Don't send trash to landfills after Nov 1: NGT to BBMP

The head of an NGT committee has set the November 1 deadline for the BBMP to stop sending the city’s trash to landfill sites. All the wet waste should be composted at the local level.

Speaking in the BBMP council on Saturday, Justice (retd) Subhash Adi, the chairman of the green panel’s State-Level Monitoring Committee for Solid Waste Management, Karnataka, said: “Since all the available landfill sites are filled to the brim, we have no option but to make sure that the wet waste is sorted at ward and community levels. Bulk generators such as defence and police establishments, apartments, etc must compost wet waste. It’s the job of corporators and ward committees to ensure this.”

Justice Adi continued: “By November 1 (Kannada Rajyotsava), the BBMP should set ensure that no waste enters any landfill site. I am sure this deadline can be met as officials are working hard on it.” He also asked the BBMP to enforce a strict ban on single-use plastic by September 1. The BBMP should impose hefty fines on the violators and should not show any leniency, he added.

The BBMP will have to run itself into the ground to meet the deadline. Unless the tenders for separate collection of wet and dry waste are approved and work orders issued by the end of this month, the BBMP is unlikely to meet the deadline.

While BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said they would work hard in the next months to meet the deadline, Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun exuded confidence. “All the zonal commissioners, special officers and engineers have planned the tender specifications well. We will issue the work orders for wet waste collection by September-end,” she announced.