Delhi will not get new landfill sites: MCD

NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Friday, October 28, announced that the civic body has processed nearly 77 lakh tonnes of legacy waste out of a total of 280 lakh tonnes stored in three landfill sites in Delhi, namely, Okhla, Bhalswa and Gazhipur. The local body said that it has no plan to create any new landfill sites.

MCD statement came a day after Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal visited the landfill site of Ghazipur, where he said that the civic body is planning to create 16 new landfill sites.

Satnam Singh, Director, MCD, denied the plan to create any new landfill sites. Instead, the local body is working to increase its waste processing capacity to around 3,400 tonnes by August 2025.

Dinesh Yadav, Director, Department of Environment Management Services, said, “The height of the Ghazipur landfill has been reduced by close to 15 metres, but only in certain portions. The height hasn’t been reduced uniformly.”

Right now, the legacy waste stored in three landfill sites is being processed using 44 trommel machines which segregate waste into combustible, construction and demolition waste and inert waste.

A senior MCD official highlighted that earlier 1,700 tonnes per day (TPD) of waste used to arrive at the landfill sites of Okhla. However, after the operationalisation of a new waste-to-energy plant at Tehkhand, this quantity of waste has come down to 400-500 TPD.