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    In Bengaluru, household composting of wet waste likely to be mandatory

    Synopsis

    Bengaluru generates about 5,000 metric tonnes of waste per day, of which about 60% is said to be wet waste.

    waste-management.1
    After its futile attempts at enforcing waste segregation,BBMP is moving towards developing waste-to-energy plants which accept mixed waste to generate energy.
    BENGALURU: Waste segregation exercises having failed in the towns and cities of the state, authorities are now considering making household composting of wet waste mandatory. If the idea, being proposed by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, is implemented, Karnataka will become the first state to have such a law.

    KSPCB’s proposal will be sent to the Urban Development Department, to be incorporated in the Municipal Act/ byelaw. The proposal requests the UDD to issue directions for segregation of wet waste and development of household composting either individually or by groups of households, apartments, commercial complexes, function halls, etc.

    Bengaluru generates about 5,000 metric tonnes of waste per day, of which about 60% is said to be wet waste. About 3,500 tonnes of waste is mixed. Dry waste, too, tends to lose its economic value, making it almost impossible to recycle it. A large chunk of mixed waste ends up in landfills.

    After its futile attempts at enforcing waste segregation, the Bruhat Bengal-uru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is moving towards developing waste-to-energy plants which accept mixed waste to generate energy. This year, although the corporation initially floated separate tenders for wet, dry and bulk waste, it backtracked on its earlier tender and modified it to suit the needs of contractors. The change in tender conditions is likely to encourage mixed waste collection.

    “Since there are practical issues in making people dispose only segregated waste, we feel the way forward for urban local bodies is to stop accepting wet waste. If home composting is made mandatory, it will generate a large quantity of pure organic compost which could then be supplied to farmers,” said KSPCB chairman C Jayaram.

    The proposed amendment would direct the BBMP and 278 other urban local bodies in Karnataka to not accept wet waste from generators. ”The Occupancy Certificate is to be issued only upon setting up of in-situ wet waste composting for the new dwellers,” the proposal specifies. The Board believes the plan will work if composting kits are sold to people at subsidised rates, at least initially.


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