India’s first solid waste management park set to launch

Ninety per cent of the waste that goes untreated to the city's quarry pits can actually be turned into rich manure to turn Bengaluru green again.

Teaching how to do this in 20 different ways, the SwachaGraha Kalika Kendra, arguably India's first solid waste management park, will be thrown open to the public at HSR Layout on Saturday.

Located inside the BBMP's 'HSR Park', the 1.5-acre Kalika Kendra (Learning Centre) houses over 20 composting models, including a fully functional biogas unit. This is part of a citywide awareness campaign called SwachaGraha, initiated by the Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT) to decentralise waste management.

The big idea is this: to create learning centres across all the MLA constituencies in the city for a truly hands-on experience.

"From information sessions for volunteers to captivating educational workshops for students, the kendra is expected to grow into a unique waste management knowledge hub," explains SWMRT member Sandya Narayanan.

For SWMRT's partner, HSR Citizen Forum, the kendra is a natural next step after ensuring the success of waste segregation at source in the locality.

"In December 2017, the forum along with the local MLA had started lane composting. We now have 10 lane composters. The kendra will now let households and apartment dwellers understand the best composting methods," says Chitra Praneeth from the forum.

The transition from wet waste to compost to manure ought to lead to gardening. And that's precisely why the kendra has classes in terrace gardening. "There will be stalls showcasing different terrace gardening techniques from scratch. People generally are not aware what happens to their waste after they give it to the Palike. This will show them an entirely different side."

Decentralised waste management is really the way forward, says Narayanan. "It is critical that more households manage their waste at source through home composting, while the rest can be managed at a neighbourhood level. It is clear that with this degree of decentralisation, only a meager 5-10% of our waste would go to landfills. What is the key missing piece in this puzzle? Citizens awareness."

Once formally opened by Bommanahalli MLA M Satish Reddy at 10 am on Saturday, the kendra will get going on an awareness drive designed to spread a reality: that wet waste can be a hugely beneficial resource. That households big and small, apartment blocks with 20 flats to 300 flats, can plunge deep into composting to make Bengaluru smarter by going greener.