To combat the worsening air in India’s capital New Delhi, several farmers in the neighbouring northern state of Punjab are packing off crop stubble to factories for recycling instead of torching it.

Stubble burning every winter is a major contributor to New Delhi being one of the world’s most polluted cities, with the smoke combining with vehicle exhaust and dust and remaining trapped in the atmosphere because of slow wind speeds in lower temperatures.

However, farmers in over 800 villages across Punjab are now adapting to the use of balers to stack the stubble, and send it to factories where it is turned into biogas, bio-fertiliser, and cardboard, among other commodities, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) group.

Punjab has around 12,000 villages and stubble burning is also common in other northern states.

“While this has led to some reduction in stubble burning, the incentivisation and awareness of such initiatives is still limited compared to the intensity of response needed to tackle the problem in a comprehensive way,” said Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst at Envirocatalysts, a New Delhi-based think tank.

CII says it is providing equipment and resources for the initiative.

“Due to stubble burning, we are exposed to smoke ... It’s not an exciting activity for us, that’s why we are stocking it and sending it to boilers to be sold,” said Dalbir Singh, a 25-year-old farmer in Balwar Kalan village of Sangrur district.

Traditionally, stubble burning has been the quickest way for farmers to clear fields between rice harvesting and wheat sowing, typically in early to mid-November.

Last week, New Delhi’s air quality index hovered around 400, ranking in the “severe” category, prompting authorities to step up curbs on construction and industrial activity.

53-year-old farmer, Gurnaib Singh from Phaguwala village of Sangrur, says he has set up a factory to make cardboard from waste stubble and is not only helping keep the air clean, but also providing employment to dozens at his plant.