Not Every Day is a 'Dry' Day, New Plan for Waste Collection

BBMP to collect wet waste every day and dry on alternate days; drive to ensure segregation.

BENGALURU: Pourakarmikas will soon collect wet and dry waste in separate vehicles.

While wet waste will be collected every day, the dry variety will be collected on alternate days. The objective of the new system is to enforce waste segregation at source more effectively.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has called for tenders with corresponding new clauses.

BBMP Commissioner Kumar Naik told reporters on Wednesday, “Contractors have to send two vehicles for dry and wet waste. This will ensure only segregated waste is collected and transported to the designated places.”

Naik said the BBMP had also changed some other parameters. Earlier, every 750 houses were assigned an auto tipper. “After a study, we have made that number 450. This also means there will be more garbage auto tippers.”

The BBMP is also checking the viability of setting up wet waste processing units in every ward. Almost every ward now has a dry waste processing unit.

Also in the pipeline are incentives for garbage contractors who ensure segregation at source.

What’s New

• Pourakarmikas will collect wet and dry waste in separate vehicles
• Garbage vehicles will be GPS-enabled
• Attendance of pourakarmikas will monitored on a bio-metric system
• Sanitary waste will form a third category, in addition to dry and wet. This includes diapers, sanitary pads, and condoms.

Where Our Waste is Going

• MSGP, Chigerehalli on Doddaballapur Rd: 750
• Doddabidrekallu on Tumakuru Rd: 200
• KCDC, Bommanahalli: 250
• Mavallipura on Doddaballapur Rd: 300
• Chikkanagamangala, Hosur Rd: 50
• Kannahalli, Magadi Rd: 150
• Seegehalli, Magadi Rd: 40

Terra Firma Closure Hits Disposal

• With a bio waste processing unit shutting down on Doddaballapura Road, BBMP is struggling.
• They had withdrawn their protests only after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah assured them Terra Firma would be closed by March 31.
• Villagers in and around Terra Firma and MSGP, units processing waste, had protested against dumping.
• “We are struggling to dispose waste. We used to send 700 tonnes to Terra Firma. Now we are diverting it to other processing units,” Kumar Naik said.
• The pace has slowed down. “That is why we see more waste on roads in the South and West zones,’’ he said.
• Heaps of garbage have piled up in Vijayanagar and Majestic, Malleswaram, and Rajajinagar, and on Magadi Road, Mysuru Road.

Trash Snapshot

• Bengaluru generates 3,500 tonnes of waste every day
• About 1,400 tonnes are dry waste
•  It has 189 dry waste collection centres, each with a capacity of 5 tonnes
• It has 13 bio-methane plants, each with a capacity of 5 tonnes of wet waste