A lorry full of bags of waste enters the Dry Waste Collection Centre at Rajajinagar. It usually dumps the garbage on the floor of the centre. Waste pickers then sit around the piles and manually sort through them.
This Thursday, however, was different. When the garbage-laden truck pulled into the centre, the waste was poured through a funnel onto a conveyor belt from where it was sorted manually by the waste pickers into piles of bottles, papers, and the like. The segregated waste was them compressed automatically in a multi-purpose baler.
The Dry Waste Collection Centre (DWCC) in Marappana Palya (Ward 44) near Orion Mall, Rajajinagar, has been given an overhaul with a new mechanised unit updated with technology from a European company. It will be formally inaugurated on Friday.
Sadashivaiah, 51, who has been running the centre for five years as per his contract with the BBMP, could not be happier. The centre had a capacity to handle 1 Tonne Per Day (TPD) of dry waste. After the mechanisation, this limit has increased to 5 TPD. Also, it gives the labourers a chance to work in a dignified manner. “The baler that compresses the waste into lumps will reduce the space occupied both in the centre and during transport, thereby increasing the capacity,” said Nalini Shekhar, of Hasirudala, an NGO that supports the DWCC.
Optimal utilisation
Hasirudala has collaborated with Sweep Smart, a Netherlands-based social business firm, to obtain the technology. “The lack of a a baler had led to non-optimal utilisation of space as waste was piling up to the ceiling. The segregation of the waste was being done with bare hands. This job has now improved with a conveyor belt in place,” said Niels van den Hoek, founder, Sweep Smart.
The firm has spent ₹16 lakh to put the system in place. The DWCC building has also been revamped to utilise vertical space and create separate compartments for each stream of waste.
Handling e-waste
The centre is now authorised to handle e-waste. Plans are afoot to build an in-house e-waste dismantling unit.
