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Towns steal a march over Bangalore in tackling waste

Colour coding for garbage followed in 4 TMCs; Gulbarga to emulate Salem
Last Updated 12 November 2012, 04:02 IST
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While the garbage imbroglio continues to plague Bangalore, several smaller towns and cities in Karnataka are taking novel steps to address the problem of municipal waste.

On Kannada Rajyotsava day (November 1) this year, the Municipal Administration department launched a pilot project in four select urban local bodies (ULBs) that propose to streamline solid waste management, from segregation at source to processing at landfill sites.

The initiative, finalised by Commissioner of Directorate of Municipal Administration M S Ravi Shankar and M H M Sriprakash, executive engineer in the same department, envisages distribution of three bins of different colours free of cost to each household for segregation of waste at source, deployment of separate vehicles for collection of each type of waste, followed by scientific disposal of waste.

To start with, the project is being implemented in five wards each in the Town Municipal Councils (TMCs) of Nelamangala, Magadi, Vijayapura (Bangalore Rural district) and Chitradurga. Bins of three colours have been provided to 1,000 households in each of these wards - green colour bins for wet waste, yellow bins for dry waste and black for hazardous waste.

“Following the distribution of bins, segregation has become a lot easier as people have stated responding. The segregated dry and wet waste is collected from each household on a daily basis in different vehicles. Green coloured vehicles collect wet waste, while yellow coloured vehicles collect dry waste,” Sriprakash said.

Use of different vehicles ensures that the waste is segregated, a crucial factor in processing of waste.

The vehicles then move to different landfill sites where the waste is disposed of scientifically. While wet waste is converted into compost or manure, the dry waste is further segregated for recycling. The landfill site where the waste processing is done is designed for 25 years to take care of future expansion of the towns.

The department now plans to expand the project and implement it in other ULBs in a phased manner.

In another initiative, Gulbarga City is all set to adopt the waste management mechanism of the Salem City Corporation. In Salem, 220 tonnes of waste supplied by the Salem City Municipal Corporation every day is processed and converted into bio-organic fertiliser.

Hanjer Biotech Energies Private Limited, the same company managing waste in Salem, will be processing 200 tonnes generated per day in the Gulbarga City Corporation limits on Design Build Finance Operate and Transfer basis. The Hubli-Dharwad City Corporation too will be get a similar system soon.

Urban Development Department Principal Secretary Amita Prasad said Bijapur, Gulbarga, Belgaum and Udupi ULBs have already finalised their action plans for solid waste management to seek grants under the 13th Finance Commission.

“Each city has its own specific requirements when it comes to solid waste management and are drafting the action plans accordingly,” she said.

For the record, there are 218 ULBs in the State excluding BBMP.

Approximately, 4,700 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated every day in the 218 ULBs. The BBMP alone generates around 4,000 tonnes of MSW every day. The per capita generation of MSW in the ULBs varies from 200 gm to 500 gm.

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(Published 11 November 2012, 19:01 IST)

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