WRI, CAQM to identify waste burning hotspots across Delhi-NCR

CAQM scientist said burning of MSW is a major cause of high air pollution in Delhi and while its impact on PM2.5 emission is known, the hotspots are still unclear.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Tuesday said they have collaborated with World Resources Institute (WRI) India to carry out a survey and identify major waste burning hotspots across Delhi and the national capital region (NCR). This, they said, will help drive action at these places.

A thick layer of smog in winter months of the year when Delhi’s air quality was ‘very poor’. (HT Photo)

CAQM scientist Vikas Singh said that burning of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a major cause of high air pollution in Delhi and while its impact on PM2.5 emission is known, the hotspots are still unclear.

“We know the per-capita waste being generated and collected in Delhi, with a gap in where the waste is mostly being burnt. Through this, while we get an estimate for the waste burning and how much emissions are likely being released - we don’t know where this waste is being burnt regularly. The only spot we know where waste burning occurs is landfill sites and for that, we have already made detailed guidelines,” Singh said while speaking at WRI India’s Connect Karo 2025.

“Municipal solid waste is burning at multiple places in NCR and so the strategy is to first identify these locations. In the long-term, we then need a mitigation plan, which focuses on door-to-door waste collection and where waste is segregated. We have to identify in which mode of processing every waste type can go,” Singh said.

He added that combustion sources, unlike dust, can not only travel long-distances, but also lead to formation of secondary particles. “This means Delhi’s air is not only being polluted by local waste burning, but also by waste being burnt outside Delhi too,” he added.

Sree Kumar Kumaraswamy, program director of Clean Air Action, Sustainable Cities and Transport at WRI India, said WRI India will form teams to first survey four NCR cities and is coordinating with the municipal bodies in Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Bhiwadi. “This process should take a year to complete. So by next winter, we will know these spots where waste is set on fire. This will be shared with CAQM,” he said.

Experts at the event also pointed at the need to plug gaps between the waste being generated and that eventually ending up at either Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants or landfills – saying that segregation is the long-term goal. “There are leakages that happen at different stages and we need to identify where they occur, what kind of waste leaks out and what needs to be done. An ecosystem needs to be built to prevent leakage and institutionalise it,” said Bharati Chaturvedi, founder and director of the waste management NGO Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group.