Socio-technical transformations of Indore's waste management

Abstract

Today the problem of waste is the focus in the planning agenda of the Indian government. With the aim of improved waste management, sanitation, and hygiene in 2014 the Swachh Bharat Mission was launched. This Mission has created a behaviour change in the MSW perspective and changed the scope and scale of privatisation into waste management systems. The waste in India, not simply a material, but it is associated with a complex negative connotation of the class and caste. Traditional waste management provides employment and low entry-cost opportunity for deprived people struggling for their livelihood. The privatisation of SWM services increases the penetration of formal or private into the domain of the waste pickers. This paper takes the case of Indore City which shown a positive response in MSW management as compared to other cities of the country. This paper highlights how the waste pickers and informal sectors of Indore City are affected (positively or negatively) by the formal rights-designation system with an institutional policy change, previous an open-access regime. The key finding highlights the traces and dynamics of transformation. This paper also highlighted that the city has the potential for becoming environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable with possible changes. © 2024 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.