The city of Agra in India has achieved something remarkable by transforming a hazardous landfill into an integrated waste management system, as well as an eco-friendly green space that serves as a model for other cities in the region.
According to Organiser, the Kuberpur landfill in Agra quickly grew as households and businesses filled it with thousands of tons of waste daily, becoming a massive mound of garbage that posed significant health and environmental concerns.
Leachate from the landfill contaminated nearby groundwater, while the lack of a waste management system resulted in rising air pollution. By 2019, the Kuberpur landfill had reached critical mass and become a significant public health risk.
The Agra Municipal Corporation, along with Chief Minister Shri Yogi Adityanath, decided to take a page from the Swachh Bharat Mission (the Clean India Mission), an initiative launched in 2014 to promote urban cleanliness and sustainable waste management. Their goal was not only to eliminate this landfill but also to turn it into an eco-friendly space.
To do this, they utilized biomining and bioremediation. Biomining recovers recyclable materials from landfills, while bioremediation uses microorganisms to break down organic waste in the landfill.
These processes began in 2019 with 1.9 million metric tons of waste sitting in Kuberpur. By 2024, the entire amount of waste had been processed, resulting in a total of 47 acres of reclaimed land, which was then ready for redevelopment.
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The redevelopment consisted of a multipronged approach.
On the sustainable waste management side, the city of Agra created a waste-to-compost plant, which initially processed 300 tons of organic waste per day but was processing 500 tons per day as of 2023. Processing yields a nutrient-rich compost, which is then used by local farmers.
In 2025, the city also established a plastic waste processing plant that processes approximately 65 tons of plastic per day, which is then converted into affordable water pipes used by regional farmers to promote sustainability.
In terms of land reclamation, the city of Agra forested 10 acres, thus improving air quality, with plans to forest another 10 acres. Meanwhile, the city converted five acres into a sanitary landfill that follows strict regulations and procedures to prevent contamination.
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Not only has all this hard work made the air, water, and soil cleaner for the people of Agra, but the revamped area also offers India (and other countries) a blueprint for cleaning up other hazardous waste sites.
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