SWM Rules 2026 for IT parks: developer and tenant duties

An IT park is a bulk waste generator under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 if it meets any one of three tests: a building with a floor area of 20,000 sq.m. or above, water consumption of 40,000 litres a day, or solid waste generation of 100 kg a day (Rule 3(1)(i)). Large multi-building campuses may cross at least one of them. IT parks are not named as such in the definition, but the buildings in them are occupied by "private companies", a listed institutional category, and commercial establishments and industrial areas are listed as commercial users. The rules do not say whether the developer, the operator or each tenant registers and files, so the division should be agreed in writing.

Where an IT park is a special economic zone or an industrial park, the State urban development department is to direct its developers "to comply with all the provisions relating to bulk waste generators" (Rule 35(2)(xv)).

Which of the three levels apply?

Every occupier. Rule 5(1)(b) requires every waste generator to "segregate and store the waste generated by them in four separate streams at source namely wet waste, dry waste, sanitary waste and special care waste". Rule 5(1)(i) requires suitable containers for each stream, and Rule 5(1)(c) requires sanitary waste to be wrapped securely and kept separate.

Rule 5(2). The rule applies to "All gated communities and institutions with more than 5,000 sq.m. area and all resident welfare associations, market associations, hotels, restaurants". IT parks are not named. Restaurants are, so a restaurant operator in a food court carries Rule 5(2) duties regardless of size. Whether a park or a large tenant campus is treated as an institution is not settled by the rules, which define neither "institutions" nor the area basis; this should be confirmed with the local body. Where Rule 5(2) applies, the entity must, within one year of the rules' notification in the Official Gazette and in partnership with the local body, ensure segregation at source, facilitate collection in separate streams, hand recyclable material to authorised waste pickers or authorised recyclers, process biodegradable waste on the premises "as far as possible", and give residual waste to the collector or agency the local body directs.

Bulk waste generator. Rule 3(1)(i) lists buildings occupied by "public sector undertakings or private companies" among institutional users, and "commercial establishments" and "industrial units and industrial areas" among commercial users. Which entry the local body applies to a particular park may depend on how the park is notified and occupied.

Who registers and files in a multi-tenant campus?

The rules attach the bulk waste generator duties to "Every bulk waste generator" (Rule 6) but do not say how they divide between a developer, a facility operator and the tenants of a shared campus. The operator could register for the whole campus, or each large tenant for its own building; the rules prescribe neither.

A prudent approach is to:

• agree in writing, in the lease or facility management agreement, who registers on the portal, who procures EBWGR certificates and who files the annual return;
• agree how waste generation, water consumption and floor area are measured and attributed to each building or tenant;
• make sure each tenant keeps its own segregation and handover records, so that the filing entity can rely on them; and
• confirm the chosen arrangement with the local body at registration.

The registration certificate specifies the conditions for it to remain valid, and any change in the information provided must be notified to the local body (Rule 6(a)). Tenant changes should be reviewed against that condition.

The rules also anticipate central collection points in large complexes. "Door to door collection" includes collection "from entry gate or a designated location on the ground floor" of a "large residential, commercial or institutional complex or premises" (Rule 3(1)(r)), and the State urban development department is to direct the town planning department to ensure that development plans for commercial, institutional and other non-residential complexes with a plot area exceeding 5,000 square metres demarcate separate space for segregation, storage and decentralised processing of solid waste (Rule 35(2)(xiv)).

Which tests to check first

Waste in an IT park comes from three main sources: dry waste from offices (paper, packaging, cups and food containers), wet waste from food courts, cafeterias and pantries, and horticulture waste from landscaped areas, which is stored separately (Rule 5(1)(e)) and must also be processed (Rules 6(c)–(d)). Sanitary waste comes from washrooms across the campus.

