Bulk generators to dispose of waste on their own

After the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP’s) ‘Wake Up, Clean Up Bengaluru’ campaign held earlier this month, many commercial and residential associations have come forward with commitments to clear garbage by having their own solid waste management (SWM) and scientific disposal systems.

 Industrial layouts, apartment complexes, commercial establishments and hospitals are among bulk generators who have made such commitments. As many as 134 companies, big and small, 2,500 to 3,000 industries in various layouts and about 40 per cent of the apartments in the City have committed themselves to dispose their waste on their own over the next three months, a senior BBMP official said.

The Palike expects concrete result by the end of June. “Most of the companies, including Infosys and Britannia, have expressed their intent to dispose their waste by recycling and using waste disposal mechanisms on their own campus. Even residential apartments have given us such assurances,” he said.

The Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industries said that the industrial belt will have a practical waste disposal mechanism by June 2013.

BBMP officials are optimistic that the burden of collecting and disposing garbage will be reduced if the commitments are honoured. “We hope that close to 1,500 tonnes of waste will be diverted from our landfills and sent elsewhere. This will give us a massive respite from the public pressure and help resolve the SWM problems,” said an official.

A major challange is to ensure that apartments, hotels and the marriage halls, classified as bulk generators, will set up their own waste disposal plants. “We have already asked marriage halls and hoteliers to make their own arrangements of disposing the waste, which they are trying to do by signing an agreement with Terra Firma directly. The primary target will now be the apartments that need to implement the possible alternative mechanisms for disposing the wet waste,” the official said.