MCD to double waste processing capacity at Delhi’s 3 waste landfills

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided to double its waste processing capacity by engaging an additional agency for all three landfills in Delhi at Ghazipur, Bhalswa, and Okhla.

While tenders have been floated and an agency each will be finalised this month for Ghazipur and Okhla, the tender for Bhalswa landfill site will be floated next month. Mayor Shelly Oberoi said that MCD aims to reduce the three waste mountains in the city at the earliest. All three landfills are currently managed by one agency each.

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“One agency is currently working towards waste processing at each of the three sites. They have to process 3 million tonne of garbage each in two years. Now the target to double the garbage processing capacity has been set so that garbage mountains can be disposed of before time. According to the plan, one additional agency per landfill site will be deployed. Each agency will have to process 3 million tonne of garbage each. So, 6 million tonne of garbage will be processed in two years at each landfill site,” said Oberoi.

By deploying additional agencies at the three landfill sites, each site will clear 6 million tonne of garbage. So, a total of 18 million tonne of garbage will be processed every two years across the city’s three landfill sites, officials said.

Officials added that the garbage processing work by the additional agency will initially start at Gazipur, followed by Okhla and Bhalswa, which will also start in November.

The mayor added that if the agency finishes the garbage processing work before time, it will be given additional work.

“If any agency disposes 3 million tonne of garbage before the end of two years, then it will be given the work to dispose additional 15 million tonne of garbage. It will give them an additional income. This information has already been given to agencies so that they can work faster. These terms have been included in the tender process as well,” said Oberoi.

She also said that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will personally monitor the work of garbage processing at the landfill sites.

However, experts said that the Capital is still not recycling its waste and there is no energy recovery, adding that authorities do not fully understand how to manage the city’s waste. “Delhi is not following the waste management hierarchy of reduce, reuse and recycle. In fact, the calorific value of the waste is so low that additional fuel needs to be used. There shouldn’t be a need for more agencies after having three processing plants of such scale. I think there is lack of understanding among the decision makers about how the waste of Delhi needs to be managed,” said Siddharth Singh, Deputy Programme Manager, Municipal Solid waste unit, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Delhi generates 11,332 tonne of solid waste every day, according to an MCD estimate, of which 4,360 tonne ends up at the city’s three landfill sites. Meanwhile, the daily waste generation in the city has gone up from 11,094 tonne in 2021-22 to 11,332 tonne in 2022-23, with maximum growth of about 200 tonne in MCD areas.

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The Delhi government earlier vowed that the Okhla landfill would be cleared by December this year, the Bhalswa landfill by March 2024 and the Ghazipur landfill by December 2024. HT reported in February that Delhi is currently able to process 61.5% of the waste it generates, but MCD plans to achieve 100% waste processing levels by adding new waste processing facilities by 2025.

For this, the Delhi government during the budget announcement in March this year, also proposed to loan ₹850 crore to MCD to clear the garbage mounds. In its financial estimates sent to the Centre last year, MCD mentioned that it will require around ₹1,800 crore to clear the landfills.