BENGALURU: A week ago, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) started a waste management programme called 2 Bins 1 Bag to help in garbage segregation.
Earlier, BBMP had decided to do away with public dustbins to reduce the dumping of waste. Now, the municipal corporation, officials say, has identified 12 busy locations to re-introduce dustbins and flag off the initiative.
At every spot are two dustbins — one white and another green. The green ones take all organic waste — wet waste that can be turned into compost — while the dry, recyclable waste goes into the white bin.
In apartments, residents are encouraged to put in wet waste into a garbage bag for the paurakarmikas to collect. Dry waste is binned.
The public bins are heavy, and cannot be displaced or carried away easily. Only certain mechanical vehicles can lift or unload them.
MG Road, Richmond Road, Vidhana Soudha, MS Building, High Court and Raj Bhavan are among the places chosen for the pilot. Each of the six BBMP divisional offices in a zone also has a set of these bins.
In addition to being colour coded, the bins have pictures that depict the kind of waste that goes into them. “These features make segregation simpler,” said Smitha Thakur, a techie.
Another techie Venkatesh Iyer, who has lived in the city for six years, said, “This initiative will work only if enough manpower is dedicated to it. Then, 80 per cent of Bengaluru’s garbage problems will be solved.”
Suresh J Talwar, a policeman, was more sceptical. “These dustbins are too small, so I don’t think this initiative will work if all of them are this size.”
Deputy Mayor S P Hemalatha said waste garbage from these bins are collected between 6 and 10 am.
“We have assigned 150 workers for the safe collection and disposal of dry and wet waste from these bins," she said.
Are the dustbins big enough? “Each zone will have a number of dustbins. Together, they can handle the requirements. If people find the dustbins are too small, they can discuss it with the BBMP officials concerned.”