Pune: From protests to court petitions, residents living around garbage depots and processing plants have tried it all to urge the authorities to move these facilities away — but in vain.Air, land and water contamination, vector-borne diseases and a constant stench are among issues cited by citizens, but the recent tragedy at the Moshi garbage plant also highlighted what happens when landfills are overburdened, and how improper waste management can be catastrophic in the long run. After two days of relentless rain in July, a mound of garbage at the Moshi plant, which processes waste from Pimpri Chinchwad, fell on an administrative building 30m away, causing collapse. The incident left nine dead and several others injured. In the aftermath, many asked: How do we prevent such disasters? Waste management challenges in areas under Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) tell the same story. While solutions lie in in-house processing by bulk waste generators (BWG) and composting or recyling, PMC officials have pointed out that many societies lack these mandated facilities, thereby increasing the load on the public waste collection, segregation and processing system. Looming threat “In our area’s DP, a garbage processing plant is proposed in a plot surrounded by residential buildings and schools. This spells disaster for the health of residents and school students. There is also an old-age home nearby. Chances are high that our groundwater gets contaminated, and we are heavily reliant on it. Most tankers also lift from wells,” explained Sunil Aiyer, a member of the Mohammadwadi-Undri Residents Welfare Development Foundation. In Nov 2025, the foundation submitted a letter opposing the plant to municipal commissioner Naval Kishor Ram and state town planning department assistant director Abhijit Ketkar. They listed out issues like exposure of children and the elderly to a foul odour, toxic emissions, high heavy vehicle traffic, etc. Other concerns were groundwater and soil contamination due to leachate, fire risk from methane buildup, surge in disease-carrying vectors and significant decline in property values. “We are not opposing development — but we plead for responsible, humane, and scientifically sound urban planning. We urge PMC to relocate the plant,” said foundation director Sunil Koloti, a resident of Nyati Windchimes. Their fears are not unfounded. A Dec 2025 World Health Organisation (WHO) report stated, “Communities underserved by waste management services, those living near dumpsites and poorly managed landfills and incinerators… as well as waste workers — particularly those working informally — face greatest risks.” Existing problem Residents have also held protests in other areas where such facilities are proposed. In the case of Bavdhan and Punawale, such plans were scrapped in 2021 and 2025, respectively. In Kothrud, Sus and Camp, where these depots are operational, residents cite a litany of problems, mostly revolving around leachate spills and the stink. Kothrud resident Makarand Shete said, “Although the local garbage depot was handed over to Maha Metro for an extension, the transfer of garbage still takes place here. Every morning, we see a long line of smaller collection vehicles spilling trash on the road. There is also a bus stop right outside and it’s a nightmare for passengers waiting there.” In the Pashan-Sus Road area, residents under the banner of the Sus Road Baner Vikas Manch in 2019 filed an application with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to stop a plant from operating in their vicinity. NGT ordered PMC in 2020 to shift it, but when PMC approached Supreme Court, the latter quashed the NGT order in Sept 2024. In Nov 2025, the apex court also dismissed a contempt petition (citing continued odour and pollution issues) filed by the Manch against PMC for non-compliance with its earlier order. Today, residents said they continue to struggle with suffocating smell, leachate, fumes, spilled trash and depreciating property values. The situation around the existing garbage depot in Magarpatta Industrial Estate is grim, too. Area resident Poonam Punjabi said it is not just a sore sight, but also a site of garbage burning, releasing toxic fumes. “This depot has mixed waste and there is always stench emanating. They keep burning garbage, making it difficult for even passers-by to breathe. I have also seen many people just dump waste here. It is a major security issue as the premises are huge. Authorities collect waste daily and dump it here, but it is not processed every day,” the housewife said. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to send our children down to play or for senior citizens or anyone to go for morning and evening walks because of discomfort and health risks caused by the depot,” she added. ‘In-house processing best’ A Catch-22 situation is prevalent as far as garbage processing is concerned. On the one hand, while residents have legitimate concerns about the side effects of a garbage depot, transfer station or processing plant in their neighbourhood, it is also important for waste processing to happen within a particular ward’s limits, said experts. Anil Gokarn, founder of ProEarth, a zero-waste social enterprise based in Pune, said, “Wet waste has high water content and is not good for transport. Around 60% or more by weight of waste generated by city households is wet. It has to be decentralised and processed within the community