Pressure mounts to sort out garbage mess

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner Siddaiah was woken up to the garbage mess that’s left the city scarred along with some of its outskirts. He asserted that there would be no more landfills around Bangalore for dumping waste.

The city has been facing a major garbage disposal crisis from August 2012. Expressing remorse over the Mandur mess, Siddaiah said: “Though there were two processing units in Mandur, not even a kilo of garbage was processed all these years.” He sympathised with the residents of Mandur and other villages in the vicinity of the landfill, saying “no one has the right to deprive the villagers of a decent and healthy life. We have been committing sins and crime on a day-to-day basis against the villagers. I think that we have no right to do so.” At the same time, he expressed disappointment over the garbage issue, and reiterated that it is the responsibility of the residents to segregate garbage at source. “Many hotels and marriage halls are bulk generators of garbage in bulk. We have been asking them to take measures to segregate their waste at source. Many companies have evinced interest in setting up garbage processing units at locations within the city limits,” Siddaiah said.

 

BBMP’s “Wake Up, Clean Up Bengaluru”, the city’s largest waste management event is a call to all citizens to come and be engaged in the citywide movement for a “Clean Bangalore”. It is about freedom from garbage on the streets of our garden city and restoring its pride.

Vaman Acharya, KSPCB chief, said here that to find a permanent solution to the problem it could take years even if the efforts start now to sort out the garbage mess. He mooted the setting up garbage processing yard as pilots to show how a processing plant works. Based on that, he said, such plants can be set up in industrial areas.

The focus of the week is not just to highlight the problem but focus attention on its solution and the role that each of us can and must play. We have brought together several innovative technologies available to manage waste optimally, including equipment, processes and demonstrations that provide solutions for different segments of waste generators like government departments, hotels, institutions, hospitals, traders, businesses, apartment complexes, schools and homes.