Bengaluru must sustain recent cleanliness gains
The country’s IT capital seems to be finally sloughing off its embarrassing title of ‘Garbage City’ with a multi-pronged strategy. The recent changes in Bengaluru are not the government’s doing alone—it includes residents segregating waste at source more scrupulously and paying a waste management cess. For itself, the city administration is clearing dirty spots, its marshals are hounding litterbugs, and an extensive campaign against single-use plastic is on. An integrated waste management system has been implemented to scientifically dispose of e-waste, channel plastic into road-building and cement-manufacturing, and produce energy from waste. Helplines and 76 Kasa kiosks or centres for segregated waste have been set up. All of this adds up to a promising start that deserves to be sustained.
This collaborative system is necessary for a city where roadside waste heaps have become the norm, landfills have risen in the suburbs, and the population has displayed increasing disdain for discipline. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who holds the Bengaluru development portfolio, has shown his resolve to bring in change. As the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 came into force this May, the city was divided into five zones for easier management. The garbage contractors’ cartel was dismantled, and a battery of senior officers brought in to oversee waste management. The ‘garbage tax’, which yielded ₹350 core in two months, is being ploughed back into the city.
The country’s IT capital seems to be finally sloughing off its embarrassing title of ‘Garbage City’ with a multi-pronged strategy. The recent changes in Bengaluru are not the government’s doing alone—it includes residents segregating waste at source more scrupulously and paying a waste management cess. For itself, the city administration is clearing dirty spots, its marshals are hounding litterbugs, and an extensive campaign against single-use plastic is on. An integrated waste management system has been implemented to scientifically dispose of e-waste, channel plastic into road-building and cement-manufacturing, and produce energy from waste. Helplines and 76 Kasa kiosks or centres for segregated waste have been set up. All of this adds up to a promising start that deserves to be sustained.
This collaborative system is necessary for a city where roadside waste heaps have become the norm, landfills have risen in the suburbs, and the population has displayed increasing disdain for discipline. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who holds the Bengaluru development portfolio, has shown his resolve to bring in change. As the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 came into force this May, the city was divided into five zones for easier management. The garbage contractors’ cartel was dismantled, and a battery of senior officers brought in to oversee waste management. The ‘garbage tax’, which yielded ₹350 core in two months, is being ploughed back into the city.