How This Engineer Turned 100 Tonnes of Delhi’s Landfill Waste Into 50000 Eco-Friendly Bricks

“When I first saw Bhalswa, I was shocked,” says Vipul Singh. “Huge mountains of waste, stray animals picking through the garbage, contaminated water. It felt like a disaster in plain sight. We had to do something meaningful.”

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He stood at the edge of the towering Delhi landfill and asked a practical question: Could this waste be turned into something useful?

For decades, Bhalswa had been one of the city’s most visible environmental wounds. It rose higher each year, a landmark of excess that sealed the ground beneath it and stained the air above it.

Families living in its shadow endured contaminated groundwater, foul air thick with methane, and fires that sent toxic smoke into nearby neighbourhoods. Land that was meant to serve communities had turned into a suffocating mound of waste growing taller and deadlier each year.

This mountain was more than an eyesore. Bhalswa had come to symbolise the city’s wider struggle with legacy waste. Millions of tons of accumulated refuse lay mixed together — untreated construction debris, soil-like residues, and plastics. For those living around it, survival meant navigating health risks, poor air quality, and the burden of being next to Delhi’s “mountain of shame”.

In 2023, Vipul decided to act. That year, he launched the ‘Upcycling the Legacy Waste’ project in collaboration with Delhi-based architect Gunraagh Talwar, who had been experimenting with turning construction and demolition (C&D) waste into durable building material. 

Together, they began exploring whether Bhalswa’s soil-like residue could be blended with C&D waste to create eco-friendly bricks.

From street plays to sustainable solutions

Vipul’s journey did not begin with brick kilns or landfills. Back in 2011, as an engineering student, he took to the streets with a small group of friends to perform plays on issues like water scarcity and child marriage. 

Those early performances showed him the power of awareness, but also its limits. He realised that real change needed structure, continuity, and teamwork. That was when he founded the ‘Tapas Foundation’, an organisation dedicated to driving impact through campaigns on social and environmental issues.

Over the years, Vipul experimented with different ways of tackling local challenges. For example, at Sanoth Lake in Delhi’s Bawana, his team installed an aerator cum duckweed removal system that keeps the water clean. In other projects, they used recycled plastic to make benches, dustbins, and paver blocks.

These smaller experiments gave the team the confidence to think bigger. In 2023, that learning came together in one of Tapas Foundation’s most ambitious sustainability projects yet: ‘Upcycling the Legacy Waste’ near Bhalswa landfill.

Experimenting with waste

“It was very hands-on research and development,” Gunraagh explains. “I started with a grant proposal to test out formulations.”

Breaking down the approach of transforming construction and legacy waste into bricks and paver blocks, he says, “First, we identify what a landfill actually consists of. A large portion is soil-like material that doesn’t burn. Then there’s malwa (construction and demolition waste), and finally, plastic waste, which is used for Refuse-Derived Fuel.”

He continues, “I experimented by blending this material with recycled construction waste. The early formulations failed, but they showed potential. Eventually, through repeated formulating, testing, and iterating, I developed a mix that was strong enough to be used as building material.”

So far, the duo has upcycled over 100 tons of waste, producing around 50,000 bricks. Some have been used in landscaping and civil infrastructure projects like footpaths, steps, and non-structural construction. Gunraagh himself used about 6,000 bricks for a private project. The rest, Vipul informs, are ready to be deployed in sustainable development initiatives.

What makes these bricks different?

Gunraagh outlines three major advantages:

1. Local production: Traditional red clay bricks are kiln-fired, which is banned in Delhi. Most are transported from Haryana or Uttar Pradesh. Eco-bricks, however, can be produced within Delhi using local waste, cutting both transport costs and emissions.
   

2. Cleaner process: Conventional bricks are baked in kilns, which release a lot of carbon into the air. Eco-bricks, on the other hand, are set using water and a small amount of cement, so there are no kiln emissions. Right now, the mix uses about 10–12 percent cement, but the goal is to replace even that with greener options in the future.
   

3. Turning waste into resource: The bricks combine recycled sand, aggregates, and waste material, converting trash into a construction resource.

Turning obstacles into opportunities

The road to making eco-bricks has not been smooth. “It wasn’t enough to make an ‘eco-friendly’ product,” Vipul says. “The bricks had to be as strong as regular bricks, if not stronger.” To prove that, they put the eco-bricks through rigorous testing until they met construction standards.

Cost has been another challenge. At smaller scales, eco-bricks are slightly more expensive because of the machinery and labour. “The raw material isn’t costly, it’s the operations and GST that increase the price. The key is achieving the right commercial scale,” Gunraagh explains.

A breakthrough came when a global engineering consultancy stepped in with Rs 15 lakh in support. With that partnership, Tapas Foundation was able to rent a site near the landfill, install the machines, and start production.

For Vipul, this collaboration showed what is possible. “Cities across India are choking on waste. If this model is replicated, it can ease the load on landfills, provide useful construction material, and even create local jobs,” he says with hope.

What comes next

Tapas Foundation’s next step is to bring the eco-bricks into the mainstream market. “We plan to market and sell these eco-bricks so that the trained workers can fully run the unit,” Vipul shares. Beyond bricks, the foundation is working on a sustainable theme park in Gurugram, showcasing practical models of eco-friendly living.

“Our goal remains the same: to create innovative campaigns that not only spread awareness but also deliver real, measurable impact,” he adds.

Gunraagh, meanwhile, continues refining the material. “This is just the start. The longer game is to reduce cement, lower costs, and expand applications, eventually even to masonry.”

What began as a shocking encounter with a landfill has turned into a model of possibility. By bringing social work and technical innovation together, Vipul and Gunraagh have shown that even mountains of waste can be transformed into building blocks for the future.

“Cities across India are struggling with legacy waste and overflowing landfills. If replicated, this model can not only reduce waste but also create useful construction material and local employment,” says Vipul.

Their vision is simple but powerful — a future where landfills no longer symbolise despair, but stand as proof that with the right ideas, even the worst of waste can be rebuilt into hope.

Edited by Khushi Arora; All images courtesy Vipul Singh