on Energy conservation by The Institution of Engineers and  Laurie Baker International School of Habitat Studies (2016)

Poster Presentation

1. “Suitability of waste materials for landfill covers and modelling” N Anusree, P Sughosh, S Sumi, GL Sivakumar Babu, SAMHITA 2019, College of Engineering Trivandrum, Kerala

Internships

1. Indo-German Centre for Sustainability(IGCS) Summer School, Aachen, Germany (July 2022) 

2. Indian Institute of Science(IISc), Bengaluru, Karnataka (May – July 2018)

3. IIT Bombay – KILA Winter school - Canalpy (December 2018)

4. Kerala State Nirmithi Kendra(KESNIK) Kerala (May 2016)

Achievements

1. PMRF Scholarship

2. GATE Scholarship

3. District Merit Scholarship