<p>Bengaluru: With garbage black spots mushrooming across the city, the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) has come under criticism for failing to prevent littering in public places despite employing marshals.</p>.<p>To send a strong message, the civic body has come up with a novel plan of dumping garbage back at the homes of habitual offenders. </p>.<p>Beginning Thursday, BSWML will begin returning waste collected from black spots by tracing the houses of offenders as part of an awareness and enforcement drive.</p>.Bengaluru’s garbage burning crisis chokes residents across the city.<p>Karee Gowda, CEO of BSWML, described the initiative as a "last resort".</p>.<p>“Despite awareness drives and fines, people continue to litter without handing it over to our vehicles. This move is meant to hold them accountable,” he said. </p>.<p>Marshals were deployed in all wards to identify repeat violators and video record them at the time of dumping the waste for evidence. </p>.<p>Officials said the habitual litterbugs were identified only in places where the door-to-door waste collection is robust.</p>.<p>While BSWML believes the move will act as a deterrent, especially among households who are yet to understand the importance of waste segregation and cleanliness, experts want the authorities to address loopholes in the existing waste collection system, too.</p>.<p>They cite a shortage of auto tippers in some Assembly segments, irregular collection timings and instances where garbage vehicles skip houses that require drivers to wait or take a longer route.</p>.<p>There are also instances when drivers of auto tippers decline to collect some type of waste such as thermocol, tender coconut, broken glass pieces, etc. </p>.<p>So far, BSWML has identified at least one habitual offender in all 198 wards, but this represents only a fraction of the problem.</p>.<p>Much of the illegal dumping occurs at night or from moving vehicles, which often goes undetected.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: With garbage black spots mushrooming across the city, the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) has come under criticism for failing to prevent littering in public places despite employing marshals.</p>.<p>To send a strong message, the civic body has come up with a novel plan of dumping garbage back at the homes of habitual offenders. </p>.<p>Beginning Thursday, BSWML will begin returning waste collected from black spots by tracing the houses of offenders as part of an awareness and enforcement drive.</p>.Bengaluru’s garbage burning crisis chokes residents across the city.<p>Karee Gowda, CEO of BSWML, described the initiative as a "last resort".</p>.<p>“Despite awareness drives and fines, people continue to litter without handing it over to our vehicles. This move is meant to hold them accountable,” he said. </p>.<p>Marshals were deployed in all wards to identify repeat violators and video record them at the time of dumping the waste for evidence. </p>.<p>Officials said the habitual litterbugs were identified only in places where the door-to-door waste collection is robust.</p>.<p>While BSWML believes the move will act as a deterrent, especially among households who are yet to understand the importance of waste segregation and cleanliness, experts want the authorities to address loopholes in the existing waste collection system, too.</p>.<p>They cite a shortage of auto tippers in some Assembly segments, irregular collection timings and instances where garbage vehicles skip houses that require drivers to wait or take a longer route.</p>.<p>There are also instances when drivers of auto tippers decline to collect some type of waste such as thermocol, tender coconut, broken glass pieces, etc. </p>.<p>So far, BSWML has identified at least one habitual offender in all 198 wards, but this represents only a fraction of the problem.</p>.<p>Much of the illegal dumping occurs at night or from moving vehicles, which often goes undetected.</p>