BENGALURU: For a city grappling with its daily waste, managing old municipal solid waste accumulated over the years is an added headache. To study best practices and come up with a plan suitable for the city, a team of officials and experts will soon be sent to states and districts like Tamil Nadu, Goa and Indore, to study what best can be done with legacy waste, or old municipal solid waste.
Karnataka State Pollution Board (KSPCB) chairman and Chikkaballapur MLA K Sudhakar took this decision at the first meeting he held in the city on Monday. He took note of the success stories in handling legacy waste.
“The city is sitting on a ticking bomb because of the centuries-old legacy waste piled up in sites like Mandur, Mavallipura and other quarries. These sites pose a lot of health risks and there is an urgent need to dispose of it. Though plans were made, nothing concrete was done. But now waste is used in cement factories, to generate electricity and composting,” said a senior KSPCB official, who was present at the meeting.
Sudhakar had held a detailed meeting with heads of other departments, along with Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department K Anilkumar and Shekarappa, director, Department of Municipal Administration. Experts like Prof T V Ramachandra from IISc, Dr Jayaprakash, Dr Chanakya and Dr Anantha Kodavasal were also present. Officials are said to have agreed to this plan in the wake of increasing land prices, demand for residential and commercial spaces and parks.
BBMP officials showed keen interest as they have been finding it difficult to manage waste. The exact quantity of legacy waste is yet to be ascertained. It was also decided to call for a meeting with cement factories to manage the derived fuel waste.
KSPCB member secretary Manoj Kumar said that a meeting is being called to fix quantity, quality and time-frame of supply of waste to cement factories. Not only is waste well-managed, but dependence on coal for energy generation also comes down.