Ambikapur, a small town with a population of 150,000, in Chhatisgarh provides a good example of how to go about correctly capping a dumpsite. In 2016, C Srinivasan of Vellore first set up a decentralised waste management system in Ambikapur to prevent any fresh waste reaching a 40-year-old dumpsite of nine hectares. Next, the legacy waste on the dumpsite was fully stabilised. For aeration, it was moved in six-inch layers to the boundary of the site, and inoculated with a natural bio-culture of cow dung, cow urine and jaggery before adding and inoculating another layer, up to a total height of nine meters. The boundary wall was thus replaced by a 900-metre-long bund with a 15-metre-wide base, 7.5-metre-wide top and stable 45-degree slopes. The area was seeded with 100 kg of ragi seeds mixed with 100 kg sand, then fully covered with porous jute netting. This prevented birds from eating the seeds and retained the moisture from sprinklers. The heap has naturally shrunk to half its original height and is a wonderful green hillock of dense self-seeded ragi grass covering an area of 1.2 hectares. The remaining area is now a popular Sunday picnic park that replaced a stinking landmark beside the highway into town.