Worldwide, around 2.7 billion people do not have their waste collected, and of them 2 billion live in rural areas, an analysis by the UN Environment Programme has found, where people cannot manage waste, they dump it on land or in rivers, streams, and seas or burn it, a major concern in India.
On April 30, 2025, Bibhab Talukdar watched the first truck — 17 tonne of waste left Majuli on a boat across the Brahmaputra. “This was the first time the waste from Majuli crossed the Brahmaputra,” he said. Majuli is a river island in Assam. The truck made a 200 km journey, lasting over 12 hours to scrap dealers in Tezpur, Assam.
Behind these efforts lay months of preparation, creative ways of financing, and a growing awareness that waste was becoming a mounting problem in the remote corners of India.
The country produces 1.7 lakh tonnes of waste every day, per the Central Pollution Control Board, of which 20% ends up in landfills and 17% is unaccounted for. However, the official data on rural waste are simply not credible. “Waste data for rural areas doesn’t exist,” said Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh, programme manager at the Centre for Science and Environment. “We have some numbers, but they are not good enough.”
Today, garbage is collected in 19 of 20 panchayats despite the locals facing multiple problems, a local official said.
A community-led model: In the land-locked and mountainous villages of Tawang, there was no escape from trash. Having sanitation workers collect garbage from door to door and dispose of it is the ideal, but here, because the settlements are dispersed, the model does not work.
Tsering Choden, senior project coordinator with Himalayan Fringes Project, Further and Beyond Foundation, which works on community-led waste management, said.
Ms. Choden, along with the Project, local officials and village leaders came up with a community-led model of waste management in Chutka in Keyi Panyor district. The model was adopted by a third of Tawang district and parts of Seyl Panyor and Upper Siang districts as well.
Every household is responsible for segregating biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. They store it in their homes. And then once a month, the community comes together and segregates the waste on a collection day, says Tashi Soshing, additional deputy commissioner, Lumla Circle, which adopted the model as well.
“We don’t have any sanitation workers. We have people from villages who voluntarily gather together on collection days. The panchayat has a collection centre. We also have a location in the village becomes the collection and sorting point, where waste is sorted into 22 categories. Some even go 26, villages that are part of the system include Chutka, Mago, Thingbu, Soth and others. Tawang started a collection drive for Swachhta Diwas and collected 10 tonnes of waste. The waste is taken to material recovery facilities (MRFs). Then it is taken to Tawang, Zimithang, Lumla and Daporijo where it is received, sorted, and processed. There are also smaller community-led MRFs in Chaglagam and Gobuk in Upper Siang and dozens of women from self-help groups are roped in to manage 33 categories of waste, including sanitary napkins and diapers, which are stored as MRFs. More than 20 tonnes have been collected so far, generating a revenue of ₹2.51 lakh.
Data show a rise in per-capita spending in India’s rural areas, which also results in more waste: there are empty beer and whisky bottles, tetra packs, beverages, personal care products and other products, many of which are wrapped in plastic, have penetrated the remotest management has not.
are also smaller community-led MRFs in Chaglagam and Gobuk in Upper Siang and dozens of women from self-help groups are roped in to manage 33 categories of waste, including sanitary napkins and diapers, which are stored as MRFs. More than 20 tonnes have been collected so far, generating a revenue of ₹2.51 lakh.
The story is about Gobuk and Taksing in Upper Siang and Tawang districts, Arunachal Pradesh. Akalash Gogo, District Official, Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin, Engineering Department, said, the Community Managed Waste Collection Facility (CMWCF) in 19 of 20 panchayats and funds were mobilised, and in 2022. However, neither these tin houses that dot the landscape have been dismantled. In 2024, Sahana teamed up with the department, he said, with several other components besides CMWCF needs including the monthly awareness drive and collection and transportation.
Community participation goes beyond collection and transportation. In most of the ten houses between 200 owners, schools and self-help groups participated in awareness programmes, and hands-on training for segregation.
Meanwhile, the logistics of managing the non-biodegradable waste was also being worked out. This included funding, staffing, and training sanitation workers, arranging for vehicles to transport the waste to material collection facilities, and finding recyclers.
In Majuli, they used to throw the waste in their fields or in the river. Broken bottles that did not break were flooded every year, the river carried the waste away.
For centuries, organic waste was used as manure. So, every plastic and other non-biodegradable materials have to be mixed today, which takes decades to decompose.
Majuli’s method: Akalash Gogoi, District Official, Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin, Engineering Department, said, the Community Managed Waste Collection Facility (CMWCF) in 19 of 20 panchayats and funds were mobilised, and in 2022. However, neither these tin houses that dot the landscape have been dismantled. In 2024, Sahana teamed up with the department, he said, with several other components besides CMWCF needs including the monthly awareness drive and collection and transportation.
Monthly fee: The most expensive step in the waste management chain is collection, in the form of crew wages, fuel, maintenance costs, and other indirect costs. A recent CSR report on circular economy which Mr. Singh co-authored, also found the fuel cost for transportation accounts for the bulk of the primary collection cost was attributed to manpower.
The report examined the case of rural Dharamshala, where nearly 50% of the primary collection cost was attributed to manpower.
First and last mile: Among the first villages served are 27 sanitation workers and 19 sorting staff who are responsible for overseeing operations. Most people segregate their waste, he said. “But in every 100 households, there may be 5 who still mix waste. They don’t listen.”
For instance, in the Rural Development and the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, 3-4 vehicles for collection, the vehicles including the one Mr. Talukdar’s tricycles, and approved funds for the same.
The transportation cost to recyclers is high because Taksing is remote. It travels further, Mr. Singh said, rendering some recyclables non-viable. Ms. Zilmani it costs ₹45,000 to send one truckload of waste from Majuli to Tezpur. Also globally, the localities in Tawang volunteered their vehicles for transportation. In Majuli, the project’s success drew the attention of the community. However, in the long run, those who donated a truck, yet the cost of fuel and driver is still ₹20,000 per trip, she said.
As of now, there is no segregation of non-recyclable low-value multi-layered plastics were sent to a sub-division, where it was used to make paver blocks, Mr. Doonibg said.
Between April 2025 and May 2026, Majuli transacted 167.9 tonnes of waste and earned ₹7.01 lakh. Mr. Borgohain said there may be 60 who sell this waste to their waste to local scrap dealers as well. However, there have been takers for its segregated and recycled plastic and waste bricks, and metals.
However, there have been takers for its segregated and recycled plastic and waste bricks, and metals. Many CBGs are also filling up with packaging.
According to Mr. Singh, it is not feasible to build big, expensive, waste management facilities filled to the brim with baled waste, and with few takers. Mr. Borgohain said Majuli has collected 82.4 tonnes of waste in 2024, while Taksing, Gobuk and the Brahmaputra and the ocean, he said. This is a good management facility is underway to showcase a model where waste can show a way. A model where rural waste management can work.