Beginning Wednesday, handing over mixed waste to pourakarmikas
because you find segregation too complicated is going to cut no ice with
them. They will be empowered to say no to collecting unsegregated
waste. What’s more? Residents who refuse to toe the line will have to
pay up.

In yet another attempt to tackle its waste woes at the
beginning of the cycle, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)
has made it mandatory to segregate at source from February 1. Having
managed to get about 35% of the city to segregate its waste, the palike
has now set its sights on increasing this number to 60%.

A part of
its plan to achieve its self-set target is to collect only wet waste
every day. “Sanitary waste, too, will be collected, as waste such as
diapers cannot be stored in houses for long,” said Sarfaraz Khan, Joint
Commissioner, Solid Waste Management, BBMP. Dry waste collection will
happen only twice a week.

Mr. Khan said that residents of
individual homes, who refuse to segregate waste, will be penalised after
the first week, starting with a Rs. 100 fine for the first offence.
This amount will be increased with subsequent offences. “If anyone
refuses to pay up, we will recover the amount at the time of collecting
the property tax,” he added. This means that the onus is on the owners
of housing units given out on rent to ensure that all waste in the
building is segregated. Waste from individual houses is said to make up
for over 60% of the total waste generated in the city.

The
schedule for dry waste collection will differ for each ward. Apart from
developing a software to aid the process, conditions will also be laid
out in the garbage tenders to further streamline the system.

Apartment
complexes will be covered in the second stage of implementation of the
plan. The BBMP intends to have as many of them compost wet waste as
possible as it aims at reducing the quantity of waste generated, which
stands at close to 4,200 tonnes a day including waste from bulk
generators.

What you should do

Segregate your waste into wet and dry.

Wet
waste (vegetables, fruits, fruit peel, tea powder, coffee powder,
flowers, matchsticks, hair, food, cereals an other compostable waste)
will be collected every day.

Sanitary
and domestic hazardous waste (diapers, syringes, blade, earbuds,
bandages, napkins, expired medicines, animal bones, etc.) will also be
collected every day.

Dry waste (Plastic: bags,
dolls, bottles, milk covers; Paper: cotton boxes, plates, newspapers,
packing material; Metal: cans, bottle caps; Others: styrofoam,
batteries, bulbs, tubelights, CDs, DVDs, cassettes, etc.) will be
collected twice a week.