The traditional argument that we are a poor nation with limited finances does not align with contemporary facts. The Delhi municipal region has a population of over 33 million with annual income of $133.8 billion in 2023-24 and a per capita income of almost $5,580.
Of course, a large proportion of the population is employed in the domestic household sector, with incomes below the median, but that does not necessarily impact the average household’s capacity to pay.
Delhi’s GDP and per capita income are appreciably higher than some neighbouring countries, including Sri Lanka, which has a GDP of $74.59 billion and a per capita income of around $3,330. Despite severe challenges, Sri Lanka’s solid waste management is superior to that in many large Indian urban centres.
The world according to GRAP: The GRAP measures introduced every winter in Delhi represent a knee-jerk reaction. GRAP is a calibrated shutdown of economic activity.
It can be argued that an over emphasis on vehicular pollution, particularly from certain categories of vehicles, is puzzling, apart from the rent-seeking it induces, given the fact that between 2021-22 and 22-23 nearly 5.5 million vehicles were deregistered in Delhi, on account of court orders, against a registered inventory of almost 12 million vehicles.
While there is no direct correlation between the number of registered vehicles and the number of vehicles actively plying, a 50% reduction is significant, unless the age profile of the deregistered vehicles suggests otherwise. Yet, there appears to be no consistent decline in the Air Quality Index (AQI) for comparable winter months between 2021 and 2024.
GRAP is an emergency response when the air quality falls below certain threshold levels.
Its scope does not extend to pre-emptive, sustainable long-term measures. Its ambit does not appear to cover the dozen or so thermal power stations within a 300km radius of Delhi, which, as per available reports, are still in the process of installing the requisite desulfurization processes to clean flue gas emissions.
GRAP guidelines also barely acknowledge other, more potent and perennial sources of toxic air pollution—namely, solid waste.
In April 2022, there was a super emitter event at the Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi, captured by satellite data which showed that methane emissions from the landfill reached 438 metric tonnes per hour, which is equivalent to 68 million cars plying at the same time, or roughly ten times the 7 million or so total registered vehicles, in Delhi, in March 2023.
Solving the problem of waste: Globally, there are two broadly accepted strategies for solid waste management: landfills and various categories of waste processing plants.
Given the scarcity of land, new landfills are no longer a viable solution. Waste-to-energy (WTE) plants that incinerate solid waste to generate power are widely accepted for meeting stringent OECD emission norms. This technology has been used in Japan since the 1960s and is the sole method used in Singapore, where extensive waste segregation enhances processing efficiency.
While the technology is proven, it’s important to acknowledge the challenges with the current WTE plants in Delhi. Concerns about their track record—particularly issues related to emission standards and efficiency—are valid. However, these
problems can be partly attributed to gaps in maintenance and financing models, which have left the plants struggling to meet their full potential.
While WTE plants can help manage a portion of the waste, their efficiency and environmental impact remain concerns. In addition, addressing waste reduction and recycling rather than relying solely on incineration, would offer a more sustainable approach.
The focus should also be on improving waste segregation, ensuring that WTE technologies are both effective and environmentally sound, and preventing further over-reliance on landfills that continue to harm the environment and public health.
In Delhi, the average daily generation of solid waste is about 11,000 metric tonnes per day, which is likely to grow significantly as the per capita generation increases from 0.6kg per head per day to levels in excess of 1.5kg per head. The OECD and developed world generate 3.5kg and higher per capita.
Currently, Delhi’s three WTE plants account for 60% of solid waste processing, while approximately 3,800 metric tonnes or 40% goes unprocessed and is dumped at three landfills—Bhalswa, Ghazipur and Okhla.
These three landfills exceeded their design capacity in 2008 and any further dumping of solid waste at these sites contributes to groundwater contamination and poses serious health hazards for everyone.
How to arrange funds: The provision of municipal services, and particularly solid waste management, is hugely capital intensive. The prevailing municipal financing mechanisms are grossly inadequate.
In 2023-24, property tax collection by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), a major revenue source, was ₹2,317 crore. This roughly corresponds to a tax-to-GDP ratio lower than 1.5%.
While there is no precise benchmark, it is estimated that if the property tax in Delhi was equivalent to even 1% of the capital value, property tax collections in Delhi would be upwards of ₹20,000 crore per annum.
It is unlikely, given the complexities involved, that property taxes will be revised meaningfully, or the larger elephant of municipal finances can be addressed in any significant way, unless we are willing to endorse broad ranging GST reforms to include urban bodies in the pool for GST allocation This far-reaching idea was
recently re-emphasized by Vijay Kelkar, the principal architect of India’s GST regime.
In the absence of an overhaul of municipal finances, the tariff route to solid waste management offers interesting possibilities. In most states, there is an Electricity Regulatory Commission (REC) that sets power tariffs. In Delhi, the DERC approved a tariff for WTE plants in 2015 at a little below ₹8 per kWh.
As a regulatory body, the commission is primarily, if not exclusively, tasked with determining the cost of power generation. This is a critical activity given Delhi’s peak load consumption of 8,000MW.
Increasing the WTE tariff from the current ₹8 per kWh to ₹20 per kWh could make a significant difference. The incremental cost to Delhi consumers would be minimal—around 20 paise per unit—but the financial benefits could be substantial, leading to capacity augmentation with a high return on investment. This would likely attract a queue of potential investors.
While this approach could help address the waste management crisis, it should not be considered a comprehensive or long-term solution. We need a broader waste management strategy.
A more holistic and comprehensive approach is needed—one that goes beyond raising tariffs.
A balanced strategy would focus on integrating various waste management technologies and solutions. This could include encouraging extensive waste segregation at the source, scaling up recycling programmes and promoting circular-economy practices that reduce waste and its environmental impact. WTE plants should be a part of this mix, but they cannot be the sole solution.
The authors are, respectively, chair and senior fellow, Institute for Competitiveness
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