Plastic Chokes Pune’s Rivers & Lakes; Citizens, Activists Step In

As World Environment Day was celebrated on Thursday, with the United Nations’ theme championing “Beat Plastic Pollution,” the fastest-growing city in the Asia-Pacific, Pune, is confronting the menace of plastic pollution that clogs flowing streams, such as the Mula-Mutha River, and city lakes, subsequently contaminating water bodies. The entire stretch of the Mula-Mutha River that passes through the city is contaminated with single-use plastics and sewage water dumped at an unprecedented rate, and has emerged as a flourishing ground for water hyacinth and mosquito breeding sites. Nature journal reports India’s per capita plastic consumption is 11 kg per year and is expected to rise further with rapid urbanisation, consumerism and migration from rural areas.

According to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pune city generates about 1,350–1,400 tonnes of dry waste and 950–1,000 tonnes of wet waste, which are recycled into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), compost, Bio-CNG, and other products. Additionally, the total plastic waste generated by Pune district is 95.71 metric tonnes per day (MTD). India’s inadequate waste management, combined with saturated landfills and rampant open burning, has made managing plastic waste a challenging and daunting task for authorities.

Community-driven cleanups and government projects offer hope, but the task of cleaning the city of plastic waste has remained an Achilles’ heel. PMC has been collaborating with waste collectors in the city to effectively collect waste at the source. Pune Ploggers, a community-driven plogging initiative, has started a campaign to collect litter and segregate waste into dry and plastic categories from major waste generation sites like the Mula-Mutha floodplains, Sinhgad Fort, Shaniwar Wada, and other locations.

Harish Jain, a member of the Pune Ploggers campaign, told The Free Press Journal, “Plastic from household consumer goods, for instance biscuits, chips, and chocolate wrappers, forms a major part of plastic waste collected from dumping sites. Today, we carried out a cleanliness drive below the SM Joshi Bridge and were able to collect 40 bags of plastic waste, with each bag’s capacity at 6–7 kg, which is less than the waste generated on weekends.” The waste collected is then handed over to PMC, which sends it for disposal or recycling.

Similarly, the Adar Poonawala Clean City Initiative and SWaCH Cooperative have been engaged in the collection and segregation of plastic waste. An official at the Adar Poonawala Clean City Initiative told The Free Press Journal that they have collaborated with PMC for the last eight years to make Pune city clean. In the process, they segregate waste at the site into three categories, as mandated by the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, to address waste collection. However, they are not involved in recycling or waste-to-energy conversion, the official said when asked about waste recycling in their clean city initiative.

The Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2024, mandate local bodies to undertake an annual assessment of plastic waste generated, including plastic waste at dumping sites. They must also estimate the quantity of plastic waste to be generated in the following five-year period. Sandip Kadam, Deputy Commissioner in PMC’s Solid Waste Management Department, said, “Multiple dry waste processing plants are functional daily to create energy from waste in Pune.” Nevertheless, he refrained from stating the exact number of such operational plants at full capacity. The single-use plastic ban in Pune has been effective, and PMC has been able to fine 1,000 violators in 2024 for plastic ban violations. Like waste collectors, PMC has been collaborating with recyclers who are skilled in upcycling plastic waste regularly and creating benches as public infrastructure through these networks. Timely funds are critical for keeping up with the momentum of waste recycling, he added.

Pune-based activists are demanding concrete solutions rather than temporary fixes. Highlighting the problem of plastic pollution, Vaishali Patkar, an environmental activist based in Pune, said that improper waste segregation is a problem. The segregated waste, when moved from the collection site, is mixed by recyclers with all other waste, which highlights the lack of awareness among recyclers, she added. Jain said that at landfills, all waste collected from Pune is dumped without addressing segregation. This makes waste management tasks cumbersome and reduces the efficiency of plastic waste management.

Patkar suggests small and effective measures to reduce plastic waste in Pune city, as an effective alternative to plastic remains on the anvil. She argued that online shopping has emerged as a major contributor to plastic waste. If we opt for eco-friendly packaging, support sustainable brands, and commit to using recycled or reusable materials, these small changes can make a big difference. Making conscious choices about plastic waste can help reduce per capita plastic waste usage.

The UN’s call to reduce plastic waste resonates well with the changing urban landscape of India. According to the Economic Survey 2023–24, by 2030, more than 40% of India’s population will live in urban areas. As World Environment Day galvanises action against plastic pollution, Pune’s fight for a plastic-free city hinges on collective will and robust policies. “Punekars must unite to save our ecosystem and the services it provides for a sustainable future,” said Patkar.