Over 15 police colonies, more than 7,500 families and, approximately four tonnes of waste generated every day. These police quarters and colonies are in dire need of solid waste management practices to ensure that the garbage is managed in-house and only rejects get sent to the landfills.
The initiative first began when former police commissioner Praveen Sood issued a circular directing the Deputy Commissioners of Police and officials of the City Armed Reserve to cooperate with waste management experts, who were to visit the colonies and create awareness among residents about segregation of waste at source.
N.S. Ramakanth, member of the Solid Waste Management Expert Committee, said that the initiative was taken up at the CAR quarters in Audugodi.
However, the programme fizzled out when Mr. Sood was transferred. “A group of waste volunteers met the current Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar, who was very proactive and gave us the go-ahead. He also directed the DCPs to get in touch with volunteers from Bangalore Eco Team (BET),” he said.
The programme has now been taken up first in the south division. According to DCP (South) Sharanappa, there were around 200 quarters in the division. “Though we are still in the initial stages, we hope to first give training to the policemen and their families living in these quarters on segregation of waste at source. The wet waste will be processed in-situ and the compost is going to be used to maintain the gardens.” He added that the dry waste would be sent for recycling.
Mr. Ramakanth said that in the next phase, the volunteers hope to focus on the 150-odd police stations in the city and convert them into zero waste stations.
