In city of trash towers, South Delhi colony in 8th year of zero waste

Every morning, Angoori, who works as a house help in Navjeevan Vihar, begins her day by carefully separating her employer’s kitchen scraps into two bins — one for compostable leftovers and another for recyclables. For her, this routine has become second nature. “Earlier, everything went into one polythene bag. Now, I don’t even think twice before sorting it,” she says with a smile.

Navjeevan Vihar, a residential colony in South Delhi, has quietly sustained what is now the Capital’s most successful ‘zero-waste model’ for eight years. In a city that generates over 14,000 tonnes of garbage every day, most of which ends up in towering landfills at Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla, the colony stands out for showing what collective ownership can achieve.

Delhi’s waste crisis is hard to miss. With landfills overflowing, toxic fires breaking out in summers and leachate poisoning groundwater, experts have repeatedly stressed that segregation at the household level is the only way forward.

This is where Navjeevan Vihar offers a sight to watch. For the colony’s 1,200 residents, led by the Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA) secretary Dr Ruby Makhija, waste is not something to be “disposed of” but something to be managed responsibly.

Residents separate wet, dry and hazardous waste at home. Daily waste collectors ensure that nothing gets mixed during collection. Mujahir Ali, a waste collector in the colony, said: “At first, people thought it was extra work. But now, everyone knows it’s a part of daily life, I myself go to every house and collect all waste in separate bags.” Wet waste is composted within the colony and used as manure, while dry recyclables are sent to authorised recyclers.

Convincing people, however, wasn’t easy. While residents were generally supportive, domestic workers and garbage collectors — who handled waste daily — needed persistent engagement. “Our RWA organised training sessions, door-to-door awareness drives and even partnered with municipal officials and NGOs to reinforce the message,” Makhija told The Tribune.

An innovative incentive scheme helped too. For the past six years, the RWA has been distributing free biodegradable sanitary napkins to over 200 women domestic workers. “We linked it with a simple pledge - segregate waste, avoid single-use plastic and don’t litter,” Makhija explained. “It worked beautifully as both an incentive and a way to improve their quality of life.”

Over the years, Navjeevan Vihar has processed nearly all of its waste within its boundaries. “We don’t send garbage trucks to the landfill from here. That’s our biggest achievement,” says Dr Makhija. The compost has been used to revive green spaces, and income from recyclables funds community projects.

The model is not without challenges — training new staff, sustaining resident participation and ensuring regular monitoring remain constant struggles. “But the fact that it has lasted eight years shows it is replicable,” Makhija said.

Walking through the colony today reveals how waste has been reimagined as a resource. Benches and boxes made from recycled plastic are placed across the neighbourhood. Notebooks crafted from the recycled paper are distributed among schools and offices. Residents even exchange collected paper and e-waste with hospitals in return for supplies of recycled stationery.

“Normally waste is seen as garbage, but once segregated, it becomes a resource with value,” said Makhija. Clean waste boosted the income of garbage collectors, making them allies in the effort. Children, too, became part of the process. The RWA formed groups of school students, gave them projects on waste management and encouraged them to monitor segregation practices in their households. “Honestly, children were the game-changers,” Makhija smiled.

For Makhija, there was never any “rocket science” behind the effort. “All it takes is segregation of wet, dry and sanitary waste. The challenge is not the method, but how you explain it to people and whether you can sustain the effort,” she said.

Delhi currently has 633 certified zero-waste areas — comprising 593 colonies, group housing societies, RWAs and 40 institutes — that together segregate and compost around 100 tonnes of waste daily. Launched in September 2022 under the “Swachhta Abhiyan”, the initiative has made some headway, but progress remains limited when weighed against the city’s 1,800-plus colonies, along with numerous unauthorised settlements and village areas.

Navjeevan Vihar was the first RWA in the Capital to achieve net-zero waste management status.