The Hindu 07.10.2013
‘Let each ward manage their waste at the local level’
Suggestions of expert group on SWM is now before High Court
What are the strategies and methods that the city needs to adopt to liberate itself from being labelled “garbage city?”
An
expert committee, constituted by the State last year suggested answers
to this question in its report – titled “A future with no landfills.”
It
recommends moving towards zero-waste systems through multiple
approaches, including processing municipal solid waste (MSW) through
composting or biogas (not incineration), recycling, re-use of
recyclables, etc.
Quoting SAARC’s “Dhaka Declaration
2004 on Waste Management”, the report states that open dumping should be
stopped immediately, incineration technologies should not be used, and
community-based waste segregation at source should be adopted.
A
Division Bench of the High Court, which is monitoring measures taken to
solve garbage crisis through public interest litigation (PIL)
petitions, will soon go through the committee’s recommendations before
giving specific directions to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahangara Palike
(BBMP) on future MSW management. The committee includes among others
Almitra H. Patel, whose PIL plea in the apex court resulted in Municipal
Waste Management Rules, 2000, the country’s first rule in MSW area, and
seven other experts.
One of the main suggestions is
that all domestic waste generated from each ward of the BBMP should be
processed and managed within the boundaries of the respective ward. This
is to keep citizen responsibilities at the local level strong, besides
making the process cost-effective.
This suggestion
has already been taken note of by the court. In its recent hearing, it
had asked the BBMP Commissioner to look out for sufficient space on the
lines of dry waste collection centres in each ward. The committee also
suggested that no garbage contractor should service more than 5 to 6
wards and should not service the same area for more than one tender
period. It has also suggested that the existing tipping-fee concept for
transporting waste should be replaced by a support price to the compost
(or processed end-product), similar to the payment made to the Karnataka
Compost Development Corporation.
The BBMP, should
directly service at least 40 per cent of the city through its
pourakarmikas, and these wards should be identified separately, should
not be mixed with those under private contractors, so that comparative
performance can be assessed.
The report also
recommends that the BBMP should unload daily wet waste and mixed waste
separately as per MSW Rules. And night unloading must be phased out at
the earliest, so that wastes do not rot within the vehicle (from morning
to night) and become hard to compost after unloading.