Farmers keen on buying wet waste

Farmers from the neighbouring areas have promised Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy to buy segregated wet waste generated in the City.

On Tuesday, as many as 30 farmers from Nelamangala, Kunigal, Chikkaballapur, Hoskote, Koratagere, Tumkur, Magadi Road, Tavarekere and Talaghattapura areas attended a meeting, jointly convened by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the Karnataka State Organic Farming Mission and the Karnataka Pollution Control Board.

The farmers told the Mayor that the cost of organic compost manure was quite high and they would prefer buying the wet waste, which they would use as fertiliser by composting it in a traditional manner. In reply, the Mayor assured them that the Palike would bear the cost of transporting the segregated wet waste and sell it at a very nominal rate of Rs 60 per tonne.

Later, speaking with mediapersons on the garbage scenario in the City, BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel said the City had started generating 100 truckloads of segregated waste, of which at least 1,200 tonnes was wet waste. “We have agreed to give at least 300 tonnes of wet waste to the farmers who have adopted organic farming, at Rs 60 per tonne. Right now we have one lakh farmers who are ready to buy segregated waste. The selling rate was fixed by us because we are giving the garbage heap to Terra Firma at the same price everyday,” said Goel.

In order to curb corruption in transportation, authentic slips bearing details like the weight of the truckload, vehicle number, name of the driver and the place where the garbage has to be dumped will be introduced. “We will introduce a hi-tech system to avoid corruption,” said Goel.

Transfer stations

As a next step to address the garbage problem permanently, the BBMP will set up ‘transfer stations’ and transport segregated garbage to different places on the basis of their utility. The Palike will convert wet waste into manure at the transfer stations by using Effective Microbial (EM) solution.

Goel said, “The process of converting wet waste into manure speeds up in seven days by using the EM solution.”