Waste-to-energy plants are a disaster for the environment but India is building more

When Rajpal Saini retired from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, he didn’t really plan to spend his golden years battling his former employer. But a waste incineration plant commissioned near his village, by the corporation, has made his life arduous.

“We have the entire waste processing mall of Delhi here – a khatta [dumping ground], a hazardous waste disposal site, a composting plant, and a 28 megawatt (MW) waste-to-energy plant. And as if all this were not enough, now they have imposed another one [WTE plant] on us,” said Saini, a resident of Sannoth, a village near Bawana at the northwestern edge of Delhi.

“The world recognises the value of yoga and breathing in fresh air. But forget about the outdoors; we even have to seal the holes in our doors to avoid the stench. My uncle, who regularly did pranayam [breathing exercises], has been paralysed and bedridden for six years now,” Saini said, whose car is full of posters advocating for the “right to breathe”.

The construction of the new 3,000 tonnes-per-day (TPD), 30-megawatt WTE plant began in May despite a case before the National Green Tribunal and residents’ protests since December 2024. Situated right next to Munak canal, a significant source of drinking water for Delhi,...

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