Page 36 - Plastics News Issue October 2025
P. 36
ENVIRONMENT NEWS
CHIPPING AWAY AT THE
MOUNTAIN OF TRASH
s waste mismanagement in Indian cit- ly reformed their waste management systems,
ies increasingly threatens public health, while the majority show only moderate or mini-
Aenvironment, most residents still do not mal progress.
bother about the quantity or destination of the
trash they discard The ‘cleanest’ of them all
New Delhi: As garbage piled up in the open Indore was feted as India’s cleanest city for sev-
spaces of Gurugram makes hashtags like #Kud- en consecutive years on the national Swachh
agram trend on social media, a group of frus- Survekshan ranking launched in 2016. It now sits
trated residents, including expats, of posh gated in the ‘Super Swachh League’ category of clean-
communities, have taken it upon themselves to est cities in the country. But long-time residents
remove trash from the streets every weekend. In recall the time when the city used to get choked
Bengaluru, India’s IT hub, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, by foul air, garbage spillovers, and sewage back-
the founder of Biocon and a city resident, re- flows. Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav says that the
newed the debate about garbage mismanage- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, launched by the Centre
ment with her viral post on X. This March, villag- in 2014, marked a turning point when the political
ers blocked the garbage trucks from accessing and administrative leadership prioritised sanita-
a nearby landfill, claiming it contaminated their tion. Those who followed stayed on course.
groundwater. This was not the first such block-
ade in what was once proudly referred to as the Indore’s clean-up strategy focused on garbage
“garden” city of India. segregation at source and ensuring it remained
unmixed throughout the waste management
As waste mismanagement in Indian cities in- cycle. “If you ask people to segregate trash,
creasingly threatens public health and the en- they expect it to be collected, transported, and
vironment, most residents still do not bother processed accordingly. If not, they will give up,”
about the quantity or destination of the trash says Manish Singh, former municipal commis-
they discard. This mirrors the administrative sioner (2015-2018) of Indore.
apathy towards adopting sustainable practices
aimed at reducing, reusing, recycling, and safely While the Solid Waste Management (SWM)
disposing of garbage. Rules-2016 mandated that all waste generators
separate dry and wet garbage, most Indian cit-
Given the well-recognised benefits of clean ur- ies have not enforced it because their waste
ban environments and the Union government’s management value chain does not support seg-
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which has focused on regation throughout.
improving sanitation in mission-mode for the
past 11 years, only a few cities have meaningful- Mixing waste compromises its quality for pro-
cessing. Experts say washing soiled non-biode-
36 PLASTICS NEWS October 2025
