The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is waiting for the green signal from the State government for kickstarting the biomining project at six places in the City.

With biomining technology, the unprocessed municipal solid waste at Mandur (North), Mandur (South), Chimmasandra, Mavallipura, S Bingipura, Anjanapura and Kannahalli landfill sites will be processed. The technology will employ a suitable mechanical sieving machine or any other equipment.

The project based on Design, Build, Own and Operate concept is designed to retrieve all recoverable and recyclable materials.

“Through biomining, we will be able to excavate, process and dispose existing garbage. We have already invited prospective developers to undertake the work, through competitive bidding process. We are just waiting for the approval from the government. Once they give us the nod, we will execute the work,” said one of the engineers in BBMP’s Solid Waste Management (SWM) cell.

Currently, BBMP is collecting around 4,000 tonnes per day (TPD) of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and they are being disposed of at the six landfill sites.

BBMP sources said, the total quantity of waste disposed of in all these dumping sites is estimated to be about 23.5 lakh TPD. “This is the first time the Palike is trying its hand at biomining technology and the major benefit of employing such methods is that the processed garbage can be used for agricultural purposes.

The plastic waste can be recycled. Besides controlling the odour, the technology is an eco-friendly and a non-polluting method of getting rid of garbage,” said Chief Engineer, SWM (Mandur), Gangadhara Swamy.