The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is set to rope in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi as its knowledge partner for a comprehensive city-wide audit and digital monitoring overhaul, in a bid to overhaul the national capital’s waste management system. The civic body has floated a proposal worth approximately ₹2 crore to engage the institute, with the study expected to be completed within six months.The intervention comes as Delhi continues to grapple with a severe sanitation crisis.According to a proposal by municipal commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar seeking financial clearance from the standing committee, the collaboration aims to ensure compliance with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026. The Centre for Rural Development and Technology (CRDT) at IIT Delhi has submitted a detailed roadmap to act as MCD’s technical partner. The scope of work includes GIS-based inventorisation of waste generation, ward-wise micro-planning, optimisation of collection and transport routes, and the rollout of an IT-enabled digital monitoring framework. The project will also focus on compliance systems for bulk waste generators and integration of the informal recycling sector.The committee is set to take up the proposal on September 1.Also read: Haryana signs MoU for 2,000-tonne-a-day waste-to-energy plant in GurugramDelhi generates over 11,000 tonnes of waste dailyThe intervention comes as Delhi continues to grapple with a severe sanitation crisis, frequently ranking at the bottom of national cleanliness surveys. Despite mandatory household segregation norms, source-level separation remains abysmally low. Official data shows that Delhi generates approximately 11,328 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily -- 11,000 tonnes from MCD areas, 256 tonnes from the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), and 72 tonnes from the cantonment board. A significant portion of this unprocessed refuse continues to overwhelm the city’s oversaturated landfill sites, underscoring a persistent gap between waste generation and processing capacity.Also read: UPPCB tells Noida to act on ‘waste dumping’ near wetlandsMCD explores global models to tackle waste crisisOn Saturday, Khirwar chaired a high-level meeting with World Bank experts to deliberate on global practices for strengthening Delhi’s solid waste management. The discussions centred on scalable, sustainable models from three major global cities. The delegation presented Tokyo’s technology-driven framework, which operates 23 Waste-to-Energy plants; New York City’s externalised model, where private agencies manage transportation and off-site disposal; and Barcelona’s hybrid approach under its Zero Waste Plan (2021–2027), which promotes decentralised processing facilities to ease logistical burdens and fosters behavioural change through citizen engagement in waste reduction and segregation.