Narela Bawana, Delhi: Rajpal Saini, founder of Khatta Hatao Dehat Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, a grassroots organisation opposing waste dumping yards —khatta is Hindi for landfill sites—and incineration plants has been mobilising protests since 2017. 

It was the establishment of the Narela-Bawana waste-to-energy plant on the northern fringe of the capital city, 5 km from the Haryana border, that prompted him to start a citizens’ movement to protect the environment. 

“I will never stop raising my voice against waste-to-energy plants,” said Saini, 68, who retired as a sanitary worker from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) a few years back.

The Narela-Bawana plant owned by the municipality has a daily capacity of 2,000 tonnes of solid waste, and the power it generates is sold to the Delhi power grid. “The local environment in Narela Bawana is not suitable to practise pranayama (breathing exercises), yoga or meditation,” he told Article 14. “The AQI here ranges between poor and severe throughout the year.”

Similar concerns over the air quality around waste-to-energy plants emerge in other Indian cities too. 

In Chinnamathur in Manali, North Chennai, where a waste incinerator has raised health concerns among local residents already burdened by industrial pollution, Ezhilarasi, 52, said, “If burning waste during Bhogi (a Tamil festival before Pongal) is banned due to the smoke that is produced, is it fair that we have to live near such a toxic site and breathe its air throughout the year?”

Ezhilarasi, who uses only one name, is a resident of the area and said it was plainly apparent that air pollution levels were severe in the region until the Chinnamathur incineration plant was shut down in April 2025 following sustained protests by locals.   

The Chinnamathur incinerator burnt only 10 tonnes of waste everyday, but  it posed serious health risks, she said, including a growing incidence of respiratory illnesses and also an apparent rise in incidence of cancer cases nearby.  

Waste-to-energy plants convert non-recyclable waste into usable forms of energy, by burning such waste at high temperatures, producing high pressure steam in a boiler. The steam drives the blades of a turbine generator to generate electricity. The process reduces a significant volume of waste, thus freeing up landfill space. 

A Problematic Solution 

Across India, there are at least 20 major waste-to-energy plants, though only 12 have been operational, according to a November 2022 report by the union ministry of new and renewable energy. 

The union and state governments continue to promote waste-to-energy projects, and as many as 44 plants were under construction in December 2021.  ​

In Chennai, an upcoming waste-to-energy facility is expected to burn 2,100 tonnes of garbage daily, about 35% of the city's 6,000 tonnes of waste generated everyday.

Generation of municipal solid waste (MSW)  in the country is estimated  to be 150,000 tonnes per day (TPD) while the total waste that may be currently incinerated in existing plants totals 19,990 tonnes per day—about an eighth of the country’s total waste generation. 

Waste-to-energy plants are positioned as one of a handful of solutions to the planet’s mounting waste crisis—they divert garbage away from landfills while also generating electricity that does not rely on fossil fuels. 

Municipal solid waste in urban India, however, is poorly segregated, has high moisture content and low calorific value, making for lower electricity generation per tonne of MSW.  

Incineration, however, generates toxic residues such as fly ash, which contains harmful heavy metals and carcinogens. This ash has uses in farming (as a fertiliser) or construction (in cement, reducing reliance on virgin materials), but poses serious health risks for poor communities living near incineration plants. 

These risks include respiratory issues and long-term toxicity that is frequently overlooked.

“The number of people affected with tuberculosis, eye diseases, lung infection, infant mortality and other reproductive issues has seen a rise in  Delhi’s Narela-Bawana,” Rajpal told Article 14. 

“Respiratory issues used to be seasonal, but now I see such cases almost daily—year-round,” said Neeta Mishra, MD, a gynaecologist living near Okhla’s waste-to-energy plant. Eye irritation, heaviness of the chest and throat discomfort have become constant, worsening in winter, she said. 

“People here live on anti-allergic medicines, and have begun accepting these symptoms as normal. Even pregnant women report severe discomfort,” Mishra said. 

A report by Toxic Tours, a community-led storytelling group that focuses on the impacts of plastic production, identified residents near the Okhla plant who suffered from chronic cough, lung disorders, eye and skin ailments, and also cancer. 

A resident who is also a general physician with a clinic near Delhi’s Okhla incineration plant was quoted in the report saying several residents living near the waste-to-energy plant report respiratory ailments such as asthma and lung infections. He said he often refers serious cases to government hospitals for advanced care.

