garbage

October 2 brings the annual ritual obeisance to the Father of the Nation, but in the last six decades we have not had a repetition of the kind of protests against injustice on the scale that Gandhiji undertook during his salt march or Quit India movement. However, this time around, there is talk of a satyagraha, no less, by citizens of Bengaluru, because judging from the meetings I have been witness to over the last three months, patience is running thin. It is, many residents are now saying, time to undertake collective action, to make our voices heard. Not against…

Waiting for the Chief Ministers. Many officials, security personnel, political leaders were present. Pic: Meera K. The first thing that hits you is the strong smell of bleach all over. Then you realise something looks different, cleaner. The roads look recently cleaned, potholes have a temporary filling of wet quarry dust. The debris dumped on the side, that was there till yesterday is now missing. This was the scene at Kaikondrahalli lake. And at Agara lake, Mekhri Circle, Malleshwaram and probably a few other places in the city on Saturday. All thanks to the chief minister who was on a…

Help Survey Efficiency of Garbage Management in Bangalore   In light of the massive solid waste (garbage) management crisis in Bengaluru last year, the High Court of Karnataka in response to Public Interest Litigations by Environment Support Group and various individuals, directed the City and State authorities to adopt various clean up measures. In simple terms, the directions involved instituting a public education campaign to ensure segregation of waste at source became mandatory, that biodegradable waste would be locally composted, recyclable waste recovered, and only inert waste sent to landfills. In addition, the whole process was decentralised and Ward Committees…

A picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words. So it was, with reference to the recent inauguration of the ‘Kasa mukta’ (garbage free) initiative, at Freedom Park in mid-July. While several thousands of words have been written and spoken about garbage, and about the authorities’ failure in cleaning up the mess, one picture said it all, very eloquently. (The Hindu, 25 July). It showed a horrendous pile of used plates, hundreds of them, tossed on the ground at the Freedom Park, at the end of the meeting by the ‘invitees’ including VIPs. The participants could not care about…

Freedom from garbage. The words have a nice ring to them, which is probably why the BBMP chose the name, KasaMuktha, for its new effort to manage waste in the city. Forced by the High Court to ensure that all solid waste is segregated at source in homes and offices, the municipality is struggling to come up with an alternative that is acceptable to citizens, and works well. Why? Simple. All our earlier efforts to 'manage' trash were built around landfills. Simply collect the trash from the citizens of Bangalore, and take it away to villages outside the city and…

The garden city that’s on the fast track to become garbage city has finally started understanding the importance of composting and recycling. Karnataka Compost Development Corporation, dedicated to composting, has come back to the limelight, by accepting extra organic waste. A Muniraj, Technical Head, Karnataka Compost Development Corporation, who has been serving the firm since 1976, explained the composting process followed at the KCDC. The KCDC has two microbial compost processing units and 300 pits that generate 200 tons of manure per day. Composting here is done by two methods - aerobic and vermi-compost.   Aerobic composting Aerobic compost involves…

Finally the waste from hotels seems to be finding a useful way of disposal. The Bruhat Bangalore Hotel Association (BBHA) and Nobel Exchange Environment Solutions (NEX), a company working on waste management solutions, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BBMP to develop a garbage treatment plant at Kannahali, 161 km away from the city, on 28 May 2013.At present 1,300 hotels are registered under the government-recognised hotels' association. Hotels, catering units and other food-related organisations come under the purview of BBHA. They generate almost 1000- 2000 tonnes of waste every day. Out of this, 250 tonnes will be sent to…

The garbage dumped in an area that falls in between S K Garden and Jayamahal has remained untouched since 15 May 2013; The Congress councillors of both wards are busy shifting the blame on one another. What do garbage contractors do when they need to dispose of the garbage lying in a border area, in between two wards? Do nothing, leave the garbage where it is. The easy excuse is, it is not in their limit. One such case was reported in Benson town, at a road that lies between S K Garden (ward 61) and Jayamahal (ward 63). The…

Election is the time to recall whatever a party has done to the constituency during its rule and find out what are the promises for Bangalore the party has in store. Narayana Rao, head of the Bangalore manifesto committee of JD(S), says that the main topics in the JD(S) manifesto are water, electricity and the issue of whether Bangalore should be allowed to grow the way it is now. “Forming of layouts should be completely privatised,” says Narayan Rao. Pic: Navya P K Here are excerpts from the interview:In BWSSB's water supply, about 35% is lost because of leaks alone.…

I thank God for small mercies. I still hear tiny birds chirping, crows cawing and squirrels screeching early in the morning when I wake up. I look through the window and see a squirrel gnawing at an unripe pomegranate in the garden. I smile to myself and feel happy that we are still left with a few pleasant things in the mornings. I enter the kitchen, pick up the bin with the "wet garbage" and leave it outside the gate.I pick up the morning newspaper and glance at the headlines. No, I shall not go deep into the text. It…