Now Organic Waste Converter in Malleshwaram Market

BBMP decided to pilot the project in Malleshwaram Market after Malleshwaram Swabhimaana Initiative (MSI) initiated the idea.

BBMP has installed an Organic Waste Converter (OWC) in  Malleswaram Market a couple of weeks ago as part its project to renovate the market. The market now has a system that manages all waste that is generated within the market. The OWC cost around Rs 22 lakhs.

OWC can process one ton of waste every day. Pic: Vani Murthy.

The OWC is a machine that processes wet organic waste by employing aerobic microbial decomposition. The organic waste is churned into a homogenised; odour free output through a bio-mechanical process. This output is left to cure in baskets for stabilisation where aerobic decomposition takes place.The final product is healthy organic compost that is a vital nutrient for farming. The OWC has been on a trial run and the market has to give only segregated organic waste to this facility.

BBMP decided to pilot the project in Malleshwaram market after the Resident Welfare Association (RWA) of Malleshwaram, Malleshwaram Swabhimaana Initiative (MSI) initiated the idea. In September 2008, Dr Meenakshi Bharat of MSI and N S Ramakath of Kumara park RWA met the then Additional Commissioner, Sriram Reddy (BBMP West) and introduced the OWC as a very good concept for the market.

These baskets store the processed waste (wet waste mixed with saw dust) till they mature into organic compost. Pic: Vani Murthy.

MSI has been working on spreading waste management and source segregation programmes in Malleshwaram for more than two years and has been looking to find solutions for bulk waste-generators such as markets.

The Malleswaram MLA Dr Ashwath Narayan has taken keen interest in this project and has successfully got it going for all Bangalore to see and replicate. The members of the MSI went around the market along with the health officials of BBMP and the newly elected Corporator, Manjunath Raju to create awareness about the facility and requesting the traders to segregate their waste.  ⊕

Comments:

  1. John Daniel says:

    Great Move……..
    Hats off to RWA, RSI, Dr. Ashwath Narayan and to all involved.

    GBP

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

Where are the pollinators in Bengaluru?

Despite the volumes of citizen-generated data on the city's biodiversity, pollinators who sustain the urban ecosystem do not seem to be getting their due attention.

Urban biodiversity is often discussed in terms of tree cover, lakes, or flagship species, but far less attention is paid to pollinators—the insects and birds that quietly sustain urban ecosystems. In Bengaluru, a rapidly urbanising city with a strong culture of citizen science, large volumes of biodiversity data are now being generated by the public. But what does this data tell us about pollinators in the city? This article draws from a data jam hosted by OpenCity in Bengaluru that explored pollinator observations using publicly available, citizen-generated datasets. By analysing long-term observation records and spatial data on land use and…

Similar Story

Beyond the parks and gardens, Bengaluru’s ‘wasteland’ ecosystems call for protection

Open Natural Ecosystems in Bengaluru harbour rich biodiversity. Take a look at what they hold and what we risk losing to unchecked development.

When we discuss urban nature, we often forget about real natural habitats. In Bengaluru, widely called the Garden City, most talks about urban nature focus on landscaped parks, roadside trees, and manicured gardens; in other words, artificial ecosystems designed for looks and human comfort. As lay citizens, we usually notice only such nature as we see around our homes, workplaces or other areas we generally pass by. While these places do have some ecological value, they mostly support a few highly adaptable species. This has strong negative implications for native flora and fauna that depend on open scrublands, grasslands, rocky…