Last week, BBMP commissioner Bharat Lal Meena met C Srinivasan, popularly known as Vellore Srinivasan, who has set up an integrated waste management plant in Vellore, Tamil Nadu and other states. Srinivasan expressed keen interest in setting up similar plants in the city (near Malleswaram) to tackle waste management.

In Bangalore, Malleswaram would be the first to adopt the model as its residents have shown eagerness in the initiative.

“Talks are under way for the acquisition of a site to set up the sorting station,” said Srinivasan.

“The Vellore model-plan has been shown to BBMP officials on December 9 and they are keen to replicate it in Bangalore.

They have also instructed each of their zonal commissioners to identify spots for setting up sorting stations,” said Dr Meenakshi Bharath, secretary, Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative.

“The commissioner has given a lead time of three months to set up this system and we hope to drive this initiative with them,” Meenakshi added.

Srinivasan, the developer and initiator of the Vellore zero waste management project, said that in an urban city, a family throws away garbage worth Rs 3 per day.

If it is properly segregated and recycled, it can easily generate Rs 90,000 in an area with a population of 30,000, he added.

As per the model practised in Vellore, the waste is segregated at the source itself as dry and wet waste. The segregated waste is collected twice a day by self-help groups at the doorstep.

The organic waste is converted into manure in a twostage process. The dry waste is then segregated into paperplastic, metals, rubber and glass.

“They are again sorted at the secondary and tertiary sorting stations and then brought to the recyclers. The whole process runs on manual labour, sunlight (required for drying of certain plastics) and garbage itself,” Srinivasan said.

With this promising model, an efficient waste management system and a healthy civic scene in Bangalore could come true.