Moving towns towards climate resilient waste management

Waste management is a major issue in India’s rapidly growing towns. Smaller towns are impacted the most but are often overlooked. Their ability to manage waste is often constrained both due to a lack of adequate financial resources and limited technical capacities. Over the past few years, India’s waste management sector has received some attention in both urban and rural areas through national flagship programmes such as the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and AMRUT. While household toilets are provided under SBM, there are still issues of “last mile connectivity”, as the poor and vulnerable households are sometimes left out. Beyond toilets, inadequate waste management further poses a significant risk of environmental degradation. Similarly, for solid waste, while door-to-door collection of household waste is practiced, segregation of waste is absent. Another major challenge is the impact of climate change on wastewater and solid waste management. Extreme weather patterns, such as high temperatures, erratic rains, flooding, and soil erosion, can have a significant impact on existing infrastructure and service delivery.

The proposed project on “Moving towns towards climate-resilient waste (Wastewater and Solid waste) management services” aims to strengthen the capacity of local governments and communities for climate-resilient and sustainable wastewater and solid waste management systems. These activities will help bridge existing service gaps, bring resilience to existing infrastructure from climate impacts, strengthen local finances, encourage community engagement, and empower vulnerable populations to withstand climate hazards. The project is being carried out in 3 towns of Gujarat representing different population sizes and WASH challenges.