Mumbai’s long-delayed effort to clear decades of accumulated waste at the Mulund landfill has entered its final stage, with civic authorities indicating that most of the legacy garbage at the site has now been processed through bioremediation. The development marks a significant moment in the city’s broader struggle to reclaim polluted urban land while addressing mounting environmental and public health concerns linked to ageing dump yards. Municipal officials estimate that nearly 85 per cent of the remediation work at the Mulund landfill has been completed, allowing authorities to prepare for the recovery of approximately 60 acres of land by the end of 2026. The site, which functioned as one of Mumbai’s major dumping grounds for decades before closing in 2018, has long symbolised the environmental cost of rapid urbanisation and inadequate waste management systems.
The Mulund landfill remediation project involves processing nearly 70 lakh tonnes of legacy waste through bio-mining, a method that separates recyclable material, combustible waste and soil-like residue from old garbage deposits. Urban environmental planners say such projects are becoming increasingly critical for Indian cities facing land scarcity, methane emissions and groundwater contamination from overburdened landfill sites. Waste processing at the Mulund landfill accelerated over the past year, with daily handling capacity reportedly reaching between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes. However, the project has faced repeated delays since work was first proposed nearly seven years ago. Pandemic-related disruptions, procedural approvals and more recently fuel supply shortages affecting heavy machinery operations slowed execution timelines. Civic officials involved in the project indicated that contractors have now been directed to complete the remaining work without additional deadline extensions. The reclaimed land is expected to become a valuable urban asset in Mumbai’s eastern suburbs, where open land availability remains limited amid continued population growth and infrastructure expansion.
Experts in sustainable urban planning argue that landfill remediation projects should not only focus on land recovery but also on ecological restoration and climate resilience. Legacy dumpsites are significant contributors to methane emissions, which intensify urban climate risks and degrade air quality in densely populated neighbourhoods. The conversion of such sites into green buffers, biodiversity parks or public utility zones is increasingly being discussed as part of climate-responsive city planning. Mumbai currently processes most of its daily municipal waste through facilities at Kanjurmarg, while a portion continues to be directed to the Deonar landfill, another large and environmentally sensitive dumpsite undergoing remediation planning. Authorities have already initiated formal procedures for large-scale clean-up work at Deonar, where waste accumulation is substantially higher than at Mulund. Urban policy analysts say the Mulund landfill project could serve as an important test case for how Indian megacities address decades-old waste burdens while balancing environmental restoration with land redevelopment pressures. They caution that long-term success will depend on sustained investment in waste segregation, decentralised processing and circular economy practices that reduce dependence on landfills altogether.
As Mumbai continues to densify, the outcome of the Mulund landfill remediation effort may shape future approaches to waste governance, land recovery and climate-sensitive urban regeneration across the metropolitan region.
