chhattisgarhs ambikapur is a small town barely 10km across and home to less than 2 lakh people but its been punching above its weight in swachh survekshan surveys for eight consecutive years from 2015 to 2022 ambikapur bagged the top spot in the 1 lakh3 lakh population category setting a new benchmark for cleanliness and sustainabilitythis town in north chhattisgarh pioneered the idea of garbage cafe where you get a free meal for bringing in plastic waste it also boasts a 1 5km road made entirely of plastic granules so its not surprising that 10 states have shown interest in studying ambikapurs solid waste management model thats built around ambikas women who power the swachhta and sustainability missionsstarted and run by womenias officer ritu sain had started the movement with an army of women while posted as surguja district collector the ambikapur municipal corporation now has 470 women workers for doorstep garbage collectionthere was a 25yearold dump on the citys border the 16acre site stank terribly and made commuting a horror now its a visitors paradise she told toi a 14acre botanical garden has been created at the dump sitewe began working on a financially sustainable method to make ambikapur free of the dumping yard and people from all walks of life joined the mission said sain who is now director general of the national antidoping agencyambikapur mayor dr ajay kumar tirkey said ritu sain scientifically supported the threelayer waste disposal method and worked as a bridge between the corporation district administration urban administration and chhattisgarh development department a collective effortsharing the towns trashtotreasure story with toi the mayor said ambikapur has won the cleanest city award in the 13 lakh population category for eight consecutive years this would not have been possible without the support of the administration government community the opposition in the municipal corporation media reports pointing out shortcomings and of course the 470 swachhata didis supervisors go around ambikapur armed with tablets and bluetooth printers to upload information on garbage lifted from homes and businesses all 48 wards of the town are dustbinfree the citys solid waste management system runs on 18 segregation centres where dry and wet garbage are separated and sent to a processing centre women remove thousands of bottle caps by hand every day to recycle them separatelytirkey an orthopaedic surgeon now in his second term as mayor recalled how they started a series of discussions with communities and traders bodies to get them in sync with the swachh mission followed by an awareness mission in all 48 wardsevery house and business establishment in the city was then covered by a doortodoor daily garbage collection system around 4851 metric tonnes of garbage is collected every day nearly 70 of it is wet waste that is composted dry waste is segregated into 22 categories in garbage clinicsand further into 156 categories in tertiary segregation centres from waste collection and processing to usercharge collection sale of compost and inorganic items everything is