Bengaluru, Sep 24 Bengaluru’s waste management problem cannot be solved by government action alone and requires both a more efficient collection system and active citizen participation, Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said on Thursday.
Addressing a stakeholder consultation on solid waste management here, he said the government would strengthen waste transportation capacity to about 9,000 tonnes per day and introduce GPS tracking of garbage collection vehicles to improve accountability.
“Getting the garbage truck to every doorstep is my responsibility. Giving segregated waste to the vehicle is yours,” the Greater Bengaluru Development minister said, stressing the need for a clear division of responsibility among the civic administration, sanitation workers, bulk waste generators and citizens.
Bengaluru generates around 6,500 tonnes of waste a day, while the existing collection system has a capacity of about 5,200 tonnes, he said.
Under the new waste management system, the existing 27 Assembly constituencies have been reorganised into 33 packages.
Vehicles with capacities of two and three tonnes will be deployed, taking the overall transportation capacity to around 9,000 tonnes a day, with about 4,500 vehicles expected to operate under the new arrangement, his office said in a press release.
The government plans to make GPS tracking mandatory for all waste collection vehicles.
The system will allow authorities to track whether vehicles have followed their assigned routes, the roads they have covered and the duration of their operations, making the collection process more transparent and accountable, Gowda said.
“If a particular locality is not receiving doorstep collection, providing that service is the responsibility of the administration. We will take immediate steps to address such gaps,” he said.
At the same time, citizens should not leave waste on roadsides and must hand over segregated waste directly to collection vehicles, the minister said.
He suggested that residents who are away from home during collection hours could keep segregated waste safely near the gate or compound. In houses without gates, an appropriate waste container could be fixed near the wall for collection.
Roadside dumping often creates garbage blackspots, with accumulated waste attracting further dumping and potentially affecting storm-water drains and other civic infrastructure, Gowda said.
“Waste management is not merely a sanitation issue. It is a wider urban-management challenge requiring accountability at every stage,” he said.
The minister highlighted the role of bulk waste generators in adding to the city’s waste burden.
Bengaluru has around 50,000 bulk waste generators, but only about 2,000 have entered into arrangements with authorised vendors as required under applicable waste management rules, he said.
Many of the remaining establishments, Gowda alleged, were handing over their waste to municipal workers engaged in household waste collection, thereby placing additional pressure on the system.
Bulk waste generators must segregate waste on their premises and, wherever required, undertake composting or processing at source, he said.
The government, he added, would provide downstream services for waste that has been processed or composted at source without charging an additional service fee.
Bulk waste currently adds around 1,000 tonnes a day to the burden on the household waste collection system, according to the minister.
The government is also seeking to ensure that segregated waste remains separate during subsequent collection and transportation.
Around 2,100 tonnes of segregated wet waste is currently being sent to processing facilities, while the quantity of waste sent to landfills has declined from around 4,000 tonnes earlier to approximately 2,500 tonnes, Gowda said.
Greater segregation at source could significantly improve the efficiency and economics of the city’s waste management chain, he said.
The Greater Bengaluru Authority has cleared around 1.42 lakh tonnes of construction and other accumulated waste, while the Bengaluru Development Authority has removed approximately 80,000 tonnes of legacy waste.
BESCOM has also carried out cleaning around transformer locations, alongside ongoing ward-level cleanliness drives, the minister said.
Gowda, however, said clearing accumulated waste alone would not provide a lasting solution.
“The objective has to be to build a system in which waste does not return to the roads in the first place,” he said.
Emphasising shared responsibility, the minister said the task of keeping Bengaluru clean could not be left entirely to the government, civic officials or sanitation workers.
“We live in this city, and Bengaluru has given us a great deal. It is our responsibility to contribute towards the city,” he said.
He stressed the dignity of sanitation work, saying every role in the waste management system was necessary for society.
Gowda said the suggestions would be incorporated into the waste management process and tested over the next three to four months, after which another consultation would be held to assess the results and identify further changes.
(PTI News)
