Swachh Bharat Mission: With 2026 target nearing, clearing of 50% landfills in big cities yet to start

Out of a total area of 3,354 acres with 1,258 lakh metric tonnes of waste in these 69 sites, 1,171 acres with 475 lakh MT of waste have been cleared so far. With less than two years to go, the cities are facing the challenge of clearing the remaining 65% of land and remediating 62% of garbage left at the legacy landfill sites. These 69 sites in big cities account for 57% of the total waste dumped in landfills in the country.

Across the country, cities have a total 2,421 legacy landfill sites spread over 14,822 acres of land, with 2,211 lakh metric tonnes of waste. Of this, 41% of the waste has been remediated and 30% of the land reclaimed. About 20% (474) of the total landfills have been completely remediated so far, shows data.

Mumbai’s Deonar dumpsite, which is the largest landfill in the country at 296.5 acres, accounts for around 9% of the total waste accumulated at such sites in the country. According to data, no waste has been remediated and no area cleared at the site so far. The second largest of the landfill sites in terms of waste quantity, the Pirana site in Ahmedabad, is undergoing remediation, with about 48% of the total area cleared so far.

Delhi’s Ghazipur and Bhalaswa sites, which are the third and fourth largest landfills, are also undergoing remediation, with 26% and 40% of waste remediated so far. But, no area has been cleared at the sites so far as the efforts have focused on reducing the height of the dumped waste.

The fifth largest site, Mulund in Mumbai, also has no area cleared so far, though 40% of the waste has been remediated. Chennai’s Kodungaiyur site, which is the sixth largest, has had no waste remediated and no land cleared so far. Delhi’s third landfill at Okhla, which is the seventh largest in the country, has had 56% of the waste remediated, but no land cleared.

Speaking at a press conference on September 13, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the “process was on” to remediate all legacy dumpsites. Responding to a question from The Indian Express about the progress, he said, “In two years, 20% of the sites have been cleared completely… But there are others where the work is 50% done or 70% done or 10% done. We expect to complete this work in the next two years.”

To get funding from SBM Urban 2.0, cities are supposed to submit action plans to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for bioremediation of their legacy landfills and then reuse of the land cleared. The process involves sifting of the waste into different categories, leading to the creation of refuse derived fuel (RDF) for waste-to-energy plants, recycling of construction and demolition waste and bio-soil that can be used for road construction.

The SBM data shows that remediation is ongoing at 1,235 sites, while plans have been approved for another 682. Forty-nine sites are being remediated using state or other funding sources. That leaves 712 sites for which no plans have been indicated on the dashboard.

According to an expert, the planning process has been inadequate. “Remediation of legacy landfills remains a critical challenge in India’s urban waste management landscape. Despite significant progress under the Swachh Bharat Mission, a large portion of legacy waste and landfills continues to present environmental, health and space constraints for cities. Though remediation is ongoing, still the current methods are inadequate as proper planning was not carried out before starting the bioremediation process,” said Tribhuwan Singh Bisht, the deputy programme manager for solid waste management and circular economy at the Centre for Science and Environment.

The most critical challenge, he said, was that the sites undergoing remediation were still being used to dump fresh waste. “Without alternative locations to process fresh waste, the remediation process becomes a perpetual cycle. For example, if a dumpsite processes 800 tonnes of legacy waste and simultaneously 1,000 tonnes of fresh waste is deposited, progress on legacy waste cleanup is offset, making the process inefficient and never-ending,” he said.

He also cautioned against the use of the fine soil-like material generated from the sites as compost, citing the possibility of contamination due to the presence of heavy metals.