The Solid Waste Management (SWM) strategy seems to be one area where
the Draft RMP 2031 makes all the right noises and adoption of best
practices.

On a positive note, the draft plan expands the SWM
strategy – segregation of waste at source, separation of bulk waste – to
the surrounding villages in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Area (BMA) as
well.

There are two opposing views on waste management: one argues
that composting of wet waste has been a failure and advocates complete
shift to Waste-to-Energy plants while others see them as polluting and
non-viable.

The plan attempts to strike a balance by proposing
eight Integrated Waste Processing Plants in addition to upgrading the
nine running today.

These plants will incorporate both composting and WtE technology.

Organic
waste is first composted, but the RDF it generates, along with other
combustible non-biodegradable waste, will be incinerated to produce
power using WtE technology, the plan suggests.

N.S. Ramakanth, member, SWM Committee, says this is an acceptable strategy.

The
draft plan also incorporates the recent High Court direction for
implementation of a micro plan and decentralised processing of waste. It
recommends 12 bio-methanisation plants of five TPD capacity and 85
Organic Waste Converters of 1 TPD capacity for the entire BMA.

However, the draft plan has been criticised for what many see as ‘token’ recommendations.

Ramprasad,
an Solid Waste Management activist, said that in a decentralisation
model, every ward within BBMP limits and their equivalent outside must
have smaller Organic Waste Converters, and that the proposed 85 will not
be sufficient even for the BBMP area. He estimates that the city will
need 300 converters by 2031.

Also, the plan does not stress on
separating various streams of waste, like construction debris, animal
waste, sanitary waste and other hazardous waste, and doesn’t provide
strategies for processing such waste.