Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu urged the people to continue the Swachh Andhra programme with the spirit of the movement. He told the collectors that since January, waste should not be seen anywhere and that 83 lakh metric tons of legacy waste have been cleared. He said that the tax on garbage has also been abolished and that the corporation is funding the Swachh Andhra programme.
The Chief Minister said that in the past, when he was the CM of the united Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu had implemented the sanitation programme with the participation of the people in the name of greenery and cleanliness and created awareness among the people like a movement.
Earlier, a detailed presentation on Swachh Andhra was presented by S. Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration & Urban Development. He stated that the Government is implementing a comprehensive action plan in urban development and waste management. He recalled that the state won national awards in Swachh Survekshan 2024 by the Government of India, which is a recognition of the state’s efforts in cleanliness and sustainable waste management.
The government has embarked on an ambitious plan to tackle legacy waste by clearing 85.90 lakh metric tonnes of old dumps by October 2, 2025, and an additional 30 lakh metric tonnes by December 2025. The reclaimed land will be reused productively, with recovered soil processed into compost and Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) supplied to cement factories, he said.
Alongside this, Waste-to-Energy projects are already operational in Visakhapatnam and Guntur, converting hundreds of tonnes of municipal waste into power daily. New plants are planned in Nellore, Rajahmundry, Kurnool, Kadapa, Vijayawada, and Tirupati, with six projects expected to be fully functional by 2027.
To strengthen integrated waste management, Suresh Kumar said that 72 ISWM clusters are being implemented across the state, supported by 417 Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in rural areas and 108 ISWM projects in urban centres. Construction and demolition waste projects are being revived in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, and Tirupati, while new initiatives for poultry waste management are also planned.
On the wastewater front, land acquisition is underway for 142 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), requiring 199 acres, to ensure treated water is safely reused in an environmentally sustainable manner.
He emphasised that adopting the circular economy model would ensure environmental protection, optimal land use, water recycling, and resource efficiency, while also creating employment opportunities.
As part of best practices, Suresh Kumar informed that the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat was declared Single-Use Plastic (SUP) Free on August 15, 2025. All district collectorates and government offices across the state have been directed to achieve SUP-Free status by December 2025.