India, April 30 -- Given that rising temperatures and delays in waste collection are putting thousands of waste pickers at risk, waste pickers associated with SWaCH - India's largest waste picker-owned cooperative - will now finish their work by 12 noon, in keeping with the state government's heatwave guidelines. Meanwhile, citizens may experience changes in waste collection timings, said officials.

The move comes after internal data from SWaCH revealed serious gaps in waste collection logistics across the city. Of Pune's 1,018 feeder points or designated locations where waste pickers transfer wet and dry waste to municipal vehicles for further processing, 37% received collection vehicles late whereas at 10% of the feeder points, the veh...