Bengaluru to send its solid waste 500 km away!

The BBMP is planning to transport the solid waste generated in the city 500 kilometres away to Belagavi. Yes, you heard it right.

Disposing of nearly 4,500 tonnes of solid waste produced in the city is a serious issue for the civic body.

Now, the BBMP has asked the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) for an environmental impact assessment report on sending 1,500 tonnes of mixed waste to the sugar factories in Belagavi district.

The BBMP says the proposal has come after the factories offered to take the dry waste, which they can use as fuel in their boilers.

On Monday, BBMP officials presented the matter before Justice Subhash B Adi, the NGT-appointed chairman for SWM rules in the city.

The factories presented the proposal to the BBMP during the recent Legislative Council Committee meeting, where the proposal to transport the waste attracted the attention of the Urban Development Department (UDD) officials.

“The city had produced 4,500 tonnes of mixed garbage and we have already floated tenders for the wet waste,” BBMP’s joint commissioner for SWM Sarfaraz Khan told DH.

“That still leaves nearly 1,000-1,500 tonnes of mixed waste dumped on the city streets. This waste can now be sent to Belagavi. This will ease pressure on the BBMP and we can end the practice of dispatching garbage to the landfills,” Khan added.

Factories to foot bill

The factories will foot the Rs 2,000-per-tonne cost required to transport the waste. “We won’t spend a single rupee. All that we need to do is to hand them the mixed waste collected from the streets, “ Khan said.

Nevertheless, the BBMP floated tenders for landfills in Marenahalli and Mittaganahalli, which it says would be used only to dispose 8% inerts derived after treating the waste.