After improving its clean air ranking, Pune aims to make it to Super Swachh League

Super Swachh League (SSL) is an elite category of cities excelling in cleanliness. The introduction of the SSL serves a dual purpose: it inspires top-performing cities to reach even higher standards of cleanliness, while also motivating other cities to improve their performance and compete for top rankings.

On Tuesday, Pune city was declared as the tenth best city in the country for maintaining good air quality. It has jumped into the top ten in ‘Swachh Vayu Survekshan’ in the country this year compared to 23rd rank in 2024 and 29th rank in 2023.

“We want to improve on the cleanliness front and make it to the higher category of Swachh Super League to compete with those frequently topping in the Swachh Survekshan. Thus, the civic body has taken up new initiatives,” said Sandeep Kadam, incharge of the civic Solid Waste Management department.

The PMC to start with keeping the streets and public places clean have launched a pilot project of setting up a new garbage collection system wherein small garbage vehicles will collect waste from properties and deposit it in the large garbage compactor vehicles that would be stationed at a certain fixed location in the nearby area.

“The objective of PMC is to keep the city clean. Many chronic spots of garbage were getting created as the garbage collected from houses was kept alongside roads for depositing to the garbage compactor vehicles, and these same spots slowly were turning into chronic spots. This issue had become grave and was needed to be resolved to keep the streets clean,” he said, adding that a pilot project has been started in Lohegaon where garbage from houses is collected by smaller garbage vehicles and then deposited in large vehicles without getting waste onto streets.

The project is in initial stages and would evolve with time, Kadam said the new system is implemented in other cities including Indore, which has been frequently bagged the top rank in clean air rankings.

The PMC is also working on other parameters of removing encroachments in public places and improving the condition of public toilets.
However, the new system has raised concerns for SWaCH Cooperative, which is covering 50 percent of houses in door to door waste collection and segregation.

“The current door to door waste collection system works. It supports waste pickers, protects our environment, and provides a convenient and valuable service. We urge the Pune Municipal Corporation to reconsider. Do not replace our successful, sustainable system with one that is more expensive, less convenient, and harmful to our environment. We demand you continue the existing doorstep waste collection service,” said a representative of SWaCH cooperative, which has also started a drive of seeking public support by signing the petition to save Pune’s effective and citizen-friendly real doorstep waste collection system.

Kadam said there was a misunderstanding and rumours are being spread that waste pickers will suffer. “The SWaCH cooperative covers around 50 per cent of the houses in the city for waste collection but PMC;s target is to cover all houses. The civic body is introducing a system that is proven in other cities and would enable it to fulfill its objective. We want the waste-pickers to be part of the PMC initiative as it will increase their income and also help PMC achieve its objective,” he said.

For nearly 20 years, SWaCH waste pickers have provided a reliable doorstep waste collection service that has created jobs and kept our city clean. Their system is effective, reduces large trucks in our narrow lanes, and ensures cleaner, less polluted streets. We currently pay a reasonable fee directly to them for this essential service. However, the Pune Municipal Corporation is now planning to end doorstep collection, forcing citizens to bring their waste to a truck at their gate or on the street.