Disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste remains a challenge for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). With extensive development work being undertaken by various agencies, including Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), the city generates 2,500-3,000 tonnes of C&D waste daily.
More often than not, the debris is dumped indiscriminately on vacant sites, open fields and even dried-up lake beds. To tackle this menace, the BBMP will soon issue a notification urging civic agencies to dump C&D waste only at the processing sites.
At present, there is one C&D processing unit at Chikkajala with a capacity of handling 1,000 tonnes a day. The BBMP has entered into an agreement with the company that has set up the Chikkajala unit to set up another one at Kannur.
According to BBMP Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) D. Randeep, the unit at Kannur will be set up on a public-private partnership basis. “While the BBMP will give the land, the plant will be set up entirely by the company. The unit, with a capacity to process 750 tonnes of C&D waste a day, will be commissioned in six to nine months,” he said.
The BBMP, he added, was looking at the Delhi model, where recoverables are included in the projects taken up by government agencies and departments. “That way, a market is also generated for the processor,” he said.
Recently, BBMP Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar and senior civic officials visited a C&D plant in Delhi to study the model adopted there. An official who accompanied the Commissioner told The Hindu that there were eight sites where small generators could dump C&D waste. “From these sites, the processing plants pick up the waste at their own cost. Bulk generators, however, are to dump C&D waste at the processing plants directly,” the official said, adding that after processing the waste, non-structural items such as tiles and blocks are manufactured at the plants. “These items have been included in the schedule of rates. It is also mandated that government agencies and departments should use at least 20% of these items in their constructions.”
