The BBMP is taking the “green” route to reduce the garbage problem in the city. Palike commissioner Rajneesh Goel has asked hoteliers in the city to serve the food in plates and tumblers made out of banana leaves, tendu leaves, betel nut fronds etc, instead of using plastic material. In a meeting on Wednesday, Mr Goel told members of the Bengaluru Hoteliers’ Association to segregate waste at source and to prepare a list of 100 hotels to install bio-fuel plants in a month.
Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy too was present. Mr Goel asked the hoteliers to set up bio-fuel units on their premises and to get the help of bio-fuel researchers, for which the BBMP could extend help.
He introduced Ms Sheetal Singh, a bio-fuel researcher from the Karnataka State Bio-fuel Development Board, to the hoteliers. She is running a bio-gas unit in her house using kitchen waste as raw material. She said, “We have installed a plant at the Bengaluru International Airport and we convert kitchen waste and leftover food into bio-fuel. It can be emulated at all apartment units and hotels. I hardly depend on LPG supply and procure just two cylinders in a year,” she said.
Association president Vasudev Adiga said they were handing over the waste to private contractors and paying them hefty charges. He sought the BBMP’s permission to use polythene bags below 40 microns that the hoteliers’ had already bought. But Mr Goel denied him the permission.