An innovative community-based waste disposal scheme in Hyderabad

Abstract

A community-based voluntary waste disposal scheme implemented in Hyderabad in 1992 is one of the first of its kind in India being launched by an urban civic body with the help of nongovernmental and community-based organizations (NGOs/CBOs). Its aim is to help keep neighborhoods clean and to make it quicker and more effective to collect waste with the help of employees of local organizations; to involve waste-pickers who collect the waste; and to develop a favorable social climate within which to teach citizens about the importance and economic value of waste. Including waste-pickers from the informal recycling sector provides a key linkage to the formal sector of Municipal Waste Management (MWM). The scheme started in June 1993 and is managed by community- or neighborhood-based organizations (NBOs) in middle- and upper-income areas. 167 neighborhoods with around 100,000 households are currently involved in the program. The scheme is also taking place in 217 slums. The waste disposal scheme is described. Results from 2 surveys indicate that residents are enthusiastic about the program and wiling to participate, as long as the municipality takes the lead role in MWM.