When the residents of a city or a town work together to make it spick and span, the environment becomes healthy for each and every one. And the people of Vaijapur, a municipal council in Aurangabad left no stone unturned to make it an absolutely clean city. It recently became one of the forty waste free cities in Maharashtra under government’s ranking exercise, Swachh Survekshan and was also awarded for the achievement.

The municipal council, Vitthal Dake started the waste management programme in Vaijapur three years back. The civic body planned how to eliminate solid waste with the help of an Aurangabad's civic response team. Right from providing training to the cleaning staff to figuring out the routes of trash vehicles, they did everything to make it a success.

While talking to TOI, Vitthal mentioned how they treated the wet and the dry waste as he stated: "The town has cent per cent door-to-door collection and source segregation of waste. The wet waste is treated through composting while the dry waste is sorted into different categories. It is then sold or given to company as fuel. The beautification of 11 spots in the town helped secure good ratings in Swachh Survekshan. “

This humongous achievement would not have been possible if the residents wouldn’t have cooperated. Thus, in order to make any city garbage free, people must understand the change must come from within.

Image Courtesy: Hello Travel