Archive · 6 Aug 2026
India Generates 1.7 Lakh Tonnes Daily Waste, 40% Never Processed
Every day, India makes a very large amount of trash — about 1.7 lakh tonnes.
That is a lot, but only about 1.04 lakh tonnes of it is actually processed or handled safely.
Nearly 40 percent of the trash never gets properly processed.
India has gotten better at collecting trash — over 90 percent is now picked up.
Much of the trash is made of food scraps and other organic materials.
Cities spend most of their trash money on sweeping and collecting, not on processing.
Old garbage dumps release methane gas, which is bad for the planet.
Waste is India's third-biggest source of this gas.
Experts say cleaning up dumps and sorting trash better could cut that gas by almost 99 percent within 10 to 15 years.
India generates about 1.7 lakh tonnes of municipal waste every day, according to a new report by IGSD and Gateway Research.
Only around 1.04 lakh tonnes of waste is processed, meaning nearly 40% never enters formal processing.
Waste collection has improved to over 90% of municipal waste.
Organic material makes up 40-60% of the trash, while 60-70% of municipal budgets go to sweeping and collection.
Waste is India's third-largest source of methane emissions, and dumpsite remediation combined with better segregation could cut emissions by nearly 99% in 10-15 years.
- Who
- India's municipalities generate the waste; the report was produced by IGSD and Gateway Research.
- What
- India generates about 1.7 lakh tonnes of municipal waste daily, yet nearly 40% of it never enters formal processing.
- When
- Not specified in the article.
- Where
- India
- Why
- Waste is India's third-largest source of methane emissions, and the report argues better processing and dumpsite remediation could cut these emissions by nearly 99%.
- Daily municipal waste generation
- ~1.7 lakh tonnes
- Waste processed daily
- ~1.04 lakh tonnes
- Waste never entering formal processing
- ~40%
- Collection coverage
- Over 90%
- Organic share of waste
- 40-60%
- Municipal budget spent on sweeping and collection
- 60-70%
- Potential methane emission cut
- Nearly 99% in 10-15 years