Pune Municipal Corporation has doubled its road-sweeping workforce to 9,000 personnel and increased its garbage collection fleet to 952 vehicles as it targets recurring waste accumulation, underserved neighbourhoods and gaps in door-to-door collection.
The civic body is also preparing stricter implementation measures for about 2,800 bulk waste generators, including large residential complexes and other establishments that together produce nearly 408 metric tonnes of waste each day. PMC Additional Commissioner Prajit Nair said penalties may be introduced for establishments that do not comply with waste-management requirements, with the proposed system expected to be implemented within the next two to two-and-a-half months.
Pune generates around 2,800 metric tonnes of waste daily, including approximately 1,800 metric tonnes of dry waste and 1,000 metric tonnes of wet waste. The corporation’s sanitation chain covers collection, street cleaning, transportation and processing, but the current operational focus is on improving collection and the movement of waste across the city.
PMC has initiated a pilot in which contractors undertake waste collection while civic officials work to address gaps in collection and transportation. The administration is also reviewing locations where garbage repeatedly accumulates despite routine cleaning. Discussions with sanitation workers, supervisors and inspectors have identified inadequate collection rounds and limited local service coverage as contributing factors.
The problems are particularly visible in some slum settlements, where households have limited space to store waste and residents leave it along roadsides. In other areas, collection vehicles do not arrive frequently enough to prevent waste from accumulating. The corporation said its expanded deployment is intended to make sanitation operations more consistent instead of relying only on daily cleaning drives.
PMC is also seeking to increase wet-waste processing capacity beyond the existing level of around 600 metric tonnes per day. A proposed facility is designed for a capacity of 500 metric tonnes per day, of which around 400 metric tonnes may be processed, Nair said. The additional capacity is intended to strengthen the treatment of the organic portion of Pune’s daily waste output.
Under existing norms, bulk waste generators are expected to manage the waste produced on their premises independently rather than depending entirely on the municipal collection network. The proposed implementation plan is aimed at enforcing that responsibility while improving service coverage for households and neighbourhoods that continue to experience irregular collection.
PMC also plans a neighbourhood-level cleanliness competition involving residents, elected representatives and sanitation staff ahead of the Pune Brand Tour scheduled for the end of January. Nair said the civic administration intends to involve these groups more actively in improving cleanliness across neighbourhoods. The proposed bulk-waste enforcement system is expected to be implemented within the next two to two-and-a-half months.
