Indore: How a City Got Clean

How Indore became India's cleanest city in the national ranking year after year, through segregation, collection, processing and citizen participation.

Indore in Madhya Pradesh topped the government’s annual Swachh Survekshan cleanliness survey for many years in a row from 2017, becoming a model for other cities.

What Indore did

Door-to-door collection from every household, using vehicles playing jingles to alert residents.
Segregation at source: households separate waste into wet, dry and other categories, with some cities using up to six categories.
Removal of public bins, which often overflowed, relying instead on scheduled collection.
Processing: composting, a large bio-CNG plant converting wet waste into gas for city buses, and recycling of dry waste.
Clearing its legacy landfill through biomining.

Citizen participation

Awareness campaigns in schools and neighbourhoods.
Fines for littering and not segregating.
Civic pride as the city kept winning.

Financing

User charges for waste collection.
Revenue from selling compost, bio-CNG and recyclables.
Carbon credits in some projects.

Leadership and continuity

Strong municipal leadership, political support and sustained effort over years were key.

Lessons for others

Segregation is the foundation.
Processing must match collection.
Citizen buy-in and enforcement matter.
Results take consistent effort.

The jingle truck

Every morning, a waste collection vehicle plays a familiar jingle on an Indore street. Residents bring out separate bins for wet and dry waste. The wet waste goes to the bio-CNG plant that fuels city buses.

Thinking cleanliness depends only on sweeping streets

Indore's success came from segregation, processing, financing and citizen participation.

Key takeaways

Indore topped Swachh Survekshan for many years from 2017.
It used door-to-door collection, segregation and removed public bins.
A bio-CNG plant turns wet waste into fuel for buses.
Leadership, citizen participation and user fees sustained success.