In a multi-building park, the floor area test should be checked building by building as well as for the campus, and the basis confirmed with the local body. Water consumption is also likely to matter where the campus runs cooling towers, a central kitchen or extensive landscaping. Waste should be weighed by building and by stream over several representative weeks. Urban local bodies survey and list bulk waste generators on the portal every year by 1 April and geo-tag them (Rule 39(36)), so the park's own assessment should be ready before the local body asks. Our bulk waste generator guide sets out the tests in detail.

What a bulk waste generator must do

A bulk waste generator must:

• register with the local body through the centralised online portal (Rule 6(a));
• arrange handover of dry, sanitary and special care waste to the local body or an agency it authorises (Rule 6(b));
• process wet waste, including horticulture waste: a new bulk waste generator must set up processing for all of it, while an existing one that cannot must obtain an exemption from the local body and procure EBWGR certificates instead (Rules 6(c)–(d));
• procure EBWGR certificates for dry, sanitary and special care waste (Rules 6(e)–(f)). Certificates are measured in kilograms (Rule 10(3)). Only the local body is mandated to generate certificates on the centralised online portal (Rule 10(1)); see our EBWGR certificates briefing;
• give residual waste and inerts from decentralised processing to authorised waste collectors, an agency authorised by the local body, or the local body (Rule 6(i));
• deal only with registered entities (Rule 6(g)); and
• file an annual return on the portal by 30 June every year (Rule 6(h)); see our annual returns briefing.

Where new buildings are under construction, the bulk waste generator constructing new units must promptly clean up and remove the solid waste left during construction and manage it under the rules (Rule 6(j)); construction and demolition waste is stored separately (Rule 5(1)(d)).

Waste that falls under other rules

The SWM Rules 2026 do not cover industrial waste, hazardous waste, hazardous chemicals, bio-medical waste, e-waste, battery waste or radioactive waste (Rule 2). In an IT park, that typically means:

• Servers, laptops, network equipment and data centre hardware: the e-waste rules.
• UPS and inverter batteries: the battery waste rules.
• Used oil from diesel generator sets and similar items: the hazardous waste rules.
• The campus sewage treatment plant: the SWM rules do not mention sewage or sewage sludge; see our sewage treatment plant reference.
• Waste from a campus medical centre, where the operator or a tenant is an occupier under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016: kept apart from solid waste (Rule 5(1)(k)). A bulk waste generator in that position must also state its bio-medical waste quantities in its SWM annual return (Rule 6(m)).

A practical checklist

• Agree in writing who registers, procures certificates and files for each building or for the whole campus.
• Place containers for all four streams at each central storage point, and dry and wet containers on each floor and in food courts.
• Make sure every food court restaurant meets Rule 5(2), and every other outlet segregates under Rule 5(1).
• Record floor area, water consumption and daily waste by building, and the basis for bulk waste generator status.
• Decide on composting or bio-methanation for food court and horticulture waste.
• Keep the registration of every collector, processor and recycler on file, for the operator and for tenants.
• Keep e-waste, batteries and generator oil out of the municipal streams.

How EarthReheal WasteLedger supports IT parks

The EarthReheal WasteLedger IT park pack covers SWM alongside other rules that can apply to IT parks, including e-waste, battery waste, hazardous waste, sewage treatment plant consent, groundwater abstraction and diesel generator emissions under the Air Act. Setup questions about the premises switch the relevant rules and checks on or off, including the three levels of SWM obligation described above. Each check is assigned to the responsible member of staff, and photographs taken in the app carry the device capture time and location. Handovers are recorded against the receiving partner, and partner registration and licence expiry are tracked. The annual return is linked to the daily records, with reminders 90, 30 and 7 days before the deadline.

To see which rules apply to your campus, take the free compliance check for IT parks, or see the IT park compliance pack. For a walkthrough, book a demo.

This briefing is general information, not legal advice. Rule references are to the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 (S.O. 388(E)) as published in the Gazette of India on 28 January 2026. For the full text of each obligation, see the SWM Rules 2026 rule reference.