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The 35-acre Yakalaspura dumpsite in Raichur, Karnataka, has been remediated under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 and partly converted into a Miyawaki forest.
Nearly 62,252 metric tonnes of legacy waste were scientifically processed, reclaiming almost 22 acres of urban land.
Around 5 to 7 acres of the reclaimed land were earmarked for the dense forest, with plantation beginning on World Environment Day, 5 June 2026.
Nearly 60,000 saplings including bamboo and other native species were planted, under the guiding idea of turning toxic waste into ecological wealth.
Raichur City Corporation has presented the project as a replicable model linking waste management, climate action and urban land regeneration.
The technique is named after Akira Miyawaki, the Japanese botanist who developed it in the early 1970s. It has four steps. First, identify the tree and shrub species native to the locality, drawing on what the potential natural vegetation of the area would be. Second, improve the degraded soil by mixing in organic matter so that seedlings can establish. Third, plant seedlings of many species together at very high density, on the order of three per square metre, mixing canopy, sub-canopy, shrub and ground layers rather than planting in rows of one species. Fourth, weed and water for the first two to three years, after which the plot is left alone. The density is the mechanism: with light available only from above, the saplings compete vertically and grow upward far faster than they would in an open plantation. The result is a multi-layered, closed-canopy patch in a couple of decades rather than the century or more natural succession would take. It suits exactly the situation Raichur faced, small parcels of degraded urban land where conventional forestry is impractical.
Simple Analogy: Plant trees far apart and they spread sideways like a park. Pack them tightly and, competing for the only light there is, they race each other upward like buildings on an expensive street.
Make Indian cities garbage free, with source segregation, scientific processing of all municipal solid waste and remediation of all legacy dumpsites
Key: Launched on 1 October 2021 as the second phase of the urban mission, implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs through urban local bodies
Eliminate open defecation and establish municipal solid waste management systems in urban areas
Key: Launched on 2 October 2014; the predecessor to SBM-U 2.0
Recover land occupied by old dumpsites by excavating and separating aged waste rather than merely capping it
Key: Separates soil-like fraction, recyclables, refuse-derived fuel and inert residue; the technique used at Yakalaspura
The central regulatory framework requiring source segregation, processing and time-bound remediation of old dumpsites.
Biomining converts an accumulated liability into recovered materials, fuel and land, the textbook illustration of closing a loop.
Urban forests deliver carbon sequestration, heat mitigation, air filtration and habitat simultaneously, at low capital cost.
Part IXA and the Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution place solid waste management and urban forestry with municipalities.
GS Paper II > Governance > Urban local bodies; GS Paper III > Environment > Solid waste management, ecological restoration
General Awareness > Schemes and environment
General Awareness > Current affairs
Municipal solid waste accumulated at a dumpsite over years without processing.
Excavating and screening aged dumped waste to separate soil-like material, recyclables, refuse-derived fuel and inert residue, so the land can be recovered.
Liquid that percolates through waste, carrying dissolved contaminants and threatening soil and groundwater.
Dense, mixed planting of native species at roughly three saplings per square metre to create a multi-layered forest far faster than natural succession.