Delhi Economic Survey 2025-26: Only about 63% of daily waste processed

Delhi's economic survey reveals a waste processing gap, with only 63% of solid waste managed, as efforts to boost capacity and segregation continue.

The economic survey report tabled in Delhi assembly on Monday shows that dumping of unsegregated fresh waste remains a key challenge before the flattening of landfill site and Delhi only able to process around 63% of the solid waste it generates with rest ending up in landfill sites. As per the survey report, the areas under MCD generates nearly 11,862 tonnes of municipal solid waste every day, while the processing capacity is 7,641 tonnes per day, leaving a significant waste-processing gap of around 4,200 tonnes, according to the survey report.

Delhi CM Rekha Gupta along with cabinet ministers at the Delhi Budget session on Monday. (HT Photo)

The total waste generated daily, around 11,500 tonnes, comes from areas under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), while 300 tonnes are generated in NDMC areas and 62 tonnes in the Delhi Cantonment Board. A bulk of it continues to strain the city’s processing capacity and landfill infrastructure, it said further. On the processing front, Delhi currently has a total installed capacity of 7,641 tonnes per day (TPD), which is about 64.4 per cent of the waste generated. Actual processing stands slightly lower at 7,460.3 tonnes per day, or 62.9 per cent, the survey said.

However, segregation at the source remains uneven. While NDMC areas have achieved about 92 per cent segregation and cantonment areas report up to 90 per cent in civil pockets, MCD areas average only about 59 per cent, with targets set to reach full segregation by January 2027.

The status of the biomining project on three landfill sites shows that 120 lakh tonnes of garbage is still left at the three landfill sites. The amount of waste at Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur was 203 lakh tonnes as per a volumetric survey carried out in June 2022. The project progress continues to be slowed down due to fresh waste dumping.

“The interventions undertaken over successive financial years indicate a clear shift towards systematic reduction of accumulated waste. A distinct improvement is observed in FY 2025–26 (April 2025 to February 2026), which marks the most

substantial progress to date. During this period, 74.11 LMT of legacy waste has been remediated, representing the highest annual processing achieved so far,” the report adds. Around 30.74 LMT of fresh waste disposed during the same period at these sites.

Highlighting the proposed waste disposal and processing facilities, the Economic Survey 2025-26 said that Delhi plans to boost its waste processing capacity with new and expanded waste-to-energy facilities, adding 7,750 tonnes per day capacity to its waste disposal and processing capacity in the next few years. A 3,000 TPD plant is proposed at Narela-Bawana (by December 2027) and a 2,000 TPD facility at Ghazipur (by December 2028). Existing plants at Okhla and Tehkhand will be expanded by 1,000 TPD each, taking their capacities to 2,950 TPD and 3,000 TPD, respectively, by 2027.