Working to implement home composting, BBMP tells High Court

BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad on Thursday submitted to the High Court that they are examining the modalities for implementing rules for having home composting for wet waste for those residents in houses on 30x40 feet and 60x40 feet sites. He said that it would be an in situ process where the wet waste produced by a household can be processed at their premises, using a bin and microbes (essentially made of coconut fibre). They are in talks with members of the solid waste management committee for providing the bin and the microbes to the consumers. 

While hearing a batch of PILs with regard to proper disposal of garbage in the city, a division bench comprising Justice N Kumar and Justice B V Nagarathna directed BBMP that wet waste home composting must be demonstrated, to ensure that wet waste is not transported and dumped in villages around the city. The method was demonstrated to the bench. The bench said that it is an easy-to-use, non-infectious method of disposing of wet waste.

The bench directed BBMP to engage marshals and retired servicemen to empower them to check public littering and to start implementing the penalty on those violating the solid waste management rules and the High Court order. Replicating the Mumbai model, the bench said, these men have to be trained so that they can educate the public about garbage management.

On a lighter note
Justice N Kumar who is all set to retire on Monday has been hearing a batch of PILs on solid waste management for the past four years and heard this matter for the last time on Thursday. He expressed his gratitude for giving him an opportunity to hear the people’s basic problems. The petitioners expressed appreciation with soft claps to the retiring judge, saying that his directions in the PILs have been cited in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and others states as an example. On a lighter vein, Justice Kumar said that if his directions are not complied with, he will be among the petitioners in the next hearing.