IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services Ltd,
The Pitch
IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure Services Limited (IEISL) partnered with Delhi’s municipal corporations and informal workers to develop an integrated waste management system that diverts waste from hazardous landfills.
The Problem
New Delhi is a densely populated city that requires innovative solutions to process massive amounts of waste while conserving land. Dump sites in Delhi created health hazards and leeched toxic chemicals into the environment while occupying scarce land.
The Process
- Built its first compost plant in Delhi in 2008 and continued to expand over the following 10 years
- Developed an integrated waste management model
- Provided service to 1.8 million people in South Delhi’s Central Zone, collecting 1,120 tons per day of waste (this included municipal solid waste, street sweeping waste, drain silt, vegetation waste and construction and demolition waste)
- Processed municipal solid waste into compost at Okhla Composting Facility
- Generated power from municipal solid waste at Ghazipur Waste to Energy Plant in East Delhi
- Partnered with the North Delhi and East Delhi Municipal Corporations to build plants that recycle construction and demolition waste using wet and dry processing
- Included the informal sector by partnering with the Gulmeher Green Producers Company, a women-led waste-picker-turned-artisan collective
The Impact
- Processed over 380,000 tons of municipal solid waste between 2008 and 2018 and helped save 12 acres of urban land worth INR 1.2 billion at Okhla Composting Facility—the first municipal solid waste composting plant in the world to obtain carbon credits
- Accepts 2,000+ tons of solid waste per day at Ghazipur Waste to Energy Plant
- Helped the city address some of the environmental, health and safety hazards created by a 29-hectare dumping ground (home to 12 million tons of garbage) near Ghazipur Waste to Energy Plant
- Diverts an array of construction materials—including clean soil, washed sand, stones, pavement blocks and bricks—from landfills via construction material recycling plants; these materials are processed and then sold to the public
- Supported Gulmeer Green Producers to transform discarded flowers and paper into stationery, decorations, gifts and more—providing livelihoods to women and diverting waste from the landfills
