solid waste management

Solid waste management remains the second highest priority for BBMP. Though allocation on this in the 2022-23 budget has dropped to Rs 1469 crore from last year’s allocation of Rs 1622 crore. Changing Priorities - more landfills Much of this money, however, is going towards managing landfills as shown in the chart below. Given the recent developments around the proposed changes to the collection and transportation system of one vehicle collecting all waste streams, the budget reflects the priorities and directions of BBMP moving towards more landfills and dumping by earmarking Rs 300+ crore for this. BBMP SWM budget allocation…

Have you ever looked closely at the plastic packaging waste that you place in your recycling bin? Whether the bags, containers, bottles, wrappers, toys, packaging materials are branded or unbranded? What are the brand names? How are they classified? Do you know what the numbers on the packaging mean? Do all plastic waste actually get recycled? According to Sowmya Raghavan, Member, Solid Waste Management Focus Group, Bangalore Apartment Federation (BAF), “All recyclables are not recycled, and all items in the recycle bin are not recyclable." So have you ever thought about conducting an audit of your plastic waste? If yes,…

In Bengaluru, more than two-thirds of plastic waste comprise household products like personal care and food packaging, dominated by milk packaging (KMF, Dodla, Heritage, Milk Mist etc.), which contributes a big chunk of such waste. The use of plastic packaging material has increased over the years particularly with the growth of e-com companies, with Amazon leading the list. Among product companies, the leading brands which use a lot of plastic material to package their products include Unilever, Coca Cola, Reckitt Benckiser, ITC and Britannia. These are the findings from a plastic brand audit exercise, conducted in September 2021. Hasiru Dala…

A few years ago, if you were to drive off the airport road towards Bettahalasur, 30 km away from Bengaluru, you would find mounds of garbage littered around. The village did not have a functioning system of waste management. Littering was common practice and waste management was practically unknown. Garbage from approximately 2500 households, totalling about 53 tonnes per month, was dumped or burnt in the panchayat, causing air, water and soil pollution. Kuduregere Cross in Bettahalasur Gram Panchayat earlier. Pic Courtesy: Pinky Chandran But all this changed in June 2016, with the launch of the EcoGram Project, by the…

After I swallowed the anchor (a naval term for retirement), I settled down with my wife and two kids in an independent house in a suburb of Bengaluru. I was thrust into managing one's own resource in terms of electricity, water and waste we generate unlike the days when the navy took care of all this. My home is designed to be capable of generating its own power with minimal need of utilising power from the grid, and taking care of its water needs through proper conservation techniques, also a cool home which is not energy guzzling. The principles that…

An apartment complex conjures an image of rows of buildings, with amenities like swimming pool, play areas, manicured lawns and alien trees. These complexes are considered 'concrete jungles' and are not really known for their biodiversity. But the residents of SJR Redwoods Apartments have broken this myth - they have converted their premises into a food forest. This apartment complex off Sarjapura Road has 152 flats, and is situated on a five-acre property of which two acres is common land. How we created a zero-waste food forest Our garden used to generate six tonnes of waste per month, which had…

In part 1 of this story, we saw the economic impact on informal waste workers’ livelihood and the entire informal recycling sector due to the lockdown. We now see what policy changes have been proposed in the waste recycling sector and what action Bengaluru has taken on the ground. Let’s start with understanding the informal waste recycling sector -- this Indian ecosystem is quite unique . A formal study on Recycling Hubs showed Bengaluru’s informal recycling value chains crisscross the formal and informal segments of the economy at many different levels. Recycling sector - Value chain. Graphic source: Valuing Urban…

“April-May is the peak period for us to collect a lot of newspapers and books; unfortunately, we were unable to procure any kind of waste," says Muniswamy, a  scrap dealer from  HSR Layout. With his shop shut, he had no income, yet he had to continue paying rent for the premises. Muniswamy’s experience reflects the story of countless informal waste workers across Bengaluru, after the pandemic led to multiple lockdowns, disrupting livelihoods.  Maheshwari collects waste hair by picking from streets, and also goes house-to-house  buying hair from individuals, and sells in bulk. She says, “With the lock down, I couldn’t…

Solid waste management is the gordian knot of urban issues deeply embedded in the larger contexts of consumerism, informal livelihoods, urban ecology, public health, and the political economy of urban development. The question of managing urban waste involves legal, political, economic and social challenges spanning urban infrastructure, technical and human capacities, workers’ safety and welfare, cooperation with local government and citizens, planning, public health, climate change preparedness and sustainable development. Vidhi’s documentary ‘Garbage Matters’ highlights the mounting problem of disposal of municipal waste in Delhi, the implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, and various judicial interventions on the issue.…

This article is part of our special series Environmental Sustainability & Climate Change in Tier II cities supported by Climate Trends. Climate change is not a new phenomena for the Himalayan State of Uttarakhand. In fact, the Indian Himalayan Region, comprising all the mountain states/UTs of India, has been at the forefront of climate change. Increased human activities, like unplanned construction, rampant tourism, increased waste generation, unsustainable transportation and more are resulting in rapid deterioration of the Himalayan landscape. The ambitious 900 km Char Dham all-weather highway project is the new addition to this list.  The “Char Dham project is…