Sources of Waste

Vijayawada won the ‘cleanest big city’ award in the category for cities with over 10 lakh people with the indicators of segregated door to door garbage collection, proper management of solid waste, green open space and measures to prevent public urination. It had earlier received this distinction in 2018. In the 2019 edition of the Swachh survey, Vijayawada was ranked 12th, Greater Vizag 23rd and Tirupati eighth. While Vijayawada and Greater Vizag improved their rankings, Tirupati slipped to the 12th rank this year. Out of the total of 6,000 marks, Vijayawada secured 5,270.32, which included 1,329.09 for ‘service-level progress’, 1,100 for ‘certification’, 1,493 for ‘direct observation’ and 1,348.23 for ‘citizen feedback and Swachhata mobile application. Vijayawada regained its position in 2020 by securing 4th position in in India in the clean city awards of Swachh Survekshan 2020. A collective effort of various wings in the VMC and the citizens’ feedback helped the city to achieve this rank.

Sources of Waste

Waste quantities as well as composition are inextricably linked to the vibrancy of economic activity and resource consumption pattern of the society which generates the waste. Of the total municipal solid waste in Vijayawada, 370 tons is collected from residential sector, 100 tons is collected from commercial sector, 10 tons is collected from industrial sector, hospitals in the city generate approximately 20 tons of waste, construction and demolition waste contributes approximately 50 tons to the total city waste.

Figure 12.1: Sources of waste Source: VMC & International urban cooperation report on SWM-Vijayawada