or ward. Regulations demand that bulk waste generators (BWG) process wet waste on their premises, but unfortunately this is not happening. The challenge is to make space for BWG systems and maintain high standards of operations. It is possible when designed and managed scientifically.” “But residents are also opposed to BWG systems on society premises as their maintenance is always difficult. It is understandable. Budgets are not planned realistically for the required high standard of maintenance. However, the best solution is to process waste within the compound where it can be monitored and maintained, rather than leaving it to a public authority,” Gokarn added. In addition to unwillingness for BWGs systems, residents’ protests against garbage processing plants, transfer stations and depots around societies are largely because these are not operated as per prescribed norms, pointed out Pashan resident Pushkar Kulkarni. “When regulations are not followed, issues like foul smell, leachate and more surface, making living around such plots insufferable. There are laws in place to have buffer zones between garbage processing plants, transfer stations or depots and residential buildings, but they don’t get followed. Today, there are shops in almost every building, but no plan to cater to the waste they generate. When authorities are planning the projects or even giving building permissions, how much waste is being centrally collected versus how many societies are processing it themselves, size of depot/plant in the vicinity, etc., must all be calculated. Only if it isn’t burdening the current system should building permissions be given. But this does not happen,” Kulkarni told TOI. ExpertSpeak ‘Scientific processing can eliminate nuisance’ Wet waste decays immediately. Carrying it to distant places causes more carbon footprint and transport spend, while spilling leachate pollutes and leads to accidents. A decentralised process reduces all this. Waste management faces lack of willingness for at-source segregation, societies processing on-campus, composting mechanisms with skilled manpower, and stringent implementation of rules, due to vested interests. Waste can be processed without nuisance if done scientifically. PMC is inclined to getting rid of it and less interested in downstream processing, environmental impact or real-time monitoring. PMC should declare resource recovery statistics from waste management and benefits, such as power/BioCNG generated, streets lit, households benefited, and landfill reduction — Dr Manikprabhu Dhanorkar | Director, Symbiosis Centre for Waste Resource Mgmt OfficialSpeak ‘We encourage societies to self-compost’ According to the new Solid Waste Management Rules of 2026, societies who generate 100kg or more of wet waste have to process it indoors. The best solution is for people to do it at home. Socieities have been asked to start bulk waste generators (BWGs) at the earliest. We have fined many for failure to comply with rules. Some societies are interested in getting the systems in place, so we are guiding them. While it is understandable that residents don’t want to live near a garbage depot or plant, these sites are selected based on policy and cannot randomly be shifted. If there is an issue with sanitation, we give directions to contractors to rectify it immediately. We are also looking at preventive measures to avoid smell via a rigid management system — Santosh Varule | Deputy commissioner, solid waste management, PMC Trash transformed into fuel pellets in decentralised effort City resident, mechanical engineer and green warrior Ashish Vaishnav has spent the last few years of his life working to mitigate the challenge of climate change through alternative and renewable energy solutions. Vaishnav told TOI, “The problem with how we manage waste is the lack of decentralisation. Be it cities, towns or villages in India, the focus is always on large, centralised plants for aggregating and processing waste. But this generates more problems than it resolves. At Gangotree Energy, we have worked out a decentralised material recovery facility and energy station concept, with biogas plants for wet waste and solid recovered fuel (SRF) pelleting for non-recyclable combustible dry waste.” He elaborated, “We have tied up with Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) to send us 800-1,000kg of dry waste daily. This is turned into pellets that are then used in boilers as fuel in Pune itself, instead of being sent to landfills or far-off cement plants in Karnataka.” The goal, he said, is to not only recycle waste to its maximum capacity, but also reduce multiple layers of handling, the risk of waste mixing and long-distance commutes for non-recycled waste. “Waste has a major nuisance value and so, processing it correctly is very important. Lack of awareness has not only hindered the path to a solution, but leads to the authorities persisting with the current system, which transports both wet and dry waste across large distances. This creates issues of spillage and unhygienic conditions in and around transfer stations and at depots, where it finally gets dumped for processing,” he added. “Decentralising the system and processing waste in smaller quantities will not only help fast-track timelines, but also prevent other issues. Waste can then be recycled more meaningfully, and we can also integrate informal workers involved in waste picking in gainful employment,” Vaishnav added.
