SWaCH Pune Seva Cooperative Society was established in 2007 as the first waste picker owned co-operative. It has stemmed from the grass-root mobilization work of the Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat, a registered trade union of informal waste-pickers having membership of more than 10,000. SWaCH’s 3800 waste picker members current collect waste from 800,000 properties across Pune. SWaCH holds a 5-year contract for doorstep collection of waste with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) ending December 2020. The PMC covers administrative costs of the co-operative for coordinating collection service whilst waste pickers received their income from monthly user fees paid by citizens directly. Waste-pickers then segregate the recyclables from other dry waste, sort it finely and channelize it for recycling through scrap traders. The collected wet waste and non-recyclable waste is then taken by the municipality to one of their decentralized/centralized waste management plants or the landfill. This service effectively bridges the gap between households and municipal waste disposal services.