NEW DELHI: Delhi generates 3,711 tonnes per day (TPD) of construction and demolition waste, the highest among the 35 non-attainment cities, stated a report released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Monday.
The report, ‘Construction and demolition waste – closing the waste loop for sustainability’, stated that the data was disclosed by the 35 non-attainment cities on the Central Pollution Control Board’s portal for regulation of air pollution in non-attainment cities, while the remaining 96 had not shared any data. PRANA is part of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) designed to improve local air quality.
“Of the 131 non-attainment cities that have shared their city action plans on it, only 35 (26%) have data on C&D waste generation. Together, these cities have generated 6,563.5TPD C&D waste. Only eight cities have reported how much C&D waste they collect daily,” the report stated. Delhi is followed by Ahmedabad at 1,000TPD, and Faridabad and Noida at 300TPD each.
It stated that Delhi’s capacity to treat 5,150TPD through five plants was more than adequate, and the goal should be to send all C&D waste to processing plants. The report pointed out flaws in calculating C&D waste under the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, under which cities are expected to apply a thumbrule of 50 gram per capita per day as part of the city solid waste action plan. “The top generators — according to the SBM 2.0 estimations — are Mumbai (919.8TPD), Delhi (817.5TPD), Kolkata (702TPD) and Bengaluru (426TPD). This is a gross underestimation.”
Additional assessments carried out by CSE in the 35 cities revealed that the actual generation was expected to be much higher given the status of live construction sites. For instance, Delhi generates 3,711TPD, more than four times the estimated quantity.
Mitashi Singh, programme manager of sustainable habitat at CSE, said, the data, needed to plan NCAP, had not been updated beyond 2021.
