Localities such as H.S.R. Layout, Sadashivanagar, RMV Dollar’s Colony, and Koramangala have taken the lead in managing waste by installing leaf composters. However, these neighbourhoods are an exception to the norm.
With the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) still largely dependent on landfills and quarries, waste management experts are pushing for the civic body to look to cities outside Karnataka that have successfully managed to decentralise their waste processing system and use technology effectively.
Waste management experts in the city claim that for the past several years, they have been urging the civic body to decentralise the processing of waste, by making segregation at source compulsory for all.
N.S. Ramakanth from the Solid Waste Management Round Table cited Indore and Alappuzha as examples. “We have been suggesting that the BBMP first revive the biomethanisation plants, install leaf composters, and establish biogas units,” he said.
BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) D. Randeep admitted that the civic body could ill-afford its dependence on landfills and quarries. “With the decentralised processing of waste being the long-term solution, the civic body is keen on streamlining the system, first by reviving the biomethanisation plants and encouraging neighbourhoods across the city to have local composting units (either biogas or lane composters).”
Mr. Ramakanth said there was no reason why solutions that have worked for other cities could not be implemented in Bengaluru. “The city needs someone who takes the hard decisions quickly,” he said.
Malini Parmar, co-founder of Stonesoup, which offers waste management solutions, pointed out that there are many vendors who work with other municipalities as they are hesitant to work with the BBMP owing to its history of delayed payment and red tape.“Just to get a work order, the file has to go to five different desks. It takes another five desks for the invoice to be cleared, followed by another three desks for payment to be approved. For instance, the lane composters were installed in RMV Dollar’s Colony in November 2018 and eight vendors are still awaiting payment,” she said.
Another vendor, who spoke to The Hindu on condition of anonymity, expressed a similar sentiment. Both point out that it is the lack of will that is mainly holding the city back.
“The Indira Canteens were set up across the city in many wards in just a few months. The BBMP can surely install composters, with help from vendors, in many wards that will take care of at least 50% of the wet waste generated in the city,” said Ms. Parmar, who added that there are around 15 vendors who will be able to install more than 1,000 composters across the city.
Alappuzha model
In 2012, communities living near the dumping yard at Sargodayapuram on the outskirts of the town were up in arms against the dumping of mixed waste there. As a solution, the municipality provided aerobic composting bins and biogas units to residents at subsided rates and set up community composting units. The efforts were recognised by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Alappuzha model is being emulated in many cities across the country.
Indore model
It was Indore’s poor Swachh Survekshan ranking that provided an impetus to the municipality to have better waste management in place. To begin with, the municipality eliminated black spots, removed public bins, ensured that the main roads were swept thrice a day, and promoted composting and segregation of waste at source. For its efforts, Indore scored the top rank in Swachh Survekshan 2017 and 2018, prompting Indian Institute of Management-Indore to do a case study.
