Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta inspected the Okhla landfill in New Delhi on Saturday, October 3, 2026, and reviewed the work to clear old waste from the site. She said the garbage mountain is shrinking and announced new waste-processing facilities aimed at stopping fresh waste from building new garbage mountains. Key HighlightsRekha Gupta inspected the Okhla landfill site on October 3.The government said about 100 acres have been reclaimed from three landfill sites.Almost all legacy waste at Okhla from before January 2025 has been processed, according to the government.New facilities are being planned to process fresh and construction waste.What did Rekha Gupta say at Okhla landfill?During her visit, Rekha Gupta reviewed the progress of waste removal at Okhla. She said the size of the garbage mountain is coming down.The Chief Minister said the government is working on two fronts. The first is to clear old waste that has already collected at landfill sites. The second is to make sure new waste is processed every day and does not create another garbage mountain. “People are seeing that the garbage mountains are continuously shrinking and soon a time will come when they will become zero,” Gupta said.Gupta also said that she had taken her “last selfie” with the garbage mountain and expressed confidence that it would soon disappear. How much waste has been cleared?The Delhi government said around 100 acres of land have been reclaimed from the capital's three major landfill sites over the last one-and-a-half years. These sites are Okhla, Ghazipur and Bhalswa.At Okhla, the government said almost all the legacy waste that had accumulated before January 2025 has been processed.However, fresh waste continues to reach the site. Gupta said around 3,000 to 4,000 metric tonnes of waste reaches Okhla every day. The new processing facility is expected to help handle this waste regularly.What new waste facilities are being planned?The Delhi government has started work on new waste-processing facilities at Okhla, Ghazipur and Singhola.The facilities are planned to process fresh municipal waste as well as construction and demolition waste. The aim is to prevent new waste from piling up at landfill sites.The projects are also expected to produce useful materials from waste. These include biogas, green energy and manure.Gupta said the government wants Delhi to use technology to improve waste segregation and processing.“Waste should not remain waste, Delhi should use it as wealth,” Gupta said. Why is Okhla landfill important?Okhla is one of Delhi's three major landfill sites. Waste has been processed there for years, creating a large pile of old garbage.The government has been using biomining and other methods to remove the old waste. In August, the Delhi government said around 70 lakh metric tonnes of waste had been processed at Okhla and about 35 acres of land had been reclaimed there. The work is part of a wider effort to deal with Delhi's landfill sites and reduce their environmental impact.What happens next?The focus will now be on clearing the remaining waste while also handling new waste arriving every day.The government has also connected the waste programme with wider environmental work, including Yamuna cleaning, dust control and plantation.For now, the latest update from the Okhla site is that old waste has been greatly reduced, while new processing facilities are being developed to prevent another garbage mountain from forming. Also Read : Delhi CM Rekha Gupta Hails Sanitation Workers at Swachhata Hi Seva 2026
