Pune: The state's legacy waste management project under Swacch Bharat Mission 2.0 has meandered with 2.42 crore tonnes of unprocessed waste on 803 acres.
Swachh Bharat urban waste management data from the dashboard of the mission's website on October 1 puts Maharashtra ahead of the other states in holding an inexplicable amount of legacy waste in its landfills. Mangesh Kshirsagar, deputy director of Janwani, an NGO working in solid waste management, said the state being the largest legacy waste holder would also mean that its collection system is better than other states. When waste stays in the environment for too long, it contaminates the soil and the groundwater.
"For example, we helped Villoo Poonawalla Foundation install kiosks for citizens in Uruli Devachi in Pune to provide them with potable water," Kshirsagar added. Currently, there are 224 dump sites in the state of which remediation has been completed in 62 landfills clearing 85 lakh tonnes of waste. Waste management has begun or been approved in 147 landfills in which 60 lakh tonnes have been processed.
Among the regions, Pimpri Chinchwad, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Mumbai have delayed waste management. Pune, on the other hand, fared well with 57 lakh tonnes of 70 lakh tonnes already processed and 35 acres to be reclaimed. Avinash Dhakane, member secretary of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, told TOI that Mumbai has the highest amount of legacy waste in the state and all civic bodies have started working on .