Ask any Bengalurean what are the 5 most serious issues the
city is facing, there will be neck to neck competition between Garbage and
Traffic to take the first spot, and eventually Garbage will win by a whisker!
Such is the brutal impact of Garbage on the minds and eyes of the people of India’s
Silicon Valley!
City that boasts of ISRO, HAL, BEL and thousands of IT &
BT companies that are making huge technological advancements, are reaching the
skies and even the outer space is reeling under the forever increasing Garbage
mess!
Visuals across the city are not welcoming, heaps of garbage
lying on road sides, in drains, in lake beds, in empty land/plots, under the flyovers,
near slums, near schools are indeed common and the almost accepted norms. Added
to the garbage is the construction and demolition (C&D) waste which is one
of the biggest contributors for chronic Air Pollution in the city. All this painfully
paints a very grim and Dirty Picture of Bengaluru, and mocks at the
city’s inability to treat its garbage despite being a global city with many
achievements to its name.
Bengaluru city has the most vibrant Civil Society, Activists,
NGOs and Corporate participation, it will not be an exaggeration to say that
irrespective of who is in power collaborative approach of the BBMP and State
Govt with Citizens and NGOs has always been there. Given all this, why is such
a vibrant city crumbling under the constantly increasing garbage crisis is a
question worth seeking answers for.
No one can deny the challenges in managing and treating
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and C&D Waste, but technically speaking
Bengaluru never planned for its growth nor for its garbage. For years waste was
transported to dumping yards in the outskirts of the city to keep the city
clean, when villagers revolted against the badly planned dumping yards and the
environmental damage it was causing, BBMP hurried with random plans to address
the garbage issue. But by then the infamous garbage mafia that has been thriving
under the garb of garbage transport fully supported by elected representatives
cutting across party lines had made firm inroads into the garbage contracts.
High Court and NGT orders have not stopped most of the
Bengaluru garbage reaching landfills, nor there is 100% Segregation, nor Bengaluru
Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) can claim 100% compliance of garbage tenders.
Tender norms are diluted as the stronghold of the mafia does not allow fresh
bidders for garbage contracts, and each time BBMP is muzzled and forced to go
for ad-hoc contracts in most of the constituencies and wards.
On one hand there are massive awareness campaigns on Waste
Segregation, Composting, Dry Waste Collection Centers (DWCC), Plastic Ban,
Black-Spot fixing taken up by BBMP along with Citizens and NGOs, on other hand
most of the garbage reaches the landfills, and yet there are heaps of uncleared
garbage across the city! The missing piece between the desired result and the
current status is the flawed and broken collection system.
ACT i.e. Awareness,
Collection, Treatment are the three critical pieces of a comprehensive MSW
management process, and a missing piece only means breakdown in the entire
process, which BBMP is either not willing to accept or is unable to fix.
Today, door-to-door waste collection is not only uneven, its
unjustified, its class driven and composition driven. With three vendor system,
one for Bulk Generators, one for Commercial and one for Households, what falls
between these three vendors are thousands of small shops, canteens, PGs, vegetable
shops, street vendors etc. which are mostly operating in residential areas,
thereby not considered or owned up by any of the three vendors.
Bengaluru is a 24/7 city, and our waste collection is
extremely narrow, due to which people dump their garbage anywhere and
everywhere as they leave to work just to avoid dogs tearing up the garbage cans
in front of their homes
The class driven collection is rampant; revenue pockets,
slums, poorer areas are the least priority for BBMP, residents there are
allowed to dump waste on their own in few places, which BBMP terms it as Points,
which is 100% mixed waste and gets cleared outside the collection system.
Value or composition of the waste is given more importance
by the collection person; hence meat waste or vegetable waste are not collected
in time, which in turn ends up on roadsides or drains during late night or
early mornings.
Firstly, 100% Collection is the only way to assess the
quantity & quality of waste generated each day and to keep the city clean without
black-spots or points. This also ensures that there are drastic changes in the
city and less visual eyesore.
Secondly, 100% Decentralization of MSW management can indeed
make local ward administration more responsible and proactive, without them getting
away by sending ward waste to other wards or villages. And its proven that
smaller quantity of waste can be managed better, and volume game is never a
solution for MSW management as there are no benefits of scale.
Thirdly, Technology intervention has to be explored to the
fullest, when technology is solving so many problems, it’s impossible to fathom
why technology interventions are not considered to address the MSW management
process. Waste processing has to have multiple solutions based on the
composition of waste, and technology plays an important role in creating synergy
between all pieces of ACT!
BBMP is wasting a lot of public money on primitive ideas
like garbage marshals making it more person dependent and not system driven. Hence,
the first logical step to address the Dirty Picture of Bengaluru garbage
begins with Collection, Collection, Collection. Acknowledging the actual
quantity & quality of waste generated by the city can lead to more focused solutions
and a better management of MSW.
- Kavitha Reddy
