No more excuses! Segregate your garbage or face the stink at your doorstep
Bengaluru: ‘Segregate madovargu garbage thagolalla’ (Won't take your garbage until it's segregated). Don’t be surprised to hear your pourakarmika say this, while refusing to accept mixed garbage from your apartment complex. In a big leap towards effective garbage segregation, pourakarmikas have stopped collecting mixed garbage, especially from bulk generators. In many parts of South Bengaluru like Padmanabhanagar, Chikkalsandra, Arehalli, AGS Layout and Ittamadu, the pourakarmikas have not collected mixed garbage from bulk generators since a week. Their message: “Fall in line or don’t give us your garbage’.
Commenting about this ‘sudden’ change, Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) Subodh Yadav said that at the BBMP head office all the loose strings were absolutely tightened and Bengalureans had no escape from segregating garbage at source. “We have given strict instructions to all the zonal offices that no matter how tough they have to implement segregation at source in their zone. Now, local performance varies from zone to zone. Our focus is to ensure that only wet garbage is sent to the processing plants,” he said.
Meanwhile, Solid Waste Management Round Table founder N.S Ramakanth, who trained the pourakarmikas how to say ‘no’ to mixed garbage, welcomed the latest development. “It was inevitable for the city as the BBMP has no more places to dump mixed garbage. One day, the BBMP had to put its foot down and the time has come. The agency is forced to become strict and the results can be seen,” he added.
According to the solid waste management expert, more than 200 apartment complexes in the city are segregating garbage at source and 70 per cent of them are handling their wet waste.
BBMP officials turn tutors
The BBMP officials have also ventured into teaching lessons to residents of apartment complexes on how to segregate garbage. “Sometime, residents dump wet waste in plastic hand bags and give them to pourakarmikas. Such garbage will no longer be accepted. Some don’t know the difference between dry and plastic waste. In order to clarify all these doubts and teach the proper methods of garbage disposal, we are holding a demonstration in Vasanthpura ward on Sunday,” said a BBMP official.
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