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How Indore Became the Cleanest City in India

After examining circularity in Uppsala and waste management in Pune, we turn our attention to our last local case study: Indore. Since 2015, the city has brought about systematic changes in the way it disposes garbage. Segregation of waste followed by door to door collection is practiced throughout the city.

There are zero waste wards in the city, where its residents practice home composting and treat most of the wet waste in situ. Most of the dry waste is sent to a material recovery facility where it is segregated and sent for recycling. The wet waste that is not treated on site goes to a central composting facility. Part of the wet waste is also turned into compressed biogas which is used to run public transport.

Nacka – Sweden’s Cleanest Municipality 2024

Nacka municipality has been awarded the title of ‘Keep Sweden Tidy Municipality of the Year 2024’ (Årets Håll Sverige Rent-kommun) by the environmental organization Keep Sweden Tidy (Håll Sverige Rent). This recognition stems from Keep Sweden Tidy’s annual Municipal Index, which assesses all 290 Swedish municipalities on their strategic preventive efforts against littering.

The index evaluates municipalities on several criteria, including their membership in the Keep Sweden Tidy network, participation rates in national clean-up campaigns (such as Skräpplockardagarna), the use of Keep Sweden Tidy’s litter measurement methods, and the number of schools certified with the sustainability label Green Flag (Grön flagg).

Nacka was specifically praised for its comprehensive approach, successfully integrating advanced technology with strong local engagement. Innovative methods include utilizing underwater drones and sonar to conduct ‘trash diving’ (skräpdykning) and retrieve marine debris along the coast. On the local initiative front, the municipality achieved record-high participation in clean-up drives, engaging 41% of its children and youth. Furthermore, Nacka introduced a local ban on the recreational use of nitrous oxide (lustgas) in specific public spaces to curb associated litter. This strategic work has led to an increase in citizen reporting of littering and simultaneously halved the time taken for subsequent clean-up operations.

Further reading, learning and references

Dhillon, A. (2025). ‘I’ve seen people stop their cars to pick up litter’: how one city cleaned up its streets. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/04/how-indian-city-indore-beat-the-rubbish
Nacka is the best Keep Sweden Tidy Municipality 2024 www.nacka.se/stadsutveckling-trafik/nyheter-om-stadsutveckling-och-trafik/2024/12/nacka-ar-basta-hall-sverige-rent-kommun/
The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation https://hsr.se/kommun/kommunindex
How Amsterdam will transform into a circular city by 2050 https://youtu.be/wdsobgg9o3w
Japan: Zero Waste Town – Power of Recycling | United Nations https://youtu.be/FY-l9Ov61vI

© Daniel Mossberg, CEMUS, Uppsala University and Sonali Phadke, studio Alternatives and Stephanie Foote