Biomining in Ghazipur landfill to rise to 12,000 tonnes daily by July 31

Delhi Urban Development Minister Ashish Sood on Friday inspected the Ghazipur landfill site and announced that daily biomining capacity will be raised from 7,000 metric tonnes to 12,000 metric tonnes by July 31.The minister said the Government will also introduce separate processing of fresh waste to speed up remediation of the city’s oldest garbage mountain. 
Sood said he would personally revisit the site next month to assess progress.

 According to a statement issued by the minister’s office, nearly 24 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste has been processed under the second phase of biomining and around 20 acres of land reclaimed, leaving around 50 acres.  The Ghazipur landfill, spread across nearly 70 acres, has been operational since 1984. Despite directions issued by the National Green Tribunal in 2019, the dumpsite continued to grow and reached an approximate height of 65 metres or around 213 feet, becoming one of the largest garbage mountains in the country.

The first phase of biomining, carried out between November 2022 and November 2024, was meant to process 30 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste, but the contracted firm could process only 13.90 lakh metric tonnes. The second phase, awarded on March 7, 2025, also targets the processing of 30 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste and is scheduled for completion by September 2026.  
 Officials said that a drone survey conducted in April revealed that the landfill contained 67.81 lakh metric tonnes of waste.

 Between April 30 and June 25, around 3.39 lakh metric tonnes of waste were processed through biomining, reducing the total waste at the site to 66.68 lakh metric tonnes, including both legacy and fresh waste. The Government has set a target of clearing the remaining waste by December 2027. Sood said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has identified continuous dumping of fresh waste and disposal of inert material generated during biomining as the two main hurdles slowing the project.

 “Around 2,400-2,500 metric tonnes of fresh waste reach the Ghazipur site every day from Shahdara North and Shahdara South zones. While a substantial portion is diverted to the waste-to-energy plant, around 800 metric tonnes is added daily to the fresh waste heap at the landfill,” the statement read.   The minister directed officials to process fresh waste separately from legacy waste and submit a two-month action plan to his office.

 On inert waste disposal, officials said arrangements have been made to transport the material to the NTPC Eco Park, around 23 kilometres from the landfill. Sood directed the executing agency to increase the number of transport vehicles and submit a compliance report within a week. “The people of Delhi deserve permanent solutions, not temporary measures. After the present Government assumed office, work at Ghazipur has gathered pace with renewed accountability and close monitoring,” Sood said in the statement.

Presently, biomining operations are processing around 7,000 metric tonnes of waste per day. Taking serious note of the need to accelerate remediation, Shri Ashish Sood directed officials and the contractor to enhance the daily processing capacity to 12,000 metric tonnes per day by 31 July 2026, with clear accountability for achieving the target.

 “Today, we have identified every major bottleneck, fixed timelines for resolving them and issued clear directions to accelerate biomining. Our objective is not merely to reduce the height of the landfill, but to permanently eliminate Delhi’s legacy waste challenge through scientific and time-bound remediation,” the minister added.