Bengaluru: The BBMP, all set to become a ‘zero-waste’ campus, wants other government and private offices, colleges and apartments to emulate its model and take care of their waste. The BBMP will soon write letters requesting all of them to make their campuses zero-waste. Offering an incentive, Mayor Gangambike said that the Palike will take steps to waive off ‘solid waste management cess’ if these campuses achieve the landmark.
Giving an example, she said that when the BWSSB started pushing for rainwater harvesting, it first set up such structures at prominent government buildings, like the Vidhana Souda.
Before preaching others, the BBMP wanted to set an example by managing its garbage and not sending any waste to processing plants or landfills, she said.
“A lot of money is spent on transporting garbage. If government offices and big campuses don’t send waste out of their campuses, we can bring in a big change. This not only reduces the burden on processing plants and landfills, but also gives us valuable compost,” she explained.
She said that going zero-waste is not expensive. “At the BBMP head office, we have installed two composting bins with a capacity of 35kg and it cost us around Rs 35,000 per bin. Big campuses – both government and private – can afford this,” she said.
“Mr Manjunath Prasad (BBMP Commissioner) and I will be shortly writing to big establishments about the zero-waste concept and popularise it,” she said.
