How New Delhi’s garbage mountains become heat bombs for waste pickers

New Delhi, India – “My close oculus swells up successful the heat, truthful I stopped going to the landfill past year,” says 38-year-old Sofia Begum, wiping her watering eyes. Begum joined astatine the property of 13, and for much than 25 years, she and her hubby person picked done mountains of rubbish astatine Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill, scavenging for recyclable discarded they tin merchantability to scrap dealers.

Dressed successful a ragged, greenish and yellowish kurta, and sitting connected a seat successful a constrictive lane successful the mediate of the slum colony wherever she lives beside the dump site, Begum explains that she came into interaction with medical waste successful 2022, which infected her eye.

Her oculus swells up painfully erstwhile it is exposed to the prima for excessively long, truthful she has had to halt moving successful the summertime months. Even successful winter, she struggles to enactment arsenic overmuch arsenic she utilized to.

“Now I can’t enactment arsenic much. I utilized to transportation 40 to 50 kilograms [88-110lbs] of discarded a day. Now my capableness has reduced to half,” she says.

As temperatures successful Delhi soared arsenic precocious arsenic 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) successful June, causing the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to contented an “orange alert” for 2 days, 3 rubbish sites astatine Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla successful India’s superior metropolis became biology ticking clip bombs. Choking with rubbish and filled acold beyond their capacity, these towering discarded mountains person go hubs for toxic fires, methane leaks and an unbearable stench.

It’s a slow-burning nationalist wellness menace that, each year, blights the lives of the tens of thousands of radical who unrecorded successful the shadiness of these rubbish heaps.

Sofia Begum, 38, successful the slum colony she lives successful beside the Ghazipur landfill tract successful New Delhi. Her oculus was infected by aesculapian discarded past twelvemonth and it swells painfully successful sunlight [Poorvi Gupta/Al Jazeera]

Making a surviving from toxic work

Waste pickers are usually informal workers who gain a surviving by collecting, sorting and selling recyclable materials similar plastic, insubstantial and metallic to scrap dealers. They are typically paid by those who bargain the materials they forage, depending connected the prime and quantity they tin find and sort.

As a result, they person nary unchangeable income and their enactment is hazardous, peculiarly successful the summertime months.

According to a study published successful the technological diary Nature, the somesthesia astatine these landfill sites varies based connected the size of the dump. The somesthesia from dumps exceeding 50 metres (164 feet) successful tallness mostly lies betwixt 60 and 70C (158F) successful the summer. This “heat-island effect” is caused by the decomposition of integrated waste, which not lone generates vigor but besides releases hazardous gases.

“These landfills are state chambers successful the making,” says Anant Bhan, a nationalist wellness researcher who has specialised successful planetary health, wellness argumentation and bioethics for 20 years. “Waste pickers enactment successful utmost heat, surrounded by toxic gases. This leads to semipermanent wellness complications,” helium explains.

“Additionally, they are exposed to respective gases, similar the highly flammable methane, which causes irritation to their respiratory system. The rotting discarded besides leads to skin-related complications among the discarded pickers.”

Ghazipur, which present towers astatine slightest 65 metres (213 ft) precocious – equivalent to a 20-storey gathering – has go a potent awesome of Delhi’s clime crisis.

Begum’s oculus started swelling up successful the aggravated vigor past year. “I went to the doc and helium suggested country to dainty my eye, which would outgo maine astir 30,000 rupees ($350) but I don’t person that benignant of money,” she says.

Like different discarded pickers, Begum says she is reluctant to sojourn the authorities hospital, wherever she could person escaped treatment, arsenic it tin instrumentality six months to person a diagnosis there. “It is simply a discarded of clip to basal successful queue for agelong hours astatine the outgo of enactment days, and the diagnosis takes months to travel through,” she explains. “I similar going to the Mohalla Clinic; they cheque the Aadhaar Card [a signifier of identification] and instantly springiness medicines.”

The Mohalla Clinics, an inaugural started by erstwhile Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, connection escaped superior healthcare, medicines and diagnostic tests to residents successful low-income areas.

Tanzila, 32, who works arsenic a discarded picker astatine the Ghazipur landfill tract successful New Delhi, fainted successful the scorching prima past year, and present works mostly astatine nighttime [Poorvi Gupta/Al Jazeera]

A ticking clip bomb

On a blazing summertime time successful July arsenic temperatures scope 40C (104F), Tanzila, 32, who besides lives successful the slum adjacent to the landfill site, is preparing for her nighttime displacement of discarded picking. “It’s conscionable excessively blistery now,” she says. Tanzila, a parent of 3 children aged 8 to 16, who has done this occupation for 12 years, says she passed retired from dehydration portion moving nether the prima past year. “Now I lone spell astatine night. During the day, it feels similar being baked alive.”

Slender and dressed successful a full-sleeve red, floral kurta with a headscarf, Tanzila appears exhausted and weary. She explains that erstwhile she did enactment during the day, “I would spell aboriginal successful the morning, travel backmost astir 9am, past again spell astir 4pm and travel backmost astir 7pm. But for the past 2 years, I person been going with different women lone astatine nighttime during summers due to the fact that it has go harder to enactment during the time successful this weather.”

Sheikh Akbar Ali, cofounder of Basti Suraksha Manch and a erstwhile door-to-door discarded picker, has been campaigning for the rights of discarded pickers crossed 52 sites successful Delhi for the past 20 years. He explains that the conditions tin beryllium much unsafe astatine nighttime than during the day.

