Like any other growing town, Sagar also faces various environmental problems. Approximately 1,70,475 kg (70.5 metric tons) of waste is generated every day from the town. The local municipality lacks staff for proper collection and disposal of waste, and is able to dump only 70% of the waste to dumping grounds. Thus, very often, garbage accumulates along roadsides and bins overflow, which are not regularly cleared. This waste (mostly organic) putrefies and is posing serious health problems.

To tackle this stinking situation, a local NGO, Rural Environment Development Society (REDS), in association with Development Alternatives through the CLEAN-India programme, came forward. The students of CLEAN-India succeeded in motivating the residents to improve their own environment and were successful in involving the local people/ residents who generate the waste.

The residents of five colonies of Sagar city adopted a new system of Solid Waste Management. REDS Sagar initiated the endeavour by adopting five colonies (Jiyama Puram, Indraprasth Colony, Krishna Vihar Colony, Dwarika Vihar and State Bank Colony) to carry out the programme on a pilot basis. These five colonies were identified on the basis of their willingness to participate in motivating other residents and also to contribute for the salary of the rag pickers and segregate the waste at household level. A contribution of Rs 20/- per household is being taken from all the households to provide for the salary of the two garbage collectors. The five colonies comprise 121 households and a population of 631. The NGO partner employed two rag pickers, trained them as waste collectors, and provided them with uniforms and a pushcart. The cart has two bins, one for organic and the other for inorganic waste. The waste collectors collect waste from every household. The residents also took over the responsibility of ensuring that waste generated from their households is properly segregated, collected and transported to the dumpsite of the municipality. The waste thus generated from five colonies is 515.5 kg (0.5 metric ton), out of which 70% (220 kg) is biodegradable while the rest is non-biodegradable. The cost of waste collection has reduced to about 50% as compared to waste collection by the municipality and efficiency of waste collection is 100% as it involves people’s participation.