Guwahati to Turn Household Waste into Usable Resources: GMC Plans Green Transformation with Oil India Ltd

Guwahati is now moving beyond just dumping waste, it's gearing up to transform garbage into resources that can be reused by the public, in a bid to address both environmental concerns and urban utility.

Recently Business North East (BNE) spoke to Ashish Bharali, Spokesperson and Councillor of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) who shared a significant development in the city’s waste management strategy.

Ashish Bharali explained that the city has shifted its garbage dumping operations from the Boragaon landfill to a new site at Belortol, located just four to five kilometers away. The move came after the National Green Tribunal raised concerns over the environmental impact at Boragaon, especially on the surrounding vegetation and forested areas.

"Previously, household waste was dumped at Boragaon, which spans about 15 acres. After the warning from the green tribunal, we had to stop operations there and start cleaning the legacy waste, waste that was dumped over the past 10 to 15 years," Bharali said. He revealed that GMC is currently removing approximately 2,000 tonnes of legacy waste per day from the Boragaon site.

Meanwhile, the new Belortol site handles around 300 tonnes of fresh waste daily, with the waste being processed twice a day. The key innovation lies in how the waste is managed post-collection.

“The waste is first segregated into solid and liquid components. The liquid waste is treated by machines that convert it into organic manure. The solid waste, on the other hand, is provided to cement companies, who use it as a form of raw material in cement production,” Bharali explained.

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In a breakthrough initiative, Bharali informed that GMC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oil India Limited for a pilot project in Kharguli. Under this agreement, Oil India will explore converting household waste into biogas. “It is still at a very early stage, but if it materializes, it could revolutionize waste management in Guwahati and benefit the public by turning waste into usable energy,” he added.

The project underscores GMC’s shift towards a circular economy model, where waste is no longer a problem but a potential resource. If successfully implemented, the Kharguli model could serve as a blueprint for other cities seeking sustainable and innovative waste solutions.