Mr. Kunal Chhajed will present his MDP presentation as per the details below:

Date: 8th July 2026

Time: 1600 - 1700 hrs.

Mode: Online

Link for the meeting: https://meet.google.com/sps-ttkr-krx

Title: Best Practices on Household-Level Solid Waste Segregation in India

Guide: Prof. Anand Rao

Examiner: Prof. Bakul Rao

Abstract:
India’s rapid urbanization and rising consumption have driven an unprecedented surge in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), long managed through an unsustainable, linear “collect and dump” approach that filled unscientific landfills and squandered recoverable resources. The Swachh Bharat Mission and the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 reframed source segregation at the household level as the single most critical precursor to any sustainable, zero-landfill Integrated Solid Waste Management system. Yet most Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) continue to struggle with a persistent intention–behaviour gap: residents express willingness to segregate but fail to sustain the daily habit. This gap is fuelled by systemic demotivation, which sets in when citizens observe segregated waste being re-mixed during collection, and by information deficits.

This study is a qualitative, exploratory investigation employing a comparative case-study approach to understand how India’s highest-performing ULBs bridge this gap. It synthesises insights from informal field visits and unstructured interactions (in Panaji, Vengurla, and Igatpuri) with a substantial body of documentary evidence drawn from Swachh Bharat Mission and Swachh Survekshan material, Central Pollution Control Board and municipal reports, and academic literature. Four cities anchor the analysis: Vengurla (a decentralized micro-economy), Indore (a centralized mega-model), Panaji (a hyper-segregated tourism model), and Alappuzha (a decentralized waterway guardian). These are supplemented by briefer profiles of other recognised ULBs, international benchmarks, and a comparative counter-case, Igatpuri (Maharashtra), where field observation shows that basic collection infrastructure has not translated into household-level segregation.

The findings show that high-to-complete source segregation is achievable irrespective of a city’s size, topography, or economic status. Success does not rest on funding or technology alone, but on a synchronized matrix of interventions: intensive and participatory Information, Education, and Communication; empowered community institutions such as self-help groups and citizen ambassadors; carefully designed financial incentives that separate household benefits (property-tax rebates) from municipal revenue (sale of recyclables, carbon credits, dignified wages funded by user fees); technological accountability through RFID, GPS, and partitioned collection fleets; and credible governance backed by enforcement. These elements are consolidated into a Five Pillars framework and a set of policy recommendations for ULBs. The Igatpuri counter-case corroborates these findings from the opposite direction: where the pillars are absent, infrastructure alone, such as two-compartment collection vehicles, fails to produce segregation. The study concludes that achieving “zero-landfill” status is fundamentally an exercise in behavioural psychology and civic administration rather than merely a technological undertaking.
 

Keywords: source segregation; municipal solid waste; intention–behaviour gap;
Urban Local Bodies; Swachh Bharat Mission; comparative case study; behavioural