The legacy waste at multiple landfills in Bengaluru seems to have finally found a way out. Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd. (BSWML) is in the final stages of calling tenders for bio-mining and bio-capping of four landfills in the city, which have over 50 lakh tonnes of legacy waste.
This comes after a proposal was made in the State Budget earmarking ₹1,250 crore for effective disposal of legacy waste in the city, liquid waste management, and to control the flow of pollutants into lakes in the city. The Budget committed to clearing all legacy waste in the city over the next five years and reclaim 256 acres of land.
Get the top news developments from Karnataka right in your inbox. Subscribe to our Karnataka Today newsletter here
The State-Level Advisory Committee of the Department of Municipal Administration (DMA) has cleared the decks for the project and tenders will be called as soon as the government approves the proposals, sources said.
The BSWML has decided to take up bio-mining of legacy waste in Mandur where the dumping of waste stopped in 2013 and Mavallipura, where the dumping of waste stopped in 2012. While work on phase - 1 of Mandur landfill bio-mining has already begun, tenders will be called for bio-mining at Mandur phase - 2 and at other landfills. “There are two parcels of land in Mandur, totalling to 135 acres where over 21 lakh tonnes of legacy waste is lying. Work on one parcel of land started a few months ago. Now the second phase will be taken up along with similar initiatives at other landfills,” a senior civic official said.
Under bio-mining, the firm that bags the contract will deploy trommel screens, separate the mixed waste, extract what is possibly recyclable, convert wet waste into compost, and send refuse-derived fuel to the waste-to-energy plant coming up in Bidadi. The cost of processing one tonne of waste is around ₹1,080, higher than the DMA rate of ₹780. The deadline for the contractors to bio-mine legacy waste at these landfills will be two years, sources said.
Bio-mining raises concerns
While the residents of Mandur and Mavallipura have always been demanding the clearing of legacy waste from their village land, bio-mining at these sites has raised new fears and stoked familiar old problems. Rakesh, a resident of Mandur, said ever since work on clearing the waste at the landfill began, the mosquito menace in the village had increased by leaps and bounds with no measures being taken by the civic body to control it. “We fear that there will be an outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases,” he said.
Srinivas, a resident of Mavallipura, said while clearing legacy waste at the landfill was welcome, it had to be done scientifically. “The waste has been dormant for over 10 years now. If the waste is taken out to be processed, we fear it will again lead to mosquito menace, foul odour, and other issues,” he said. “A bigger fear is that the waste processing plant that will come up to bio-mine the legacy waste will continue to function even later. We will not allow any new plant to come up here,” he said.
Bio-capping at Bingipura, Laxmipura
The civic body has decided to bio-cap quarry pits at Bingipura and Laxmipura filled with legacy waste, instead of bio-mining it. While the Central government norms prescribe bio-mining, and bio-capping only as a last resort, it has made an exception for the city as it has a unique situation where empty quarry pits are filled with waste. Extracting and bio-mining waste from a quarry pit is also not safe, sources said. These quarry pits will be bio-capped and reclaimed like the quarry pit in Bagalur.
