Trash the waste before Bengaluru burns

Villagers in Kanahalli village are still choked by dark clouds of particle-filled smoke and a foul stench, after a fire, meant to burn waste in the Bellahalli quarry pit, grew out of control and burned for four days straight. The BBMP, which is to blame, has nothing to say besides its usual refrain: Segregation doesn't happen at source. Their efforts to ensure waste separation at home are commendable but almost impossible to execute. Waste-to-energy plants are a practical solution for they accept unsegregated waste and use it to generate electricity. There is a proposal to obtain them so why haven’t authorities followed through, asks Aknisree Karthik

The garbage menace is back to stalking the city. Heaps of uncollected garbage are lying in bins before houses  or at the corners of the streets with stray cows and dogs feeding on them. The latest mess is thanks to the fire at the Bellahalli quarry, which has been raging for the past few days, making it impossible to desposit the city’s garbage in it.

As the segregation percentage hovers around 40 to 45, it is mainly mixed garbage that is collected in the city. And as this cannot be taken to waste treatment plants, where only segregated garbage is accepted, a whopping 350 loads of the city’s rubbish is dumped at the Bellahalli quarry. With the summer temperature soaring this mixed waste has combusted, leading to a fire that has now been raging for days.

Solid waste management expert, Ramakanth mainly blames the people’s lack of  interest in segregating garbage at source for the fire. "A large number of Bengalureans are still not segregating their garbage as required. Their mixed waste collected in about 350 compactors lands in the quarry. If all of us segregated our waste to remove the plastics, it could go to the plants, which are hungry for it. The BBMP has spent about Rs 340crore of our money in erecting these plants,” he points out, adding , “The next time there is a fire in the quarry we should not blame the junior health Inspectors or supervisors, but ourselves. People should realise where they are going wrong and help the civic agency in improving  the garbage situation.”

Mr Ramakanth laments that even three years of the introduction of SWM rules, only 40 per cent  of Bangalureans are segregating their waste. “If there is no cooperation from the people, then there is no point in framing SWM rules or setting up waste processing plants. People must understand this and segregate their waste without more delay,” he stresses.

But  a resident of Madivala claims people have given up segregating waste as it gets mixed up anyway in the trucks or autos that collect it. While he may have a point, it is apparent that some Bengalureans are simply not interested in spending the extra time needed to segregate their garbage into dry and wet, while continuing to grumble at the mess in the city.

Ask Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun about the current crisis and she assures that things are returning to normal. “The garbage was not collected for  the past two or three days due to the fire. But now that it has  come under control, dumping has been resumed at the quarry.  It will take a while for all the accumulated garbage to be cleared. I have requested officials to work 24x7 to make sure it is done,” she said.

Garbage quarry burns for 4 days, chokes village
While most Bengalureans continue to discard mixed garbage, hundreds of villagers living near the Bellahalli quarry pits, where it is dumped, are forced to suffer thepollution  caused. And the fire of the last few days at the quarry has only compounded their misery.

 Not only has it left a dark smoky cloud hanging over the village of Kanahalli, but has also left its people holding their noses in disgust as a foul smell has been filling the air from the garbage trucks that  have started to line up one behind the other to dump their waste in the quarry once the fire stops.

 "The fire  lasted for nearly four days, almost choking us. We already get a foul smell from the quarry and to add to it, the fire totally engulfed the area and polluted the air even more," recounted an angry villager of Kanahalli.

“The garbage dumping , which is itself illegal, is ruining our lives and polluting the ground water. Will the people of Bengaluru accept the garbage generated from our villages?”  he demanded pertinently.

 Recalling that this wasn't the first time that a fire had been reported at the quarry, he says the villagers had protested last time too, but this did not stop the dumping. “With every day that passes the dumping of the garbage near our village has poisoned our environment even more and we are not able to live healthy lives here,” he lamented.