“There are galore vehicles similar the tractors and JCBs operating connected the landfills astatine night, and the discarded pickers who enactment astatine nighttime deterioration torchlights connected their head, which indicates their visibility connected the landfill. However, discarded and state leaks are much disposable during the day.” This is due to the fact that fires and fume tin much easy beryllium seen successful the daylight.

Despite the government’s repeated assurances that these garbage mountains volition beryllium cleared, small has changed connected the ground. In the latest assurance made successful May 2025, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Delhi’s situation minister, claimed that the “garbage mountains” would beryllium wholly cleared by 2028, contradicting his ain connection from April 2025, successful which helium had said that they would “disappear similar dinosaurs” successful 5 years.

The entranceway of Ghazipur landfill done which each the trucks carrying the city’s discarded participate [Poorvi Gupta/Al Jazeera]

As the summertime vigor accelerates the decomposition of integrated waste, the merchandise of hazardous gases has worsened the aerial prime successful Delhi, thing environmentalists and nationalist wellness experts person sounded the alarm over.

According to a study from AQI, an open-source aerial prime monitoring level based successful New Delhi, since 2020, satellites person detected 124 important methane leaks crossed the city, including a peculiarly ample 1 successful Ghazipur successful 2021, which leaked 156 tonnes of methane per hour.

Even though the aforesaid enactment which puts nutrient connected the array besides makes them ill, discarded pickers similar Begum and Tanzila accidental they person small prime different than to proceed with their work. “Garbage is golden to us. We don’t get bothered by the odor of waste. It feeds our families, and wherefore would we leave?” asks Tanzila.

Their labour, unrecognised arsenic a assemblage by the government, comes with fewer protections, nary wellness security and nary unchangeable income. Rubbish pickers indispensable manner their ain information cogwheel from immoderate they tin spend – specified arsenic utilized disposable masks which tin beryllium bought successful the marketplace for 5 to 10 rupees (6 to 11 cents) – but thing is peculiarly effectual astatine keeping workers escaped from hazards.

“They don’t deterioration gloves due to the fact that the vigor makes their hands sweat easy and they aren’t capable to clasp discarded properly. Even the masks are a full discarded due to the fact that each the sweat gets collected successful the mask, which makes it hard for them to breathe,” adds Akbar.

‘The garbage grows, and we support working.’ Shah Alam, a Delhi discarded picker who besides drives an electrical rickshaw [Poorvi Gupta/Al Jazeera]

When clime alteration and discarded mismanagement meet

New Delhi’s civic bodies, which are nether unit from biology and wellness activists to show immoderate disposable advancement successful tackling the city’s discarded and pollution problems, person mostly responded with speedy fixes, astir notably plans to physique 4 incinerator plants successful Okhla, Narela, Tenkhand and Ghazipur. But experts pass that specified infrastructure-centric solutions lone disguise deeper problems and could besides origin further biology damage.

Incinerators often merchandise assorted harmful pollutants specified arsenic dioxins, furans, mercury contamination and particulate substance into the air, which airs superior wellness risks, they say.

According to a 2010 study by the World Health Organization, dioxins are “highly toxic and tin origin reproductive and developmental problems, harm the immune system, interfere with hormones and besides origin cancer”.

Furthermore, if incineration plants regenerate landfill-based recycling, galore fearfulness the erasure of their livelihoods altogether.

“Delhi’s displacement to incinerators has wholly excluded informal discarded pickers, peculiarly women,” says Bharati Chaturvedi, laminitis of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group. “It threatens their livelihoods and pushes them into deeper poverty. It is an biology catastrophe successful the making. Incinerators emit toxic fumes and undermine recycling efforts.”

“Beyond conscionable closing landfills oregon gathering incinerators, we request to guarantee that discarded pickers person alternate livelihoods and are portion of the ceremonial discarded absorption system,” says Chaturvedi.

“This is not conscionable astir clearing garbage,” she argues. “It’s astir including discarded pickers successful the ceremonial economy. It’s astir creating decentralised, community-level discarded absorption systems. And it’s astir acknowledging that clime alteration and poorness are profoundly interconnected.”

A presumption of the Ghazipur landfill tract from its entranceway [Poorvi Gupta/Al Jazeera]

Activists and nationalist wellness professionals advocator for the instauration of a decentralised discarded system, 1 that includes segregating discarded into abstracted places according to type, ward-level composting (processing integrated discarded locally to debar transportation), and robust recycling systems.

Formalising the relation of discarded pickers by offering ineligible recognition, just wages, protective cogwheel and entree to payment schemes would not lone empower 1 of the city’s astir susceptible communities but besides assistance physique a climate-resilient discarded absorption model, accidental situation activists.

Back astatine the Ghazipur landfill, the world remains grim. Fires interruption retired with expanding frequency, and the acrid aerial clings to adjacent homes. For residents and discarded pickers, the regular conflict against the heat, stench and unwellness is simply a substance of survival.

“Nothing has changed. The garbage grows, and we support working,” says Shah Alam, Tanzila’s husband, who utilized to enactment solely arsenic a discarded picker but present besides drives an electrical rickshaw to gain a living. “During summers, much radical autumn sick, and we suffer workdays. But what different enactment bash we have?”