Delhi’s garbage crisis has reached a tipping point. Three of the
four stinking landfills — now virtually mountains of waste — are long overdue
for closure and there are no new sites available to absorb the current discard
of 10,000 tonnes every day. Precipitating the crisis, the daily generation of
garbage is expected to rise from the current 2,300 trucks to 4,700 trucks by
2024, and Delhi will need an additional area more than the entire spread of
Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone to dump its daily waste as early as 2020.Almost 85% of
the city does not have a formal door-to-door trash pickup system and if steps
are not taken now, residents will have no option but to start throwing waste
out of their doors, community bins (dhalaos) will start overflowing, and only
garbage will be seen on the streets — making Delhi drown in its own discards.