BBMP plans composting waste at Mandur landfill

Residents oppose move, set to block roads from Oct 2

As Bangaloreans gear up to segregate their garbage at source, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is considering composting wet waste in Mandur, the village used tili recently as a landfill for the City’s unsegregated garbage.

But the BBMP is still not sure of the Mandur option because of the staunch opposition from the village’s residents, given their unsavoury tryst with trash till now. However, BBMP officials have been unable to identify any other sites for composting thus far.

 Palike Commissioner Rajneesh Goel told Deccan Herald a pit measuring one lakh sq meter at Mandur was available for composting. The BBMP is looking to compost wet waste here from October 1. After the waste turns into compost the BBMP will sell it to farmers, said Goel.

“The SWM (solid waste management) department has been tight-lipped about the entire issue, but it is likely that they will try and convince the Mandur leaders to allow them to dispose at least the wet waste,” said a Palike official.

When asked about how the Palike would convince Mandur residents after their recent strike over their village being used as a landfill, Goel said they would hold discussions with the Panchayat members and find a solution.

“We will be putting this information also on our website, to let citizens know where the waste is being disposed,” he said. 

Goel was hopeful that scientific disposal of the wet waste, which he claimed would not emit any stench, might convince the residents to allow them to compost wet waste.
Apart from Mandur, the BBMP said Terra Firma, a private firm, had agreed to take the wet waste for composting, to ease pressure on the civic agency.

The residents, who had previously complained of health problems because of garbage being dumped near their homes, appear unwilling to back down. Mandur Panchayat member Rakesh Gowda said they would not allow waste to be brought to Mandur at any cost.

“Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had assured us that from October 1 they would not dump garbage in our backyard. We are going on a strike from October 2 to oppose the Palike’s plan,” he said.

On August 30, Shettar had met residents and convinced them that international standards in garbage disposal, on a par with Japan and China, would be implemented in Karnataka.

After talks with Shettar, residents (though a section of them appeared unconvinced) agreed for garbage disposal in the Mandur landfill for three more months, giving the BBMP time to find a new site. Shettar had assured residents that garbage from Bangalore would be dealt with as locally as possible, instead of dumping it in landfills like Mandur.