Aafrin Kidwai 
Picture credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15816697
Following some uncertainties, the Pune civic body has said it will extend its contract with SWaCH (Solid Waste Collection and Handling).
There is some resistance from certain groups which claim that it is wrong to force a single agency charging Rs 70 upon them when many housing societies dispose their own wet waste in their composting plants. These societies have also claimed to make their own arrangements to collect and send dry-recyclable waste to PMC’s containers.
SWaCH, which has over 3500 waste-pickers, maintains that their system involves a cooperative model that gives waste pickers exclusive rights to collect the garbage.
In 2008, PMC signed a five-year agreement with SWaCH, which has continued since then. In January this year, the PMC had tried to privatise the process, but that plan didn’t take off.
