The Hindu                    03.04.2013

‘Educate public on garbage segregation’

Expressing dissatisfaction over the measures to educate Bangaloreans on the need of segregation of waste (dry and wet) at source, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday asked the authorities to initiate effective steps to bring awareness among citizens.

A Division Bench comprising Justice N. Kumar and Justice B.V. Nagarathna issued the direction while hearing PIL petitions about Bangalore’s garbage problems.

Pointing out that it is not possible to ensure segregation of garbage through court orders, the Bench said only public awareness about civic responsibilities would lead to segregation at source.

The State government, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) should work towards this.

Emphasising the need to put in place waste processing units instead of creating more landfills, the Bench asked the BBMP to submit a report indicating the details of the projects approved to process waste and the stages of their implementation.

Meanwhile, BBMP Commissioner H. Siddaiah told the court that dry waste collection centres would be ready in all the 198 wards by the end of this month and this would bring down the quantum of garbage in landfills. Non-governmental agencies would be given six months to manage these dry waste centres on an experimental basis.

Mr. Siddaiah said the BBMP would link solid waste management with trade licences in future.