The Ministry of Human Resource Development

In the recent years there is a significant shift in handling solid waste with Municipal Corporations across the country adopting various models of disposing and recycling waste. Pondicherry Corporation has successfully adopted door-to-door collection, transportation and processing model. Coimbatore Corporation has adopted house-to-house collection model and outsourced secondary collection and processing to private parties under PPP mode. In certain other cities, the processing has been outsourced on PPP basis. Besides waste collection, various technologies like composting, bio-methanation/gasification or high-temperature incineration and waste-to-energy are being used for waste management. For example, the service provider in Coimbatore Corporation had started with compost plant, now they are seeking permission to put up a waste-to-energy plant at their own cost. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike has forked out certain areas to be cleaned by sweeping machines. All Corporations are experimenting innovative methods to collect and treat waste. Ajit Patil, Secretary, Corporation of Cochin, in an exclusive interview with Clean India Journal, talks about how solutions to keep the city clean has been successfully implemented.