The outward expansion of larger metros, gradual changes in land use and occupations have transformed the rural hinterland into semi-urban or 'peri-urban' areas. Inhabitants of these 'peri-urban' regions are increasingly threatened by a deteriorating quality of life prompted by deforestation, water depletion and pollution as well as by the poor or almost non-existent mechanisms for sewage disposal. This article highlights the environmental dimensions associated with the spread of urban agglomerations by focusing on the problem of increased solid wastes in India's peri-urban regions. It looks at two local level initiatives formed to create a sustainable solid waste management system. But tasks such as solid waste management cannot be left to local level initiatives as community organisations lack sufficient resources or capacity to provide such a service in its entirety. Policy-makers need to give such areas more civic autonomy or provide, via the state government, a modicum of basic environmental services.