NEW DELHI: With a little over six months left before the deadline to flatten two of Delhi’s three landfill mountains, the city still has nearly 44 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of legacy waste waiting to be processed at the Bhalswa and Okhla landfill sites.
A few days ago, Delhi Mayor Pravesh Wahi said that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi aims to clear the Bhalswa and Okhla landfill sites by the end of this year, while the complete remediation of the Ghazipur landfill will be completed by the end of 2027. Wahi said that the civic body is continuously carrying out biomining and remediation work at the three legacy waste sites.
Official progress figures accessed by the newspaper show that the Bhalswa landfill, targeted to be flattened by December 2026, still has 26 lakh metric tonnes of waste remaining.
So far, authorities have reclaimed 35 acres of land, but the site continues to carry one of the city’s largest waste burdens despite the deployment of 24 trommel machines for processing old garbage.
Meanwhile, the situation at the Okhla landfill, for which the earlier July 2026 completion target has now been extended, appears comparatively better but still remains far from completion. Around 18 LMT of waste is yet to be cleared from the site. Official figures show that nearly 25 acres have already been cleared through biomining operations, with 18 trommels currently deployed on the ground.
Taken together, the two landfill sites still hold 44 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste— equivalent to millions of tonnes of decades-old mixed garbage that must be excavated, segregated and processed before the deadlines can be met.
The figures also indicate contrasting trajectories at the two sites. Bhalswa landfill has reclaimed more land than Okhla but still carries a significantly larger waste burden. Okhla landfill, however, has less waste remaining and more land recovered relative to the waste still left to be processed.
The landfill-flattening exercise forms part of Delhi’s broader push to eliminate the city’s infamous garbage mountains through biomining. In this process, old waste is excavated and passed through trommels—large rotating screening machines that separate soil-like material, recyclable components and fuel.
However, the remaining volume continues to raise questions about the pace at which the work can be completed.
The third landfill, Ghazipur, has a later deadline of December 2027, with 67 LMT of waste still remaining, making it Delhi’s biggest unfinished waste-remediation challenge. For now, however, the focus is likely to remain on whether Bhalswa and Okhla can clear the tens of lakh tonnes of waste still standing between them and their promised flattening targets.
Commissioner reviews biomining work at Okhla site
MCD Commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar on Tuesday reviewed biomining and waste-management operations at the Okhla landfill site amid an extension in the timeline for flattening the garbage mound beyond the earlier July 2026 target.
During the visit, he inspected trommel machines deployed for biomining and directed officials to expedite legacy waste clearance. He also reviewed operations at the C&D waste plant, the engineered sanitary landfill site & the Okhla Compost Plant.