Ghazipur Landfill – here is the world’s highest garbage mountain!

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7 months ago Robin

Known, not by chance, as the Garbage Mountain of Delhi, Ghazipur Landfill covers an area of about 70 acres, over 50 football pitches, and is almost as tall as the iconic Taj Mahal!

Established in 1984, on the outskirts of Ghazipur, in the eastern district of Delhi, a city and national capital territory in north-central India, it reached its maximum capacity in 2002, but it has since grown into a “little” mountain up to 72 meters high!
Actually Ghazipur Landfill is already one of the world’s largest landfills, but it continues to receive hundreds of tons of garbage from Delhi every day and is expected to grow even more.
Consisting of more than 14 million metric tonnes of waste and home of birds, flies, vermin and unpleasant cattle, it has long been a problem for the millions of people who call Delhi home, as the stench it emanates is almost unbearable, especially in the summer.
Moreover, fires routinely break out engulfing the surrounding area in a thick, toxic smoke, and its winding slopes sometimes collapse burying people and vehicles under millions of tons of garbage.
For example, in September 2017, more than 50 million tonnes of garbage came crashing down, burying dozens of people and cars and, more recently, in April 2024, a major fire broke out at the landfill creating thick smoke that caused significant health and breathing problems in the surrounding area.

“I have only seen it grow, all governments have promised to solve this problem but do nothing,” a resident of Mulla Colony told.
“Every person living around it is getting sick, and it’s difficult to breathe. I am a heart patient and have breathing difficulties.”

Towering over Delhi, Ghazipur Landfill looks like a natural hill from afar, but as you approach it, the smell alone is alone to reveal its true origin.
although it may look impressive in sheer size, the problems it causes for the environment and local population are nothing to joke about.
Unfortunately, despite several promises by local authorities to mitigate the damage, no one has been able to curb its growth. Not by chance, Delhi produces over 11,000 tons of garbage on a daily basis, and only a small amount of this is incinerated, producing power, while the rest is dumped on the landfills, much of which arrives here, making the trash mountain even impressive.