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.  ⊕