Pune: The collapse of a massive legacy waste mound at a Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation waste-to-energy plant in Moshi in July, killing nine workers and injuring 14 others, once again focused the spotlight on the urgent need to streamline garbage management in a fast-developing urban scenario.
Among the biggest — literally — contributors to this ongoing civic waste crisis are bulk waste generators or BWGs. Today, landfills are overburdened, silently causing innumerable health and environment hazards.
Some work was previously under way, but after Supreme Court guidelines on Aug 4 regarding implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2026, a lot has changed. Currently, no such detailed data is available — Pradeep Thengale | Deputy municipal commissioner & head of health and sky sign departments, PCMC ‘Soon, vendors on board to aid citizens’ The push for composting in-house was first made in 2016. Now, with the 2026 guidelines, the scope has widened a great deal, pulling more societies into its ambit. Initially, we had around 1,500 BWGs, of which 300 did not have functional in-house wet waste management systems. Once we start, in the first month, we will work on creating awareness about the new rules and then start levying fines from the second month — Santosh Varule | Deputy commissioner, solid waste management, PMC Expert Speak ‘Convert waste into useful resources’ Overall waste contribution of residential communities is around 60%, of which 60% is bio-degradable.
We have also realised in the last decade that due to a lack of knowledge on how to manage waste efficiently, several societies give it up after a few years. Citizens just pay double for waste collection — Shyamala Desai | President, National Societies for Clean Cities You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Pune | Silver Rate in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune | Petrol Price in Pune | Diesel Price in Pune | CNG Price in Pune | LPG Price in Pune Stay updated with the latest Pune news. We are currently in the process of appointing an agency to help BWGs deal with their waste better and register for necessary permissions. The scope has widened, so we have had to change our approach a little. The agency that will be appointed will also help us create a database with a list of various BWGs. Thereafter, a lot of work was done. We are looking at appointing an agency to conduct a survey on this again, with the new guidelines in mind. To tackle this, we will bring a few vendors on board, so if societies approach us for technical assistance, we can direct them accordingly. We had already placed an ad and are going through applications. It is critical that large housing societies, restaurants, event halls, institutions, companies and even military establishments and railways process their own organic waste and convert it into useful resources. The latter, such as compost or biogas, can be used for gardening and greening spaces or for energy applications — Anil Gokarna | Founder, ProEarth, a zero-waste Pune-based social enterprise ‘PCMC failed waste mgmt at multiple levels’ PCMC has to do a lot more about BWGs. Per the new rules, many old societies fall under this category, although they have no space to set up anything indoors. The civic body needs to look into which builder has built the system before levying penalties on residents. Since the Moshi incident, PCMC’s waste management system has crumbled. The failure happened at all levels and months later, they are yet to find their footing. Authorities must find a permanent solution — Sanjivan Sangle | President, Chikhali Moshi Housing Society Federation ‘PMC’s waste mgmt implementation lacking’ PMC’s waste management needs a lot of work. Each time a new officer is appointed, they spend time understanding issues. Before implementation of their ideas is finished, they get transferred. There is no scrutiny of whether BWGs are functional. Even the civic body’s own plants don’t function at full capacity. The solid waste management department should get numbers from the building permissions department and verify how many builders are complying with norms. Download the TOI App.
The Solid Waste Management Rules of 2026, in effect since April 1, lay out clear guidelines for BWGs. These guidelines say BWGs include: “Entities with a floor area of 20,000 sqm or more, or with water consumption of 40,000 litres per day or more, or solid waste generation of 100kg per day or more. This framework aims to strengthen waste management practices, as BWGs account for nearly 30% of all solid waste generation. Aditya Breeze Park, Balewadi Flats: 163 When: 2015 Why: A senior society resident suggested that they compost their own waste and initiated the process. The society installed a proper segregation process and updated the available facility by increasing the height of existing composting pits and building big new ones, spending an additional Rs30,000 to Rs40,000 Running cost as of 2026: Rs25,000 per month approx. Staff further segregate recyclable waste into 16-17 categories, based on materials. It helps us be better as with a change in mentality, most who follow such practices don’t feel the need to litter anywhere — Ashwini Mudaye | Entrepreneur and society waste management committee in-charge Mahindra Royale Co-operative Housing Society, Pimpri Flats: 480 When: 2018 Why: Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) 2017 mandate for large societies to process wet waste in-house Cost to set up: Rs8 lakh with implementation done in two phases (first a trial phase) Running cost as of 2026: Rs21,000 per month. This includes staff salaries, materials needed for daily functioning and maintenance Benefits: – No wet waste has left the society since 2018 – Manure generation for the society’s garden area – Additional manure sold to residents at a nominal price – 7% property tax rebate for residents (one year only) Challenges: – Deciding on a dedicated space to install the system was the society’s biggest challenge initially, since none of the residents wanted the set-up near their homes – Getting people on board and convincing them that this was the right move to make took time – Assumptions were initially rife among residents about how the process works and the smell it generates Resident says: There was a lot of pressure on the society management as residents did not want the set-up next to their buildings and homes. So, not only is wet waste not leaving the society, in some cases it doesn’t even leave homes — Sanjay Pagare | Society chairman & businessman Kunal Icon Co-operative Housing Society, Pimple Saudagar Flats: 871 When: 2017 Why: As this 29-building society is over two decades old, when PCMC guidelines were issued that wet waste will not be collected from large societies, residents took inspiration from one of their own — Ashok Kulkarni, a senior citizen who composted in a clay pot in his balcony. The society set-up was run on a pilot basis led by Makrand Gujar, another society member, first for one building and then implemented across the other 28 buildings Cost to set up: Rs15,90,000 with Rs30,000 per pit for 53 pits in total. The investment was done gradually over a period of time in phases Running cost as of 2026: Rs1,00,000 per month.
