Location: Delhi, India

Client:IL&FS Waste Management & Urban Services Ltd. (IWMUSL)

Project Description and Status:The objective of Delhi Okhla MSW Compost Plant (situated in southern part of Delhi) Rehabilitation Project is to avoid methane emissions from anaerobic decomposition of municipal solid waste (MSW) in a dump site through controlled aerobic decomposition in a windrow composting process. The aerated composting process will avoid methane emissions and will also result in compost as a product that can be utilized as organic fertilizer for agricultural purposes. The Okhla Project will treat MSW from surrounding zones of Delhi and on average it will divert approximately 73,000 tons of organic waste per year that otherwise would be disposed in unmanaged dump sites if the project was not constructed.

The Okhla compost plant, installed in 1981, was one of the most suitable plants for the Indian conditions due to its simple and rugged design without any pre-treatment (size reduction, sorting, etc.) of incoming MSW. The plant was operational until 1986, when it had to close due to problems in marketing of the compost and in securing a selling price that would cover its production costs. At the time of closure, the plant was running at the capacity of about 150 tons per day. In 2005 IL&FS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to develop a project with carbon finance support to rehabilitate the Ohkla Compost Plant and bring it back into operation at a plant capacity of 200 tonne per day MSW. In May, 2007 IL&FS signed a concession agreement with MCD to revive, establish, finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the compost plant.

With the financial support from carbon credit, this project will demonstrate that the carbon credit finance mechanism can catalyze environmentally sustainable and financially viable waste management practices. The project is implemented and has started the commercial operation