Solid Waste Management: Indian Cities Must Adopt Higher-Order Engineering System

As of May 1, a month after the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules 2026 came into force and the amended Plastic Waste Management Rules were also notified, the big cities are off to a fitful start on the road to sustainable solutions. As this newspaper pointed out in an earlier editorial, the promise of the updated rules crucially depends on the community’s participation and monitoring of local bodies, bulk waste generators, pollution control boards (PCBs), and the bureaucracy. States have one year to get their act together and create the capacity needed to fully manage the estimated 185,000 tonnes of waste generated every day. But even the biggest cities are yet to roll out an effective plan to encourage the community to adopt four-way segregation of wet, dry, sanitary, and special care waste, the latter covering paints, pesticides, cleaning materials, batteries, needles, and expired medicines. The plastic waste rules crucially depend on efficient segregation to work. It is worth pointing out that urban India is generating ever higher levels of non-biodegradable waste, currently at the rate of about 550 grams per person per day. A lot of it is not even collected, let alone managed. Without visible progress, citizens are unwilling to pay additional user fees. Bengaluru, with high-profile consumption by affluent gated communities that are classified as bulk waste generators, has witnessed low acceptance of user fees. Karnataka’s capital announced a user fee last year, ahead of the new rules. Like many other big cities, the bulk of the waste generated in India’s Silicon Valley is about 60% biodegradable, highlighting the importance of segregation. The story is the same in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and elsewhere.

It is time India’s cities adopted higher-order engineering systems for materials recovery, circularity, and reduction in landfilled waste. The primary work of collecting recyclables door-to-door can be done by informal waste pickers, but mixed waste needs high-volume sorting. Communities make a valid argument on the need for waste management agencies to have a transparent system for compost buy-back, giving the households an incentive to segregate their biodegradable waste. Complying with such a reasonable demand should be a top priority, along with setting up the online public portal in six months to report on the implementation of the rules. Two other factors critical for successful enforcement are: a) financing and capability upgrades for cash-strapped rural local bodies that are now covered by the rules; and b) active monitoring of manufacturing companies that must take back and dispose of their waste, especially packaging, as part of extended producer responsibility. Many states, including those with a strong administrative machinery, have a dismal record on keeping single-use plastics and non-recyclable carry bags out of the system. Such articles flood urban markets because of lax regulations in neighbouring Union Territories. Making PCB authorities liable for such lapses would have a salutary effect.