NEWS

As part of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP’s) solid-waste management programme, the collection and disposal of 70% of trash generated by Bangaloreans is outsourced while the Palike manages the remaining 30%. With the increase in the population, there has been a proportional rise in the generation of solid waste as well. Bangalore generates over 4,000 tonnes of waste everyday from households and commercial establishments. About 70% of this waste is organic, while the remaining accounts for inorganic and hazardous waste.

The primary collection is being done using pushcarts and auto tippers. There are about 11,000 pushcarts and 650 auto tippers for door-to-door collection of waste, while there are about 4,300 pourakarmikas of BBMP and 10,000 from contractors. The process of secondary collection and transportation of waste involves about 600 municipal solid waste management (MSW) transportation vehicles, including compactors, tipper trucks and mechanical sweepers.

The waste collected from households is brought to a common point ie secondary locations from where the waste is shifted to the treatment sites through compactors and tipper trucks. As segregation at source and the secondary stage is not happening, unsegregated waste reaches processing units.

With increased unsegregated waste reaching landfills, villagers in the areas surrounding the dumps have raised objections about bad odour emanating from the sites and ground water getting contamination. As per the directions of the high court, the BBMP has initiated a series of steps to remediate the existing landfills.