Garbage piles up as 32% feeder points face delays

A major breakdown in Pune's waste transport network has led to mounting garbage across several wards, with 32% of the city’s 1,076 waste transfer points facing delays in pickup and 6% receiving no collection at all.

- Indu Bhagat

The disruption has severely impacted cleanliness and the livelihoods of waste pickers working under the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) solid waste management system.

SWaCH, a cooperative of nearly 4,000 waste pickers authorised by PMC for door-to-door collection, reported widespread delays and system failures in waste transportation to processing plants. After segregating and collecting waste, the pickers deposit non-recyclable refuse at feeder points for PMC or contractor vehicles to transport. However, long delays, poor coordination, and frequent breakdowns at transfer stations have brought the system to a halt in several areas.

“My work starts at 6am and ends at 10, but the wet waste vehicle arrives only around 3 or 4pm. Until then, we have to wait at the feeder—no food, no rest, and no toilets. We lose the whole day,’ Sindhu Hanwate, a waste picker from Shivajinagar, told The Free Press Journal (FPJ).