At Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill site, how waste is being recycled to level the trash mountain
In Pictures

At Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill site, how waste is being recycled to level the trash mountain

The Ghazipur trash mountain has long been a matter of concern. Experts have said the 65-metre landfill could soon dwarf the Qutub Minar.

   
A bulldozer at the Ghazipur landfill | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Representational Image | The Ghazipur landfill | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

New Delhi: BJP’s East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir claimed on Twitter last week that the height of the garbage heap at the Ghazipur landfill site has been reduced by 40 feet.

Commissioned in 1984, the overflowing garbage dump site had grown 65 metres (213 feet) high when it was last measured in 2019. With the heap rising by nearly 10 metres every year, many experts had said it would dwarf the Qutub Minar in a few years if no action was taken.

Gambhir had vowed to work on the landfill site in his constituency and install recycling plants to reduce the waste there. The former cricketer posted on 23 July, “Had promised that if I don’t deliver, I will never contest elections again. Asia’s largest garbage mountain in Ghazipur East Delhi down by 40 feet in 1 year!”

The MP visited the site Tuesday to take stock of the situation and tweeted updates.

ThePrint’s photojournalist Suraj Singh Bisht was there, too, and captured images of the trash mountain and what is being done to clear it.

One of the recycling machines installed at the Ghazipur landfill | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint
The bulldozer dumps the waste in the machine, where it is turned into manure | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint
The workers at the landfill separate the wood and stones from the waste | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint
People who live near the site have often complained of ailments because of the garbage mound | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint
The Ghazipur landfill has been a major dumping ground for more than three decades | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint
Spread over 70 acres, the Ghazipur landfill site has been Asia’s largest | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint
PPE kits dumped at the Ghazipur landfill | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint
BJP MP Gautam Gambhir at the Ghazipur landfill site | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint