Sort your garbage or pay a penalty

If the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has its way, civic workers will refuse to collect garbage from your doorstep if you fail to segregate wet and dry waste. Later, BBMP officials will knock on your doors and slap a fine.

Finalising the tender process for the collection of wet and dry waste by the end of this month, the BBMP has resolved to introduce a new clause in the tenders empowering civic workers to refuse mixed waste. After several failed attempts at making people segregate waste, the BBMP has decided to penalise errant citizens.

Sources in the BBMP revealed to DH that there was a decrease in segregation in Bengaluru. “The city achieved about 50% segregation in 2017. But this plummeted to a dismal 25% in 2018. Hopefully, the latest decision will prompt people to take up segregation seriously,” a senior BBMP official said. “In fact, there is no better way to convince citizens to segregate waste. Our workers will not pick up waste if it is not segregated. It as simple as that,” the official warned.

The penalty method is nothing new but will be strictly reinforced. “The system of penalising those who refuse to segregate has always been there. However, from now, once the civic workers update us about mixed waste, our zonal officials will go the houses the following day and slap a fine,” yet another official of the solid waste management wing explained. The new system will make both the pourakarmikas and waste generator accountable, according to officials.

The civic body will apply the new rules for both kinds of waste generators — domestic and bulk (restaurants, pubs, apartment complexes). With the new clause, the BBMP aims at better management of waste (collection and transportation) besides drawing out a plan for the effective functioning of waste-processing plants.