solid waste management

2021 deadline for 100% waste segregation, collection The state government approved a new SWM (Solid Waste Management) policy and strategy, which sets 2021 as the deadline for segregation of waste at source and for 100% door-to-door collection, as well as laying out guidelines to protect the health and dignity of pourakarmikas. The Karnataka State Urban SWM Policy-2020 lays out a road map for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), including BBMP, to implement time-bound measures. The burning of waste should be stopped by December 2021 and ULBs should ensure that less than 30% of their waste reaches landfills. ULBs should also ensure…

“Biomedical waste management was already a big challenge before COVID, and now it’s an even bigger one. One of the most common queries we get from member-apartments is on COVID waste management,” says Vikram Rai, General Secretary of the Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF), a collective of over 500 apartment RWAs (Resident Welfare Associations) in the city. Bengaluru has struggled with waste segregation for long. But improper and irresponsible disposal of COVID waste endangers other citizens, more so waste collectors. If you are in home quarantine or isolation, how should you deal with solid waste? Should you segregate waste, and whom…

Raj Kumar Jena resides in a slum close to Noapara metro station at Baranagar in Kolkata. Standing on the narrow viaduct below the station he watches several trains chugging into the last station of metro connectivity in the northern fringes of the city. Under the cemented viaduct, flows the Bagjola drainage canal carrying blackish water full of household waste and emitting a putrid smell. Jena however does not look to be as hit by the smell as you would expect him to be. Perhaps, because he lives with it. More than the polluted canal, he says, the unbearable stench from…

  BWSSB water supply hits peak limit of 1453 MLD Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) reveals that it has been supplying water at the peak limit of 1453 MLD (Million Litres per Day) since March. The city's consumption has reached an all-time high with the advancing summer and the depleting groundwater levels. The Board says it cannot supply more water even if the demand shoots up. The supply will be within the limit of 1453 MLD until the Cauvery Phase V project is completed in 2023. This is the first time that the city's supply has hit the…

This January, BBMP  floated a new tender to deal with the city's perennial garbage problem. D Randeep, Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management and Health), BBMP, sat down for a chat with 'Citizens Live' to answer niggling doubts about the controversial tender. "The central issue is still segregation. The new policy is that wet and sanitary waste will be picked up by BBMP everyday. Dry waste will be picked up by NGOs, waste collectors," he said. He stressed that it was therefore imperative that we, the general public, segregate our waste. "If you don't, we do have provisions to penalise people;…

Built in the 13th century, Delhi’s Qutb Minar, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the tallest minarets in the country, is facing stiff competition − from the height of a garbage dump in the national capital. In a recent report, a panel of India’s Parliament noted their observations on landfill sites in Delhi, writing that the “laissez-faire of the civic bodies of Delhi also gets reflected in the fact that the height of Ghazipur landfill site has reached as high as 65 metres which is just eight metres less than the height of the national monument Qutub Minar”. Ghazipur is…

16 traders lose licences for using disposable plastic At a council meeting held in July, BBMP had declared an ultimatum to traders who do not stop using disposable plastic material (cups, plates and spoons). Mayor Sampath Raj had chalked out a week's deadline for the shopkeepers to permanently shift to using eco-friendly materials instead, failing which the licences of establishments would be cancelled. True to their word, the corporation's health department cancelled 16 trading licences of shops in Avenue Road, Bommanahalli and Neelasandra. One and a half tonnes of plastic was recovered through the raids conducted over two days, along with…

“I have cleared my house of all the plastic bags. I cannot afford to pay Rs 5,000 as fine.” “Madam, they are saying that they will come to check our houses to see if we have plastic. Do you think they will come?” “Everyone on the road is carrying cloth bags today. Who wants to pay fine? ” “Vegetable vendors are telling us to go home and bring a bag. None of them have plastic bags.” “Will it be alright to carry this water bottle? I won’t be caught and fined, right?” The Maharashtra Plastic and Thermocol Products (Manufacture, Usage,…

This is a story of how a 140-family community became waste-sensitive and is continuing to be so. Sobha Quartz is a residential apartment complex in Bellandur, Bengaluru. I live here. ‘KasaMuktha Bellandur’, a citizen initiative for solid waste management, has made all the changes possible here. Mine is a very responsible community of 140 families, who follow the 2Bin1Bag method of segregation. Door-to-door campaigning have helped us help convince defaulting residents to segregate and monitor the compliance of community members. We send regular emails and updates to keep up their motivation and interest. Our team consists of passionate and like-minded women and men (many include working professionals) who are trying to make…

Bengaluru is reeling under the severe garbage crisis once again. BBMP and the relevant authorities have failed to address the garbage situation in the city; they have handed over the city and citizens’ health to the garbage mafia. Heaps of garbage are quickly turning into mountains, and an outbreak of an epidemic is inevitable if the apathy and mindlessness continues. Throwing money at every problem seems to be the only idea BBMP comes up with. Unfortunately, BBMP’s expenditure of over Rs 400-500 crores on Solid Waste Management (SWM) annually has not stopped the garbage crisis. Bengaluru is probably the only…