Recurrent flash floods indicate that the city’s seemingly robust solid waste management system is either not being implemented effectively or is unable to cope with the burgeoning population
Illustration: Yogendra Anand It is that time of the year again in Bengaluru. The first showers of the monsoon season have inundated parts of the city, bringing back memories of September 2022, when India’s software capital saw some of the worst floods in its history.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has initiated drives to remove encroachments and heaps of garbage from stormwater drains. But recurrent flash floods indicate that the city’s seemingly robust solid waste management system is either not being implemented effectively or is unable to cope with the burgeoning population.
Spread over 741 sq km, Bengaluru is divided into eight zones (East, West, South, Yelahanka, Rajarajeshwari, Mahadevapura, Dasarahalli and Bommanahalli) and 198 wards. This city of 8.4 million people, as per Census 2011, generates 3,000-3,500 tonnes per day of solid waste.
BBMP has established a set of practices to handle the waste. First, it makes waste segregation at the source compulsory and levies penalties for non-compliance. This is followed by the collection of waste from door to door and through street sweeping, transportation, processing and disposal.
Following the introduction of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, BBMP has mandated bulk generators (who produce over 100 kg of garbage a day) to facilitate the collection, processing and disposal of waste within the premises.
BBMP collects ward-level solid waste management information and makes it available on its website. For instance, data on BBMP’s website shows it has 670 vehicles, including 240 compactors and 430 tipper lorries, for the transportation of waste and 184 dry waste collection centres for recycling.
Efforts are being made for organic waste treatment through composting or bio-methanisation plants. Data shows the city has bio-methanisation plants at 16 locations and has demarcated 12 landfills on the outskirts for the disposal of waste.
However, a closer look at ward-level data reveals a complex picture. Data is available only for 150 of the 198 wards and is from 2015-16. The website does not mention why no information is available for the remaining 48 wards.
The data made available is also not precise, but rather in the form of a range. And, there is no uniformity in the way that wards enter data, which leads to confusion. For most wards, the template used for waste collected is either not filled correctly or has incomplete entries.
In several wards, data related to the additional waste generated remains the same for several months. No information is available on how much residential and non-residential waste Bengaluru generates. This shows there is a need to change the way data is being maintained by BBMP: it must be exact and follow a standard pattern across wards.
Nevertheless, the analysis of the available data suggests dismal performance by BBMP. Its door-to-door collection system covers only 87 per cent of the households and varies from ward to ward.
Wards with a large number of residential waste generators have mostly good collection practices; these include C V Raman Nagar, Vishwanath Agenahalli, Yelahanka, Rajarajeshwari, Mahadevapura, Vrisahbhavathi Nagar, Kaveripura, Thanisandra, Herohalli, Varthur, Hegganahalli, Honga Sandra and Chokkasandra.
Street sweeping is done daily in most wards, but only Herohalli, Varthur, Hagadur and CV Raman Nagar report good coverage. The ward-level data and its zone-wise visualisation show that there is a higher number of residential waste generators in Haramavu, Dodda Bidarakallu, Byatarayanapura and Hegganahalli wards.
Horamvu ward has the highest population (95,368) in the city. More non-residential waste generators can be found in Bharathi Nagar, Shantala Nagar, and Cottonpete wards, which are hubs of semi-commercial and business activities.
An analysis of BBMP’s ward-level data further shows that as many as 73,407 households are bulk generators. Residential apartments (with more than 50 units) and houses in gated communities contribute 90 per cent and 10 per cent of the residential bulk waste, respectively.
Konankunte, Garudacharpalya, Bilekhalli, Puttenahalli and HMT wards account for 27 per cent of the residential bulk generators. Non-residential bulk generators are concentrated in the wards of Konena Agrahara, Marathahalli and HMT ward, which are well-known for having industrial and IT (Information Technology) companies. They contribute 16 per cent of the waste generated by the city’s non-residential bulk generators.
Such information can help BBMP identify the bulk generators of waste and rope them in as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, to decentralise the management of solid waste.
Most cities in the country are shifting to decentralised waste management systems. BBMP is more focused on decentralised collection and segregation of waste, with little emphasis on decentralisation of recycling, processing and disposal of waste.
Decentralised solid waste management allows for efficient resource recovery from waste and the reuse of waste materials.
Accurate and up-to-date ward-level data will also help BBMP to prepare for the massive increase in its population and commercialisation, even in residential areas.
According to the UN World Urbanization Prospects, Bengaluru is the fastest-growing Indian metropolis after New Delhi and has an estimated population of 13.6 million in 2023. It was one of the earliest cities to recognise the problem of urban solid waste management and made several attempts to solve the problems with the participation of people. It is time this is done again.
(Shwetmala Kashyap is senior research fellow at Ramaiah Public Policy Center, Bengaluru. Arkalgud Ramaprasad is professor emeritus at University of Illinois at Chicago, US)
This was first published in Down To Earth’s print edition (dated July 1-15, 2023)
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.