solid waste management

Bevinmara Colony - Before and After. Pic: Team FORCE-GW Bevinmara Colony is a small village in Whitefield surrounded by high-rise apartments and high-end villa communities. The village has about 300 households, 6 shops, 3 temples and 1 church. Residents of Bevinamara Colony needed help in improving the overall condition of the colony in the areas of education, health and infrastructure. Proper Solid Waste Management (SWM) in the village was one of the many initiatives that the Federation of RWAs, Communities and Establishments of Greater Whitefield (FORCE-GW ) wanted to implement in Bevinmara Colony. The residents of the colony were very…

Vijaya Bhaskar, IAS, Administrator, Kumar Naik, IAS, BBMP Commissioner and Darpan Jain, IAS, Joint Commissioner (SWM), BBMP held an interaction with various civil society organisations in which at least one trade union representative participated. The purpose of this interaction was BBMP’s keenness to engage NGOs in its city cleaning drive. Commissoner Kumar Naik explained that the last minute invitation that did not reach many was well-intended at inclusivity of all, though the organising was all last minute, which he agreed the next time around would be done right. Here are the highlights of the meeting: 1) Almost everyone present agreed…

Over the past 15 years the population of the city has increased more than 2.5 times, from 4 million to close to 10 million, the per capita garbage generation on an average has doubled, from 0.25kg/capita to 0.50kg/capita, and the composition and fabric of garbage has drastically changed, from about 80% compostable organic waste and a great part of the 20% being recyclable, to less than 60% compostable and a great part of the 40% being rejects, that will have to be landfilled because they are mixed waste. This article has been made possible thanks to support from Aruna Green…

"Kasa Muktha Bellandur" campaign (earlier called Clean Bell and renamed to align with city level initiative) has taken off to a very positive start. This campaign aims to achieve responsible, end-to-end solid waste management in the Bellandur ward. The main objectives of phase-1 of Kasa Muktha Bellandur are as follows: Standardise waste segregation process for all residential communities (using colour coded bins) in the ward. Accomplish 100% segregation and eliminate usage of plastic bags for garbage disposal.  Segregation pamphlet outlining the waste categorisation followed by Kasa Muktha Bellandur. Key accomplishments in last four weeks: Around 30 apartments adopted and implemented this…

Some call him an advisor, while some others call him a gentleman who has solutions for all waste-related worries. At the age of 76, N S Ramakanth goes from house to house in Bengaluru, teaching not only residents and pourakarmikas but also the BBMP officials how to segregate waste and maintain it till it reaches recycling centres. N S Ramakanth interacting with Anjum Parvez, KSRTC MD, during the installation of dust bins in Majestic. Pic courtesy: Soild Waste Management Round Table Facebook page He is known for his infectious ways of talking to people and giving them ideas on zero…

Last Friday, on Rajyotsava, Karnataka High Court justices N Kumar and B V Nagarathna, visited Bellandur Ward apartments Divyashree Elan and Springfields. This was part of a tour of various Solid Waste Management facilities in the city, including Koramangala's Kasa Rasa, Dry Waste Segregation Centre, Karnataka State Composting Corporation (KCDC) etc. They were accompanied by BBMP Commissioner Lakshminarayana, former BBMP chief Siddhaiah and many other officials. Judges Kumar and Nagarathna inspecting a composting facility. Pic: Meera K This visit was related to the SWM PIL currently underway, so the learned judges could understand the situation on the ground and get…

We invite volunteers to join us in making 100% segregation happen at source by empowering the garbage collectors in Konanakunte, ward no. 195. What you have to do You will begin by shadowing an existing team who is making segregation happen. After that, we will connect you to a garbage collector with whom you will work closely on making segregation happen in the locality alloted to him. As the garbage collector goes from door to door, you will be accompanying him in informing residents on how to segregate and making sure that only segregated waste is collected. In general, wet…

Nearly 100% segregation and separate collection is now happening through the BBMP in the area covering 850 individual homes in Chunchaghatta. This transformation has been possible in just three weeks! This write up is intended to share the story of how this happened. When Bhaskar and I decided to initiate action towards getting residents to segregate waste in one part of Ward No. 195, we did not anticipate the amount of time it would take, the methods which would work best or the challenges that lay in store for us. We just got started with a madness to do whatever…

As part of the Solid Waste Management PIL, the High Court asked BBMP to setup the ward committees to help monitor SWM contracts etc.The question of ward committees came up in the case when talking about decentralisation and audits on waste management, says Ajesh Kumar Shankar, lawyer for the petitioner. “Currently no one knows about who clears the waste in a street in a ward, how much is billed for it, who gets paid etc. There is a requirement that an NGO or RWA in the area should sign the bill; contractors get away by ‘creating’ some groups who sign…

I welcome and support the demand from various citizens groups, media and RWAs for transparency in nominations to the ward committees.The demand to constitute the ward committees is a long standing one and residents and other citizen groups have sought this for several years and this had been included in the recommendations of ABIDe chaired by then Chief Minister. It is fortunate that the High Court of Karnataka has intervened when requests from citizens had failed to move the Government and BBMP to act.So, now the BBMP must ensure transparent criteria in appointments of members to the committee and ensure…