Delhi's landfill woes persist, MCD plans to add more waste processing installations

Delhi's landfill woes persist, MCD plans to add more waste processing installations

New Delhi, Delhi's three towering landfill sites continue to loom large over the city's waste management challenge, with fresh data showing that biomining and legacy waste clearance remain work in progress, even as thousands of tonnes are handled daily.

Delhi's landfill woes persist, MCD plans to add more waste processing installations

According to officials, at Okhla, about 23.04 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste remained as of December-end, with an additional 3.34 lakh metric tonnes of fresh waste, taking the total to 26.38 lakh metric tonnes.

The Bhalswa landfill site poses a steeper challenge, with 36.52 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste and 11.45 lakh metric tonnes of fresh accumulation, bringing its total burden to 47.97 lakh metric tonnes.

Ghazipur, long seen as one of the city's most visible garbage mountains, continues to carry the heaviest load at 77.29 lakh metric tonnes, according to the officials.

Delhi generates over 14,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste every day, underlining the scale of the capital's daily sanitation challenge even as processing capacities remain higher on paper.

According to recent daily reports, the city recorded waste collection of 14,076 tonnes on March 27, which rose to 14,525 tonnes on March 28 and further to 14,656 tonnes on March 29.

Sandeep Kapoor, the chairman of MCD's Department of Environment Management Services , said that new installations to process fresh waste into manure will start functioning in the coming weeks, and the timeline to clean up the landfill sites will hopefully be achieved.

"Tenders have already been floated to process 6000 mt/day fresh waste into manure; these installations will start functioning in a few weeks," he said, adding that this installation will increase the waste processing capacity as the corporation is currently monitoring daily waste collection and every month.

Officials noted that the steady rise reflects routine fluctuations across zones, with higher volumes often linked to market activity and population density in different parts of the city.

On the processing side, Delhi handled between 17,621 and 18,396 tonnes of waste on these days in March, the data stated, indicating that facilities such as waste-to-energy plants and landfill operations are working to manage both fresh inflow and accumulated garbage.

Officials said that sustained biomining and waste-to-energy processing are gradually reducing the burden. But the scale of accumulated waste, built up over decades, means the clean-up will take some time.

According to the Delhi Economic Survey 2025-26, Delhi 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.

On the processing front, Delhi currently has a total installed capacity of 7,641 tonnes per day, 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.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.