If it is not done this way, it can often be considered mixed waste, get rejected and go straight to landfills Benefits: – Zero-waste community – Awareness has increased considerably among society residents — even children don’t litter and stop others from doing so, sharing the right methods for waste disposal instead – Parties and celebrations here are waste-conscious, too Challenges: – Some resistance from residents in the beginning of the project due to additional cost and less awareness Resident says: Becoming a zero-waste community is very important as our landfills are overflowing. These include central and state govt departments, local bodies, public sector undertakings, institutions, commercial establishments and residential societies, among others. ” BWGs are to ensure that the waste they generate is collected, transported and processed in an environmentally sound manner to reduce the burden on urban local bodies and promote decentralised waste management. The new rules also introduce Extended Bulk Waste Generator Responsibility (EBWGR), under which BWGs are made accountable for solid waste they generate. They are required to process wet waste onsite as far as possible or obtain an EBWGR certificate where on-site processing is not feasible. Pune hosts two major landfills — in Uruli Devachi and Phursungi — both of which are constantly under the scanner as local residents protest the use of their neighbourhood for garbage disposal. For Pimpri Chinchwad, Moshi is the only dumping site. Of all issues that arise from landfills, the release of potent greenhouse gases, a result of mixed waste dumping, is a major worry. As the need to boost decentralisation of waste disposal emerges urgently, some societies are leading by example. The committee in-charge at the time decided to start by segregating waste first and then slowly set up the entire system Cost to set up: No initial cost as the builder had already set up the system. This includes salary of staff who segregate waste, compost it and harvest manure, electricity and other maintenance. Waste is segregated at source in not just the usual three ways — wet, recyclable and reject waste. That they are brimming with mixed waste is even more worrying. That which can be recycled should be, and wet waste is a good example. As a society, we must come together not just to reduce waste but also encourage others and lead by example. Convincing them was quite a task. the society went ahead and did a good job Although not everyone was on board. The set-up was inaugurated by then-PCMC commissioner Shravan Hardikar. This includes salary of staff involved in segregation, mulching, cleaning, electricity and maintenance work Benefits: – Residents see the kind of garbage they create, which allows for control over what and how they consume – Natural manure is used throughout the society, which has huge green cover with a variety of plants. No compost needs to be bought – Property tax rebate to individual flat owners
Today, many flat owners have replicated the composting system at the household level.
We are now looking at collection of electronic waste and how to dispose it effectively, but this is in initial stages — Abhijit Parkhi | Society secretary & software engineering executive Yuthika Apartments, Baner Flats: 580 When: 2017 Why: Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) 2017 mandate for large societies to process their wet waste in-house Cost to set up: Rs4 lakh (approx) Running cost as of 2026: Rs28,000 per month, including salary of staffer who manages wet waste, power cost to run and maintain waste shredding machine, culture of bacteria, and deodorants needed to mitigate stench Benefits: – Becoming an environmentally conscious society – Getting compost back for in-house large garden – PMC property tax benefits, compliance with norms Challenges: – Finding right vendor for operations, maintenance – Early hurdles included proliferation of houseflies and pervasive stench – Residents initially did not want composting pits to be set up near their homes Resident says: It took us a while to figure out the right process. The Solid Waste Management Rules of 2026 from the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) mandate four-stream segregation of solid waste at source — wet, dry, sanitary and special care waste.
- Residents also appreciate that the next generation can learn about waste creation and management, while understanding their responsibility for the future Challenges: – Initially, designs of where to install composting pits were met with resistance from residents, forcing the process to come to a halt – Getting everyone to participate took some time, as did encouraging residents to individually segregate their waste Resident says: Each of our buildings has a chute through which garbage is dumped and goes straight into the basement. That was shut off and each basement area converted into a garbage room with pits for composting built there. There were a few operational challenges, but solutions were found for each of them as they came up. It has been smooth sailing for several years now. Once we did, it was great. Being aware of the waste problem our cities are facing, it is our responsibility to be part of the solution. If societies with educated residents don’t contribute, who will? There are some ongoing challenges, like the process of taking out compost being laborious and expensive if not done correctly. But once a process is defined, it is highly beneficial in the long run — Sameer Bhangale | IT professional & society resident Officials Say Both PMC and PCMC have repeatedly issued directives over time for societies to manage waste in-house. This still does not happen in several places. ‘Plan to appoint agency for survey of BWGs’