Lucknow: Lucknow on Tuesday emerged as Uttar Pradesh’s first zero fresh waste dump city after achieving complete scientific processing of municipal solid waste under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban.
The milestone followed the commissioning of the Shivari Solid Waste Management Plant. With this facility, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation now processes all freshly generated municipal waste every day. Officials said the move ended open dumping across the city.
Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, has nearly 40 lakh residents and about 7.5 lakh establishments. As the city expanded, waste volumes increased sharply. To address this challenge, the municipal corporation adopted a multi-pronged waste management strategy focused on segregation, processing and resource recovery.
The city generates around 2,000 metric tonnes of waste daily. To manage this load, the corporation partnered with Bhumi Green Energy to set up three processing plants. Each plant has a capacity of 700 metric tonnes per day. Together, they handle over 2,100 metric tonnes daily.
Waste collection teams segregate waste at source into organic and inorganic streams. Organic waste forms about 55% of the total and goes into compost and biogas production. Inorganic waste accounts for 45% and moves to recycling or conversion into refuse-derived fuel for industries.
Shivari plant drives zero fresh waste achievement
The newly commissioned Shivari plant alone processes 700 metric tonnes of waste each day. With its addition, Lucknow secured zero fresh waste status across all municipal zones. Door-to-door collection efficiency now stands at 96.53%. Source segregation levels have crossed 70%.
The municipal corporation also accelerated legacy waste clearance. From nearly 18.5 lakh metric tonnes of accumulated waste, teams have processed about 12.86 lakh metric tonnes. This effort reclaimed over 25 acres of land.
Authorities redeveloped the reclaimed land into a modern waste processing hub. The site now includes windrow pads, sheds, internal roads and dedicated weighbridges.
Processed waste has also generated valuable by-products. The city has dispatched around 2.27 lakh metric tonnes of refuse-derived fuel to cement and paper industries across India. Officials reused coarse fractions, bio-soil and construction waste for low-lying land development and infrastructure projects.
Looking ahead, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation plans to set up a 15 MW waste-to-energy plant at Shivari. The proposed unit will use 1,000 to 1,200 metric tonnes of RDF daily. Officials said the project will cut transport costs and reduce dependence on distant cement plants located nearly 500 km away.
