Introduction > Develop Project Plan > Assess Feasibility > Identify and Select Finance Source/Instrument > Mitigate Risks > Secure Permits and Approvals > Seek Project Funding/Finance > Structure and Close Financing > Case Studies > Indore, India > Acknowledgements
Pilot Testing Source-Segregated Collection in Indore, India
Indore, the largest city in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, started a pilot project to test a proposed project for household waste segregation before launching a broader, city-wide waste segregation campaign. In January 2016, the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC), the local governing body of Indore, began a door-to-door collection pilot project in 2 out of its 85 wards.1 The pilot project focused on the segregation of wet (i.e., organic), dry, domestic hazardous, and e-waste from households and bulk waste generators at the point of generation.
From this pilot project, IMC learned that door-to-door segregated collection is a viable method for ensuring clean feedstocks for biogas production and eliminating open dumping throughout the city. IMC expanded the program, and nowadays, segregated waste is collected in specialized collection trucks with separate chambers for each waste category and transported to transfer stations, where it is further stored and sorted before being sent to appropriate treatment facilities. Dry waste is sent to material recovery facilities to be sorted and cleaned, hazardous waste is sent to a hazardous waste treatment facility, and organic waste is sent to a biomethane compressed natural gas (bio-CNG) facility to be converted to clean energy. The diversion of organic waste to a bio-CNG plant allows the city not only to have access to clean renewable energy, but also to reduce the methane emissions from the city’s waste sector and mitigate climate change.
With the pilot study, the municipality learned that timely collection fostered citizens’ trust of the municipality services.2 The success of the pilot project helped the door-to-door collection gain leadership buy-in and led to its expansion to 10 wards. By the end of 2016, IMC had successfully scaled up this effort and had achieved 100 percent door-to-door collection, covering all 85 wards.
To learn more about this case study, and all the initiatives that the municipality of Indore has taken to become one of India’s cleanest cities, please visit the Indore case study.
1 Administrative boundary areas of Indore that have an average population between 20,000 and 50,000 people.
2 IMC, 2017, Swachh Bharat Mission Slideshow, available here.
Source
Smart City Indore, 2020, Solid Waste Management.
Relevant Steps
- Step 2, Assess Feasibility