Gurgaon: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed MCG to provide a clear timeline for bridging the gap between the city’s daily municipal waste generation and treatment and bringing it down to zero.The direction was issued by the tribunal while considering the handling of solid waste at the Bandhwari landfill. While a large quantity of accumulated waste remains to be processed, the landfill continues to receive fresh waste.NGT also noted that MCG’s latest status report did not disclose a timeline for clearing the entire legacy waste at the site. The tribunal directed MCG to file a report giving details of the steps taken for leachate management since Jan 2026. The Bandhwari matter has been listed for further hearing on Nov 5.MCG’s status report shows that 17.2 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of waste remained to be processed at Bandhwari as of Aug 16. Since Jan 2023, the site has had over 57 LMT of legacy and fresh waste to be managed, of which 39.8 LMT had been processed.The tribunal’s direction comes against the backdrop of the continuing addition of fresh waste to the landfill. MCG said it has identified an alternative site for collection of daily generated municipal solid waste and that a processing plant at the site will be established by Feb 2027. Until then, daily generated waste will continue to be transported to Bandhwari.The corporation estimates that around 3.25 LMT of fresh waste will be added to Bandhwari during this intervening period. At the same time, around 3.9 LMT of existing legacy waste is expected to remain unprocessed after the current processing arrangement is completed.MCG has therefore projected that around 7.1 LMT of waste could remain at the site by March 2027.MCG’s report said 30.4 LMT of legacy waste was assessed at Bandhwari in Jan 2023. Fresh waste received from Jan 2023 to Aug 16, 2026 amounted to 26.64 LMT. The corporation reported that 16.5 LMT was processed in 2023, followed by 17.46 LMT in 2024. Processing fell to 2.3 LMT in 2025 and stood at 3.5 LMT between Jan 1 and Aug 16, 2026. The cumulative quantity processed was 39.8 LMT.MCG has a monthly action plan for processing 14 LMT. The plan envisages progressively increasing the monthly processing target and completing the 14 LMT target by Feb 14, 2027.The corporation also told the tribunal that a high-powered works committee chaired by the Haryana chief minister had approved processing of an additional 2.8 LMT, taking the total quantity to be processed by the agencies to 16.8 LMT.However, MCG said the exact date for completing the processing of the entire legacy waste could only be determined in Nov or Dec 2026, after obtaining govt approval for processing the balance waste.It said it plans to send a proposal to govt for administrative approval so that processing of the remaining waste can continue without a break.The tribunal has also directed MCG to provide details of the segregation and management of waste by bulk waste generators in its next report.The direction followed a submission by the applicant’s counsel that MCG had not disclosed these details in its status report.On leachate management, the applicant’s counsel pointed out that the details in MCG’s latest report were almost the same as those contained in its earlier report dated Dec 15, 2025.The counsel submitted that no effective additional steps had been taken thereafter.
