Landfill remediation and reclamation: Turning legacy waste into a resource
From large cities to local councils, every city, town or village, big or small, carries the weight of its Municipal Solid Waste. Day after day, solid waste keeps piling up in open dumpsites, threatening the quality of soil, water, and air, and compromising the health of living beings.
India faces a legacy of unmanaged municipal waste, with no immediate signs of slowing down. The Central Pollution Control Board’s report revealed that for the year 2021-22, India generated an average of 1,70,338 tonnes per day (TPD0 of solid waste, of which only 91,512 TPD was treated. The data highlight the shortcomings of the current waste management system, which is not efficient enough in managing the daily waste, let alone the long-standing 87 million tonnes of waste piled at 1,356 dumping sites in India, emitting methane, contaminating underground water and occupying acres of valuable land for years.
Reclaiming land through landfill remediation
Landfill remediation is a scientific and legally compliant approach to clear the legacy waste, reclaim the land responsibly, recover resources, and restore ecological balance. The sprawling dumpsite, which may look challenging to clear, can be turned from an environmental liability into a recoverable resource.
Undertaken in line with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and its amendments, as well as the CPCB Guidelines for Disposal of Legacy Waste, 2019, Landfill remediation has the potential to clear the amount of legacy waste hauled in landfills for decades. It is a discipline-driven process where scientific assessment, environmental compliance, and statutory oversight converge. Right from baseline assessment to stabilisation, segregation, and responsible disposal of aggregates is documented and monitored to meet legal and environmental standards. The extensive process starts with a baseline study to establish the pre-remediation status of soil, air, and water.
Each layer of soil — top, middle, and bottom — is sampled separately and analysed for pH balance, total nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, carbon-nitrogen ratio, organic carbon, and heavy metals, including arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium, copper, zinc, and nickel content. The biodegradability and leachability (using TCLP) are also evaluated.
The same process is carried out in the case of water analysis. Groundwater, underground water, and surface water are tested in accordance with IS 10500 standards. These records provide a scientific benchmark to evaluate post-remediation improvements.
Turning waste into value
The legacy waste sitting on the dumpsite is stabilised to complete the organic degradation cycle, reduce odour, prevent scavenging of birds and animals and thus apt for processing. This is achieved by converting the haphazardly dumped waste into equisized windrows and exposing it to bio-culture to ensure rapid degradation. It is periodically turned to maintain aeration and promote aerobic decomposition. Further, the temperature, moisture, oxygen levels, and carbon-nitrogen ratios are continuously monitored until the material reaches a stable, non-reactive State.
Through soil testing and germination studies, stabilisation is validated and the waste is segregated based on size, weight, and properties with minimal manual intervention, in accordance with the rules and guidelines.
Recyclable waste is further used in recycling industries, reducing the need for virgin materials. Inert waste replaces mined soil for building roads, filling up low-lying areas, and other applications. Finally, the non-recyclable combustible fraction is processed into Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), which serves as an Alternative Fuel and Raw Material (AFR) in cement kilns and waste energy projects. One fine example of landfill remediation is the treatment and recycling of 1.7 million cubic meters of legacy waste from the Perungudi landfill.
Beyond reclaiming the land, the process supports India’s Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, advancing circular economy objectives, and reducing India’s carbon footprint by substituting fossil fuels with RDF as AFR.
Policy support and way forward
In several parts of India, with government efforts and intervention by private players, treatment of legacy waste and land remediation are in progress; however, they need more policy support to expedite the process. Poor infrastructure, financial constraints, and inadequate source segregation are some of the common reasons slowing or hindering the process. Low public awareness, implementation gaps, and data deficiencies are additional factors that make effective planning and decision-making difficult. A structured policy and framework are needed in this area.
Decades of unmanaged waste have left India’s cities with hazardous dumpsites that threaten the entire ecological system, making landfill remediation necessary. It is more than an environmental necessity—it is a statement of intent. It signals India’s commitment to a cleaner, greener, and more resource-efficient future, where every reclaimed dumpyard is a step closer to a truly sustainable nation.
The author is, Co-Founder – Zigma Global Environ Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (part of the Blue Planet Group)
Published on November 15, 2025
