Bengaluru wakes up to a whole new idea on Monday —managing its waste in a way never thought of before — all for a cleaner city. The civic agencies have geared up for the exercise which comes into effect from Monday morning. “We are requesting citizens to segregate waste on their own for their good. Until the rule becomes law, the BBMP will not fine anybody. Segregation at source is the best solution for the solid waste management crisis facing the city and BBMP, with the help of councillors, will take up awareness drives on waste segregation,” said BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel.
There are many unanswered questions and lack of clarity on processes, but BBMP hopes a start can be made and that people will start segregating the waste on their own from Monday. The government’s Organic Mission is trying to pool in farmers who can accept wet waste to be composted, but this could only be a temporary solution. “For how long can you go on using agricultural land to compost the wet waste generated from Bengaluru? Instead of transporting it to far-off places we need to have waste management solutions locally. When a city like Pune can do it, why can’t Bengaluru,” asks Dr Y.B. Ramakrishna, who heads the Bio-diesel Task Force.