BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) Solid Waste Management (SWM) unit sent an unusual type of waste to the Bidadi waste-to-energy plant this week — discarded footwear following the stampede during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) victory celebrations. Three auto-tippers, each carrying around 300-350 kg of footwear, were dispatched to the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited’s (KPCL) plant over the past couple of days.
The footwear waste is now being processed to generate electricity for two days. The Bidadi plant generates 11.5 MW of electricity daily using 600 tonnes of dry waste collected from Bengaluru.
On the day following the incident, BBMP’s SWM divisions from Shivajinagar and Shanthinagar deployed special teams of waste pickers exclusively to collect discarded footwear. A team of marshals was also assigned to monitor the cleanup operation. Separate auto-tippers were used to remove banners, flexes, and torn clothes.
“All the waste around the stadium was cleared, and a report is being compiled,” said Harish Kumar K, BBMP’s Special Commissioner, SWM.
“This is the first time we’ve encountered such a large quantity of footwear waste,” said Abhilash M M, Assistant Executive Engineer, SWM (Shivajinagar), BBMP. “Usually, footwear waste comes from religious places or public functions, but never on this scale. Without the waste-to-energy plant, this waste would have ended up in landfills. Now, it’s being used to produce electricity.”
A KPCL official at the Bidadi plant confirmed this was an unprecedented type of waste. “We had never received footwear before and weren’t initially sure how to process it. After internal discussions, we found a way to use most of it to generate electricity. However, some types-especially leather and imported shoes-are difficult to process. This was an unexpected challenge for us.”