A November 2024 investigation by The New York Times uncovered environmental violations at the waste-to-energy plant in Okhla- Delhi, also found debilitating chronic illnesses among local residents.  

Burning plastic material emits highly toxic chemicals called ‘dioxins’ that can accumulate in the food chain causing severe problems with reproduction and the immune system. Burning of plastics is also a major cause of reduced visibility in Delhi during the winters. 

An Environmental Hazard  

Apart from health concerns, municipal solid waste may contain many materials with the potential to cause serious environmental degradation.

A 2021 report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) found that Delhi’s waste-to-energy plants failed to comply with air quality standards. The plant in Bawana exceeded permissible levels of PM 2.5 and PM 10 (the numerals refer to the diameter of particulate matter, in micrometers), which are tiny inhalable particles that can cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. 

Similarly, a 2025 fact-finding report from Hyderabad’s Jawahar Nagar waste-to-energy plant highlighted severe environmental degradation in the surrounding area. 

Stones and small rock particles had eroded to the point of crumbling at the slightest touch, and roads leading from the plant were coated in ash. Leachate from the landfill, more toxic due to ash from the incinerator, was flowing directly into a nearby pond, said the report, compiled by representatives of various environmental groups in Hyderabad.

“Water sources within a 10-km radius are completely polluted due to leachate,” said  Ruchith Asha Kamal from the Climate Front Hyderabad. “We also conducted a chemical analysis and found that 16 substances in the borewell water exceeded permissible limits.”

Kamal said short-term consumption of such water could cause gastrointestinal discomfort, taste issues or dehydration, while long-term use could lead to kidney stones, cardiovascular strain, bone disorders, and liver/kidney damage. 

A recent report titled ‘Waste-to-Energy Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi: Burning Waste, Warming Cities?’ by the People’s Alliance for Waste Accountability (PAWA), a collective of organisations and concerned individuals, contended that Delhi’s waste-to-energy plants were not only polluting the air but also warming the city. 

The report was the first to link waste incineration with the urban heat island effect, highlighting that Delhi’s four plants release over 398 million cubic meters of hot flue gas besides 12,325 tonnes of carbon dioxide every day, equivalent to emissions from more than 3 million passenger cars (which are estimated to produce 4 kg of carbon dioxide per day).

Garbage Mismanagement

According to a 2020-21 Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report, the overall quantity of solid waste generated in India stands at 160,038.9 tonnes per day (TPD), or 58.3 million tonnes of MSW per year.

This figure is projected to increase to 165 million tonnes by 2031 and could reach 436 million tonnes by 2050, according to a NITI Aayog report.

The Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, notified by the government of India to regulate the collection, segregation, handling, storage and processing of solid waste, stipulates that only non-recyclable and non-biodegradable waste with a calorific value of 1,500 kcal/kg or more should be directed to waste-to-energy plants.

However, unsegregated waste collected from across the city, including waste from slaughterhouses and wholesale markets which have a high moisture content, makes its way to these plants. Saini said such waste releases a foul smell. 

A 2018 report by the Centre for Science and Environment also found that most waste-to-energy plants received mixed waste, comprising a high percentage of biodegradable and inert materials (wastes that do not burn easily, such as construction waste, glass, drywall material, bricks, metal, etc). The calorific value of these wastes ranges between 1,41 kcal/kg to 2,150 kcal/kg, the study found, whereas efficient combustion requires waste with a calorific value of at least 1,900 kcal/kg to 3,800 kcal/kg. 

Waste comprising 30% of inert materials should be processed through incinerators only as a last resort, according to the Swachh Bharat Mission manual for waste management published by the ministry of housing and urban affairs. 

Geo Damin, an environmental writer and activist, said the surge in waste-to-energy incinerators is a “paradox” given what the Swachh Bharat manual says about waste comprising inert materials. “In practice, it's being pushed to the front, disrupting the waste hierarchy because it’s seen as an easy fix,” Damin said. 

In India, urban waste management is primarily the responsibility of urban local bodies (ULBs), but with inadequate waste infrastructure, private players often step in, particularly to promote waste-to-energy plants that enable them to fulfil their Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies. EPR policies place the responsibility of end-of-life waste management on producers of such waste, instead of on municipal bodies. 

“These plants need a constant and growing input of waste to function,” said Damin. “That means cities are locked into a cycle where generating more garbage becomes necessary to keep the system running, posing a perverse incentive.”

The Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), an outreach and research organisation, found in its December 2022 report that incineration not only emits toxic pollutants, but it also often leads to the destruction of valuable recyclables such as paper, plastics and other materials.

The EPR targets fixed by the government permit plastic producers to fulfil up to 70% of their recycling obligations through incineration or co-processing in cement kilns, rather than through actual recycling. This policy effectively allows a significant portion of recyclable plastics to be burned in waste-to-energy plants.

Informal Workers Left Out 

The formal waste collection system in urban India involves door-to-door collection, funded and managed by the local municipal government. Informal  waste collection involves rag pickers who rely on waste as a primary source of livelihood.  

“These plants are taking over what was always meant to be in our hands,” said Krishna A, an advocacy member from the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, Bengaluru. “If recycling is hard, that doesn’t mean it should be abandoned.” 

He said the fact that thousands of waste pickers across India do this work every day is evidence that with some support to the system, “livelihoods and the environment can thrive together”.

He said communities like theirs are almost always left out of the conversation.

“We are the ones affected, but we are never invited to the table.”  

In 2024, the CFA documented a public hearing for the Narela-Bawana plant in Delhi, recording confusion over the venue, delays and failure to collect written submissions or attendance. The agreed minutes of the meeting were also not read out.

Working closely with communities, the CFA has helped expose the risks of these projects. In Gujarat, their efforts led to the International Finance Corporation pulling out of a proposed waste-to-energy project.  

Mandates Not Enforced  

In the case of waste-to-energy plants, projects with a designed capacity to generate more than 15 megawatts (MW) of electricity are required to obtain environmental clearance from the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC). 

“Despite the environmental impact assessment (EIA) being mandatory for waste-to-energy plants above 15 MW, companies often game the system by registering plants at 14.9 MW, just below the legal threshold, to bypass scrutiny,” said Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran, a researcher working with CFA on waste-to -energy plants across India. “The penalties they pay in the name of environmental compensation also don’t match the scale of damage.” 

The CFA researcher cited a case involving a waste-to-energy plant in Gujarat, that has caused severe air, noise and water pollution since 2021, impacting nearby communities who had filed complaints against the plant with its proposed funders. The company allegedly bypassed environmental clearances by limiting project size to 14.9 MW.

A 2024 CPCB report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) also revealed poor and inaccurate real-time monitoring at some of these facilities. Despite fines and court orders, these plants continued to expand operations, it said.

Additionally, government mandates require waste to be transported across cities only in special vehicles designed to prevent littering, foul odour and unsightly conditions. In reality, however, this guideline is widely  ignored.

“In Hyderabad only about 3%–5% of the vehicles used are actually meant for waste transport, and even then, the waste is barely covered,” said Kamal.

“They just throw a small piece of cloth over it, which is nothing more than an eyewash and a blatant violation making a mockery of the rules mandated.” The rules mandate that only covered vehicles may be used.  

Zero-Waste Goals

Kerala has already reached this milestone, largely due to its effective segregation practices and consistent door-to-door waste collection. The state’s local self-government institutions have played a crucial role in driving this progress.

Adopting a zero-waste system emerges as one of the most effective alternative solutions, according to a report by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), which works to develop waste management systems that eliminate the use of incinerators.

“Kerala’s zero-waste declaration is a result of consistent policy implementation and active local governance,” said Sumana Narayanan, deputy director of programs, GAIA-Asia.

The model works by focusing on community-led waste management, improving bio-waste treatment, tracking violations, and ensuring that waste is collected very efficiently, she said. “These practices offer valuable insights for other cities exploring sustainable waste solutions.”

Globally, zero-waste has evolved beyond the ‘three Rs’ (reduce, re-use, recycle) to also include rethinking and redesigning, focusing on reducing waste at source.  

N Jagajeevan, a consultant with the Suchitwa Mission (a technical support group for waste management) run by the Kerala state government’s local self-government department, highlighted the effectiveness of a decentralised, community-driven waste management model.

“We have established proper source segregation—organic waste is treated at in-situ facilities, and any excess is directed to scientific community composting or biogas plants,” he said. Non-biodegradable waste is sent to decentralised collection facilities from where it is transported to resource recovery facilities or recycling plants.

Jagajeevan said, this decentralised approach was environmentally friendly, climate-resilient, and generated employment while promoting efficient use of materials. 

“It is a sustainable solution that needs to be widely adopted,” he said. 

(Subasree is an independent journalist based in Chennai, writing on environment, policy, human struggles, empowerment and social justice.)

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