Residents Spearhead Cleanup as India Struggles with Waste Mismanagement

In the face of growing waste mismanagement in Indian cities, a group of frustrated residents, including expats, in posh gated communities of Gurugram have taken it upon themselves to remove trash from the streets every weekend. This comes as the issue of garbage pileup has sparked social media hashtags like #Kudagram.

Similarly, in Bengaluru, India's IT hub, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the founder of Biocon, has renewed the debate about garbage mismanagement with her viral post on X. This March, villagers near Bengaluru blocked garbage trucks from accessing a nearby landfill, claiming it contaminated their groundwater.

However, some cities have made significant progress in reforming their waste management systems. Indore, which has been feted as India's cleanest city for seven consecutive years, has focused on garbage segregation at the source and ensuring it remains unmixed throughout the waste management cycle. This has allowed the city to generate substantial revenue from its bio-CNG plant, material recovery facilities, and textile waste processing plant.

Meanwhile, Kerala has developed a decentralized model where 80% of the biodegradable waste is managed at the source, and the remaining 20% goes to community processing sites. This model, borne out of community protests against landfills, has been praised for its integration of informal waste workers and emphasis on people's participation.