Kalyan Nagar residents show the way in garbage disposal management

Succinctly illustrating the adage ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’, Kalyan Nagar residents have, in a sterling manner, shown what collective participation of people can achieve by tackling civic issues on their own, rather than endlessly await authority’s intervention to resolve them.

 So much so, the City’s civic agency, which has been grappling with the gargantuan garbage for years now, could take a leaf out of Kalyan Nagar Waste Management Committee (KNWMC) on how to handle garbage disposal effectively and efficiently.

A stroll around the streets that dot Kalyan Nagar turns out a soothing sight for sore eyes. Not only are they litter-free and neat, compared with several other localities presenting a sorry sight of citizens’ apathy towards keeping their own surroundings spic and span, here, residents do not roil about Pourakarmikas not lifting garbage from homes or let piled-up waste raise a stink.

This is ensured by a strong 26-member staff who dutifully collect the garbage from around 2,500 households of the locality, beginning their day at 7.30 am, wheeling around in their tricycles, and ferrying it to KNWMC office premises for segregation.

Waste segregation

After dry waste comprising plastic, paper, carton boxes, etc, is segregated, kitchen waste is dumped in composting pits, where the pits generate heat and help decompose them. The wet waste processing takes approximately three weeks and compost so produced is sold at a nominal price by the committee members.

KNWMC general secretary Rajashekhar said: “Initially, we registered 1,576 houses. Our idea was to keep the locality clean without depending on Bruhat Bangalore Mahanaga­ra Palike and pourak­armikas.”

A shredder machine has been recently bought to process kitchen waste and speed up the composting procedure.

Has elicited admiration

KNWMC started by Kalyan Nagar Residents Welfare Association with the support of Centre for Environment Education and Bangalore Development Authority, has caught the attention of Solid Waste Management Round Table Bangalore and even elicited admiration from the UN’s Centre for Environment, National Environment Management Authority, Uganda, among others.

“The dry waste is handed over to the BBMP. Around 30-40 commercial establishments such as factories, banks and medical shops also hand over waste to us. The staff work on all days barring Sundays and government holidays, KRWA general secretary G B Karweer said.