Alappuzha in Kerala, Mysuru and Panaji are cleanest cities in India, a survey based on solid waste management practises in towns across the country on Monday said even as it placed Delhi at the "bottom of the heap".
"Alappuzha, Panaji and Mysuru are three of the cleanest cities in India, with municipal waste management systems that actually work," a latest rating by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said.
CSE's report on solid waste management in Indian cities, titled 'Not in my backyard' was released today.
"CSE rated Indian cities on their management of solid waste - metros like Delhi feature at the bottom of the heap," it said.
"This book started as a survey, we wanted to simply know which city is India's cleanest. We knew that once we found out which is the cleanest, we would also find out what makes it so. This would give us the answers for future policy," said CSE Director General Sunita Narain.
Noting that the last survey to understand quantity and composition of garbage was done over a decade ago, CSE said that the methodology used to calculate waste generated is to simply extrapolate an assumed quantity estimate with the population.
"There is, however, no real on-ground data available. In addition, not much information is available on the composition of waste in terms of organic, bio-degradable, or plastic, or the quantum. In essence, what had started as a survey was turning out into a gap analysis," CSE said.
Referring to the Department of Economic Affairs position paper on solid waste management of 2009, CSE said that urban India was already producing some 80,000 MT of waste a day.
It projected that by 2047, India would be producing 260 million tonnes of waste annually needing over 1,400 sq km of landfills which is an area equal to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai put together, CSE said referring to the paper.
Referring to the 2007 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), CSE said that the report found waste was collected in 22 per cent of 56 sampled municipalities, segregation was done in 10 per cent, storage in 17 per cent, transportation using covered trucks was done in 18 per cent of the sampled municipalities and only 11 per cent had waste processing capabilities.
According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) estimates, over 90 per cent of Indian cities with a functional collection system dispose of their waste in landfills, CSE said.