Fifty wards in the city will be selected for the pilot project on effective solid waste management practices and making them zero-garbage areas.
This was decided at a breakfast meeting with opinion makers at “Wake up, Clean Up Bengaluru”, the weeklong exposition, here on Monday.
The meeting that was attended by Gandhinagar MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Siddaiah, Board of Manipal Global Education Services chairperson T.V. Mohandas Pai, and civil society members V. Ravichandar, Kalpana Kar, Almitra Patel, Ramesh Ramanathan and Swathi Ramanathan.
The meeting proposed a venture capital to help small businesspersons and traders have in place their own solid waste management systems, with the capital coming from various corporates in the city.
It decided to urge bulk generators and small traders and businesses to work towards reducing the quantum of garbage they generate.
During the brainstorming session, several suggestions came forth. Ms. Kar said stakeholders must work towards attitudinal changes. “Right now, everybody seems to be saying, ‘Not In My Backyard’. We have to change it to ‘Yes, In My Backyard’,” she said.
Mr. Gundu Rao said that by choosing 50 wards and taking up the pilot project here, the BBMP will be able to replicate it elsewhere. “Everybody knows the solution; but the key is implementation. Take all stakeholders into confidence and take up the project in the 50 chosen wards,” he suggested.
Mr. Siddaiah said that the time had come for a mechanism to wean the contract pourakarmikas away from the system.
“We can explore direct payment of their salaries, besides introducing incentives. The BBMP, civil societies and communities must work together,” he said.
The meeting explored the possibility of waiving garbage cess for apartments that are successfully managing the waste generated in situ , sanctioning plans for new apartments only if the solid waste management plan has been incorporated in the building plan, getting companies to chalk out a plan to recycle, and getting bulk generators to pledge scaling down the quantum of waste they generate.
