India’s largest ‘rubbish mountain’ is on course to grow taller than the Taj Mahal in 2020.
The Ghazipur landfill already takes up more than 40 football pitches of land on the eastern edge of New Delhi, which is widely considered to be the world’s most polluted capital.
The vast dump of rubbish rises by 10 metres every year. It is already 65 metres high and will be taller than the 73-metre tall Taj Mahal next year, according to the report by AFP.
This putrid landmark is now so vast India’s Supreme Court has warned red lights will have to be put on the top to warn aircraft.
Chitra Mukherjee, head of Chintan, an environment advocacy group said: “It all needs to be stopped as the continuous dumping has severely polluted the air and ground water.”
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India’s Rashtrapati Bhawan is partly visible due to smog as traffic plies on Rajapth. Smog levels spike during winter in Delhi, when air quality often eclipses the World Health Organization’s safe levels
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Cooler air traps pollutants — such as from vehicles, building sites and farmers burning crops in regions outside the Indian capital — close to the ground
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A man wearing a protective mask walks amidst smog in the early morning in New Delhi
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Indian people receive treatment for respiratory problems at a hospital in New Delhi
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Buildings shrouded in smog
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A combination of pictures showing people wearing face masks to protect themselves against air pollution
AFP/Getty
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Indian workers are seen in the morning smog as they clean a lane littered with remains of firecrackers
AP
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Smog envelopes the horizon in New Delhi
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Motorists on a busy road amid heavy smog
AFP/Getty
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A man cycles past a government building amid heavy smog
AFP/Getty
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Commuters are seen amid heavy smog in New Delhi
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An Indian shepherd walks along his herd of sheep amidst heavy smog
AFP/Getty
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A train moves through heavy smog
EPA
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A pedestrian crosses a road near the Indian President’s house
AFP/Getty
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India’s Rashtrapati Bhawan is partly visible due to smog as traffic plies on Rajapth. Smog levels spike during winter in Delhi, when air quality often eclipses the World Health Organization’s safe levels
AP
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Cooler air traps pollutants — such as from vehicles, building sites and farmers burning crops in regions outside the Indian capital — close to the ground
AP
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A man wearing a protective mask walks amidst smog in the early morning in New Delhi
Reuters
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Indian people receive treatment for respiratory problems at a hospital in New Delhi
AFP/Getty
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Buildings shrouded in smog
Reuters
6/14
A combination of pictures showing people wearing face masks to protect themselves against air pollution
AFP/Getty
7/14
Indian workers are seen in the morning smog as they clean a lane littered with remains of firecrackers
AP
8/14
Smog envelopes the horizon in New Delhi
AP
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Motorists on a busy road amid heavy smog
AFP/Getty
10/14
A man cycles past a government building amid heavy smog
AFP/Getty
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Commuters are seen amid heavy smog in New Delhi
AFP/Getty
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An Indian shepherd walks along his herd of sheep amidst heavy smog
AFP/Getty
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A train moves through heavy smog
EPA
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A pedestrian crosses a road near the Indian President’s house
AFP/Getty
The tip was opened in 1894, reached capacity in 2002 and has been growing ever since.
With a rapidly growing population and increasing consumption this is only set to get worse. Indian cities generate 62 million tonnes of waste each year and current projections say this will increase to 165 million by 2030.
Birds of prey, stray dogs, rats and more than 1,000 waste-pickers – many of whom are children – comb through the 2,000 tonnes of garbage that is dumped there daily.
Life on Ghazipur landfill is extremely dangerous.
Fires that can last for days regularly break out due to methane gas being belched out from the dump. In 2018 part of the mountain collapsed, killing two people.
People living nearby say air is so toxic they can hardly breath and many have complained of acute respiratory and stomach problems.
In January, Delhi air pollution surged to emergency levels. The state-run Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality index found the concentration of poisonous particulates in the air was 12 times higher than the US recommended level.
India actually has a low per capita plastic consumption of just 11kg compared to western countries, where up to 10 times that is consumed each year, but disposal remains a massive problem.
Earlier this year India banned imports of waste plastic in a bid to close the gap between waste generation and recycling capacity.
It has also committed to completely phasing out single-use plastics by 2022.
