Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said 217.17 lakh metric tonnes of waste had been disposed of from the Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur landfill sites over the past 18 months, reclaiming nearly 100 acres of land as the government laid the foundation stones for new waste-processing facilities.
Gupta made the announcement during a visit to the Okhla landfill site, where she reviewed waste-removal progress and the capacity planned for new processing units. Foundation stones were also laid for facilities at Ghazipur and Singhola, along with a biogas plant at Ghazipur.
The chief minister said the government was pursuing two parallel tasks: clearing legacy waste that has accumulated at Delhi’s landfill sites and processing the fresh waste generated every day. The stated aim is to prevent new garbage mountains from forming after the existing landfill waste is removed.
“The goal is not just to clear legacy waste but also scientifically process fresh waste to prevent new garbage mountains from taking shape,” Gupta said.
At Okhla, Gupta said almost all legacy waste that existed before January 2025 had been processed. However, the site continues to receive between 3,000 and 4,000 metric tonnes of waste daily. She said a new fresh-waste processing unit would ensure that incoming waste was handled regularly instead of adding to the landfill’s accumulated stock.
“Our government is fighting on both fronts, to finish the old mountains and to ensure that no new garbage mountain is created in the future,” she said.
The planned facilities will process fresh waste as well as construction and demolition waste. According to the chief minister, the government also plans to use processed waste and cattle dung to produce biogas, green energy and manure. “Waste should not remain waste. Delhi should use it as wealth,” she said.
Gupta directed officials to make the new processing units operational at the earliest and at their full capacity. She also cautioned that removing waste from the visible surface alone would not be sufficient, saying the material accumulated underneath would also require scientific processing.
The announcement places waste-processing capacity at the centre of Delhi’s response to its landfill problem. The chief minister said the government was simultaneously working on legacy-waste clearance, scientific waste management, waste-to-resource initiatives and renewable energy. The facilities at Ghazipur, Singhola and Okhla are intended to support that shift from disposal towards processing and recovery.
Gupta also linked landfill management to the city’s wider pollution-control efforts, citing Yamuna cleaning, dust mitigation, plantation, road infrastructure and waste management. “Environmental impact comes from everything. The garbage mountains, cleaning of the Yamuna and dust mitigation all have an impact,” she said.
The immediate implementation milestone is the commissioning of the new processing units at their planned capacity, while the government continues its stated effort to reduce the existing landfill waste at Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur to zero.
