Landfill or processing plant? Waste management firm leans towards latter

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The Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Company (BSWMC) has proposed to build one more landfill on a 10-acre land in Byatarayanapura on Bengaluru outskirts at a cost of Rs 39 crore.

The move, which shows BSWMC’s growing dependency on landfills, comes as the existing waste processing plants are grossly inadequate to handle the daily volume of waste.

Bengaluru currently generates around 4,300 metric tonnes of waste both from commercial establishments and residential units. Of this, the seven waste processing plants are capable of handling only around 1,300 tonnes. A large quantity of waste continues to be dumped in landfills, which currently run close to 3,000 tonnes a day.

So far, much of the waste that is not processed goes to the landfills situated in Mahadevapura Assembly constituency. As the landfills in Mitaganahalli and Kannur are filling up fast, the BSWMC is getting a new one ready in Byatarayanapura.

Solid waste management experts, however, want the BSWMC to focus on building new processing plants in every Assembly constituency and one composting facility in every ward to reduce dependency on landfills that are not environment friendly.

Processing plants

Seven out of eight processing plants in the city are functioning, while the one in Seegehalli has been stopped due to protests by local residents.

Five of the facilities owned by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are managed by private companies. The civic body bears the administrative and technical costs (see table).

The two other plants — Kannahalli and MSGP — are fully managed by private firms, while the BBMP pays a tipping fee of Rs 235 per tonne to the service providers.