Why Are Our Streets So Dirty?
And what it says about us.
If you’ve ever walked the streets of any Indian city past midnight or before sunrise, you might have seen them.
Not the politicians.
Not the influencers.
Not the "smart city" executives.
But the real frontline workers of our urban lives —
Ragpickers. Street sweepers. Waste workers.
They’re out there, before the sun rises,
Cleaning up the mess we left behind.
And I mean our mess.
You and me — the "educated" folks.
The ones who throw a gum wrapper out the window,
because “there’s no dustbin nearby.”
The Early Morning Truth
A few weeks ago, I took a walk at 4 AM.
I spoke to a few of these workers.
They weren’t angry.
They weren’t blaming anyone.
One of them, probably in his late 50s, said something that stuck with me:
“If I don’t do it, who will? I do it for the next generation.”
Let that sink in.
Someone earning a fraction of minimum wage,
Cleaning the city without applause,
Still carries a sense of generational responsibility.
While many of us scroll past litter,
Debate policies from AC boardrooms,
Or say, “It’s not my job.”
So Why Don’t We Do It?
I wanted to understand this at scale.
So I ran a LinkedIn survey.
2,000+ responses.
I asked people why they thought India’s streets remained dirty.
The top two reasons?
Lack of proper dustbins
Laziness
Simple as that.
People admitted:
“If I don’t see a bin nearby, I just throw it on the road.”
Yet this is the same crowd
That travels to the US, UK, Canada, Japan…
And comes back saying:
“Their cities are so clean. Their governments do such a great job!”
Sure, their systems are better.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
We don’t behave better because we’re better people.
We behave better because we know we’ll be punished.
It’s Not About Culture. It’s About Consequences.
We don’t dare to spit in Singapore because there’s a fine.
We separate waste in Germany because we’ll be penalized.
But here?
No consequences = no accountability.
So we take the shortcut.
We blame the system.
And forget that we are the system.
What Needs to Change
Clean streets don’t start with more machines.
They start with mindset.
Yes, we need more bins.
Yes, municipalities need reform.
But let’s also:
Teach waste segregation like we teach the alphabet
Introduce civic responsibility into school curriculums
Incentivize clean behavior, not just penalize the bad
Elevate the dignity of waste work (because it is dignified)
The Real Clean India Movement
The streets aren’t dirty because we lack knowledge.
They’re dirty because we lack ownership.
That gum wrapper.
That coffee cup.
That takeout container…
It’s not someone else’s job.
It’s yours. It’s mine.
So the next time you feel the urge to litter,
Think about the 4 AM worker who’ll be there cleaning up after you.
Or better yet —
Make sure they don’t have to.
👉 If this resonates with you, share it.
Talk about it at your next dinner table.
Call it out when you see it happening.
It starts small. But it spreads fast.
Because clean streets aren’t just about waste.
They’re about pride.