BENGALURU: After a series of protests against the BBMP and directions from the high court to do away with landfills, the Palike has ramped up its act and managed to process around 1,200 metric tonnes of solid waste per day at its eight waste-to-compost plants.
As the authorities on Tuesday took the media on a tour of its three plants at Kannahalli, Seegehalli and Doddabidarakal, a few villagers protested and alleged that the plants are a health hazard.
Mr G. Kumar Naik, BBMP Commissioner, and Mr Leju Valsan, IL&FS manager, operations and maintenance, explained the process involved in scientifically converting waste into compost.
Mr Valsan said that segregated wet and dry waste is accepted separately at the plant. Wet waste is put through wind-row method for about six weeks by subjecting it to the bacterial screening mechanism. Further, the waste is allowed to go through a process and the end product - the compost, will be generated. The compost is sent to the University of Agriculture Science for ascertaining quality, he said.
“The end product will be only about 15 per cent of the total waste. The leachate is used as a decomposing agent and not allowed to seep into the ground. The facility gets waste from South and parts of East zone. The plant has minimum odour and efforts are made to reduce it further by spraying chemicals,” he said.
IL&FS has tied up with National Fertilisers Ltd, Tata, Coramandal and Zuari Green Star for branding and selling compost, he said.
The dry waste is reduced to refuse derived fuel, which has a high rate of combustion. The fuel is sent to cement companies to generate heat for their plants. Already, an understanding has been reached with Zuari company in Kadapa, Mr Naik said.
Mr Naik and RR Nagar joint commissioner Veerabhadrappa explained the process involved at the plant in Doddabidarakal. Mr Naik said that the BBMP has plans to ramp up the processing capacity to 2,200 MT by making all the plants run to their capacity. Persuasion by officers, the high court order and efforts of experts and resident welfare associations has helped the BBMP get segregated waste, he said.
Villagers threaten to stop trucks from January 2
Villagers of Seegehalli and Kannahalli, which are off Magadi Road, and Doddabidarakal protested on Tuesday, demanding that the BBMP should stop sending trucks to new garbage processing units.
Some 25 villagers, led by Chennappa, who is the president of Kannahalli SWM Protest Committee, blocked the BBMP inspection vehicle. They shouted slogans against the BBMP for setting up the plant which is polluting the environment. They said that the plant emits an unbearable stench and children fall sick often.
Mr Chennappa said that garbage trucks will be allowed to go to the plant only till January 3 next year, as promised by MLA S. T. Somashekar.
Ms Pushpa Yogesh and Ms Bhagya S., residents of Seegehalli, alleged that they have been suffering from an increased swarm of houseflies and bad odour. The processing plant is close to their houses and not on the outskirts of the city as promised by the administration, they alleged.
BBMP Commissioner G. Kumar Naik assured the protesters that necessary precautions will be taken to prevent bad stench and housefly menace. The plant is being operated scientifically and bio-filters and odour control measures will be set in place, he said.
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