BANGALORE: Swedish experts will now help Bangalore to deal with its solid waste management issue. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, which is struggling to solve the issue, has decided to seek assistance from the European country which started setting up waste-to-energy plants way back in 1970s.
“They have vast experience. We will work with them on technical aspects and implementation of projects related to recycling of waste and reducing burden on landfills,” said Darpan Jain, Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management), BBMP.
Jain was part of a six-member official delegation which visited Sweden from August 18 to 23. The delegation, headed by K Ratna Prabha, Additional Chief Secretary, Commerce and Industries Department, was in Sweden on an invitation from the Embassy of Sweden in India. The visit focused on solid waste management, urban transport and new investments in transport and manufacturing sectors. The delegation visited many waste-to-energy plants.
“Their focus is on recycling waste and reducing burden on landfills. It gels well with our strategy, but the only issue is our city is big and the quantity of waste generated is huge. They have agreed to support us and we will collaborate with them,” he said.
“Technical support from Sweden may also help us in setting up incineration plants in the city. Emission from incineration plants in Sweden is zero. Controlling emission from such plants is a big challenge and we will look at their technologies and work with their experts,” Jain said.
He said he will submit a detailed report on the visit to the government. BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana said understanding the best practices in a country like Sweden will help BBMP improve the city’s waste management system.
Elected representatives from BBMP and state ministers had visited many places to look at the technologies that can help the civic agency tackle the issue. Since BBMP has to stop sending garbage to landfills at Mandur from December 1, it is looking at various options.
Harald Sandberg, Ambassador of Sweden to India, who was in Bangalore a few months ago, had invited CM Siddaramaiah to visit Sweden to see its state-of-the-art technologies in garbage processing