The Hindu        23.12.2014  

Solid waste management board on the anvil

Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake and Almitra H. Patelof the Supreme Court Committee on solid waste management, at the seminar organised by the Canara Plastic Manufacturers’ and Traders’ Association in Mangaluru on Monday.— Photo: H.S. Manjunath

Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake on Monday said the government plans to set up a Solid Waste Management (SWM) Board along the lines of the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board.

Speaking after inaugurating CanPlast 2014 organised by Canara Plastic Manufacturers’ and Traders’ Association here, Mr. Sorake said waste management had attained greater significance these days and many urban local bodies (ULBs) lacked the expertise in garbage disposal.

Bengaluru, once known as the garden city, was turning out to be a garbage city, the Minister said, adding that the government was confident of finding a solution to the problems at Mandur village near Bengaluru where garbage disposal had become an issue. ULBs, which still continue with land-fill dumping method of garbage disposal, needed to focus on scientific disposal of waste. The proposal for SWM Board gained relevance in this context, Mr. Sorake said.

The Minister said the presumption of plastic as a menace should get changed, and plastic should be treated as an asset through various recycling methods.

The government was keen on the use of recycled plastic in various forms, including for production of diesel and energy, he said. Any number of rules and regulations would not help scientific waste management unless the people develop awareness about cleanliness and waste disposal, he said.

The day-long event witnessed technical sessions on sustainable waste management by Almitra H. Patel, member, Supreme Court Committee for SWM, Bengaluru; emerging opportunities in the field of plastics for small and medium entrepreneurs by Aruna Kumari, senior manager, Reliance Industries, Mumbai; plastic waste to fuel by G. Jagadish, Director, Technical, Ampolt Electronics, Bengaluru, and bio-degradable plastics and recycling by Ajay Karmarkar, Director (Technical), KONSPEC, Mangaluru.

The Hindu          22.12.2014 

‘Zero waste management centres should solve garbage crisis’

The main reason for withdrawing garbage containers is to induce people to segregate garbage into wet waste and dry waste and hand it over to garbage collecting personnel accordingly. Earlier, residents would dump unsegregated garbage in containers and sometimes all around it, irrespective of whether the container was filled or not.

Shopkeepers complain

There are many other reasons for withdrawing containers. People, particularly shopkeepers, quarrel with the Corporation staff over the placing of the containers. At many places, including Bengaluru and Mysuru, people had brought pressure on civic bodies to shift the containers.

Shopkeepers felt that placing garbage containers near their shop would discourage customers from coming into their shops. Certain corporations and town municipalities have no definite period of clearing garbage from containers, result in overflowing garbage in containers. C.G. Betsurmath, Commissioner of Mysore City Corporation, told The Hindu here today that the corporation had set up nine zero-waste management centres and of them eight have already been functioning in the city. The nine centres would cover almost entire city.

If needed, the corporation would set up few more such centres, he said, adding that there would be no need to place garbage containers in streets and residential areas once these centres are up and running.