Capital’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.
According to officials, at Okhla, about 23.04 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste (accumulated, long-term municipal solid waste stored in dumpsites or landfills for years) 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 (DEMS), 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.
Delhi processed 17,621–18,396 tonnes of waste on select March days, with waste-to-energy plants and biomining helping reduce the load. However, legacy waste remains a challenge. The Economic Survey 2025–26 shows a daily generation of 11,862 tonnes against a capacity of 7,641 tonnes, leaving a gap of about
4,200 tonnes. with agency inputs
