Delhi Smog Atlas

Cause 08 · All year, spikes during fires

Garbage burning and landfills

Research report · Updated 12 November 2026 · Prepared by UGAC

Direct answer: open burning of waste and fires at the Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla landfills release toxic smoke close to homes. The effect is very local but can be severe.

People standing on top of a large garbage mound at Ghazipur
Workers on top of the Ghazipur landfill in 2013. Fires on mounds like this send smoke into nearby homes in east Delhi. Photo: FacetsOfNonStickPans, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

At a glance

  • When the Ghazipur landfill caught fire on 28 March 2022, PM2.5 at nearby monitoring stations rose 20–60% that same day.65
  • About 115 lakh tonnes of old waste still lay at Delhi's three landfills in February 2026.87
  • The deadline to clear Bhalswa has been pushed back six times, now to February 2027.45
  • Our analysis: about 24 lakh people live within 2 km of a mapped landfill or dump site.1,11,15

How waste pollutes

Old landfills release methane as the waste rots. In hot or dry weather this can catch fire deep inside the mound and smoulder for days. Burning plastic, rubber and mixed waste gives off fine particles, CO and toxic gases. Small fires of street waste and leaves add to this every winter night, and the smoke stays close to the ground where people live.

What research says

  • During the March 2022 Ghazipur fire, PM2.5 rose at all seven nearby stations, including Anand Vihar, Patparganj, Indirapuram and Vasundhara. CO also stayed two to three times above the standard.65
  • Clearing the mounds by biomining is under way. A record 74.11 lakh tonnes was processed between April 2025 and February 2026, but most of the waste remained.87
Legacy waste still at Delhi's three landfills, February 2026 (lakh tonnes)
About 115 lakh tonnes remained, even after a record 74 lakh tonnes was processed in one year. Source: ThePrint, citing the Delhi Economic Survey 87
Show the numbers
LandfillLakh tonnes left
Ghazipur68.60
Bhalswa30.18
Okhla16.40

What our data shows

24 lakhpeople within 2 km of a landfill or dump site
1.6 kmfrom the Jahangirpuri monitor to Bhalswa landfill

About 24 lakh people (7.1% of the study area) live within 2 km of a mapped landfill or dump site. The Jahangirpuri monitor, an official DPCC hotspot, is about 1.6 km from the Bhalswa landfill area.1,11,15 Satellites saw 52 fires within 60 km of Delhi, mostly in Ghaziabad (12), Faridabad (11) and Hapur (8) districts; none was within 2 km of a mapped landfill.4

What is being done

The city is biomining the three landfills, with Okhla targeted for December 2026, Bhalswa for February 2027 and Ghazipur for December 2027.45,87 See Solutions for what else is needed.

Limits of this data

A 375 m satellite pixel cannot see a small garbage fire. Distances use the centre of each mapped landfill polygon.

See it on the map