Compost wet waste, Palike tells hotels

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will be issuing a fresh circular for the solid waste management (SWM) of bulk waste generators on September 21.

According to BBMP officials, the new circular is going to ensure that bulk waste generators like marriage halls, hotels and other such commercial properties will have to fend for themselves in clearing the garbage they generate.

“We had previously told the hoteliers in a meeting that they need to look for alternative mechanism for disposing their waste and not burden the Palike. Accordingly, the circular also states the same facts with emphasis to look for affordable mechanisms to compost the wet waste on their own,” said a BBMP official.

The new circular states: “Wet waste and garden waste generated shall be composted at source or processed using bio methanisation techniques. Where it is not possible to compost wet waste at site, due to space constraint, alternate arrangements shall be made by generators to hand over the wet waste to private composters or Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike wet waste collectors, on payment, as specified by Zonal Commissioners concerned.”

For the dry waste, the circular has stated that the bulk generators will have to send it directly, at their own cost, to the recycling units or the BBMP collection points in their vicinity.

Offload the burden

BBMP officials claim that the bulk generation of waste has been a burden on the Palike as the commercial properties “off load” a lot of garbage onto the Palike.

''With each load of garbage by the bulk generators, the BBMP bears a burden due to the costs of transporting the waste to the dumpyards. We are not liable to carry so much waste with only a fraction of the costs covered by their taxes,” said a Palike official.

The Palike has also said that the BBMP will collect the rejects/inerts from bulk generators once a week on payment basis. The circular has warned the bulk waste generators and street hawkers/vendors/shopkeepers, that any kind of  waste dumped on the streets, public spaces or vacant sites will attract fines from the BBMP. The fine, as per the “schedule of fines” proposed by the BBMP, is Rs 500 per day on the bulk generators for not disposing the wet waste by way of compost.

Members of the hoteliers association stated that the Palike is trying to “dump” its problems on the hotels. “A High Court order, two years ago, when the issue of garbage cess was raging, suggested that the BBMP had to do its job while clearing the garbage. It (BBMP) was expressly told that the Palike cannot dump any more charges and had to clear the waste generated by us (hotels) on account of levying the cess,” said Chandrashekar Hebbar, past president of the Hoteliers Association.