The accumulation of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) that recently gutted the facilities at Chikkanagamangala and MSGP plants have in effect crippled five of the six new waste processing facilities that were set up in 2015.
The processing plants have amassed massive piles of of RDF (over 20,000 tonnes) and compost (9,000 tonnes), byproducts of the composting process, leaving very little space for processing of more waste. “We have now decided to bury the RDF in a quarry on the city’s outskirts after attempts to transport it to cement factories failed repeatedly. However, the plants cannot be fully operational before RDF is taken away. It will be done in two weeks,” said BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad.
The Chikkanagamangala plant near Kudlu is yet to be fully functional after it was gutted in a fire in November 2016. The once successful Doddabidarakallu plant — one of the few plants that did not face local protests — is brimming with RDF and compost, and operations were stopped a few days ago. Kannenahalli (500 tonnes per day-TPD), Seegehalli (200 TPD) and Subbarayanapalya (200 TPD) plants have been not operational for at least a month owing to opposition from residents. These plants, too, have accumulated uncleared RDF and compost.
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After over a month, BBMP officials sent six trucks of waste to Seegehalli plant on Friday amidst police protection. However, it reignited protests in the area. Mohan Raj, secretary, Kannenahalli-Seegehalli Horata Samiti, said the residents had met local MP, D.K. Suresh, on Saturday and were planning to block trucks again. “The plants have failed to ensure odour and pollution control. Even the pollution control board has conceded that the plants are polluting and were in the middle of habitation. We will not allow them,” said Mr. Suresh.
The plant at Subbarayanapalya has a peculiar problem. The village had been a landfill dumping site for city waste since the late 1990s. Villagers, though willing to let the processing plant function, have laid one condition: clear the landfill site of waste backlog plaguing the area as it has become a health hazard.
BBMP officials concede that the backlog is as large as two lakh tonnes and it is impossible to translocate for want of another site. With this impasse, locals have not allowed the plant to operate.
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However, the civic body blames the protest on real estate and the fast-approaching polls. “For instance, the Kannenahalli-Seegehalli plants are near Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout, around which many private layouts are being developed. Lingadheeranahalli plant is in the midst of Banashankari VI Stage. The realty lobbies in these areas are fuelling protests,” alleged Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, Solid Waste Management.
Back to days of landfills
Three quarry landfills at Bellahalli, Bagalur and Mittaganahalli are taking the bulk of the city’s mixed waste – over 2,000 TPD. “This is a regressive step from the city’s commitment to segregation and waste processing,” said N.S. Ramakanth, member, SWM Expert Committee, BBMP.
Out of around 4,000 TPD waste that the city generates, the civic body is presently able to get 1,700 TPD of segregated wet waste, all of which is not being processed. Of this, the plant at Mavallipura and the MSGP plant at Chigarenahalli takes 500 TPD each. The KCDC plant at HSR Layout takes around 200 TPD, still leaving 500 TPD with no processing facility. “The processing at MSGP plant has not been satisfactory. It almost dumping that is happening there,” said Mr. Ramakanth.
Experts suspect that some of the segregated wet waste is probably being dumped at landfills, though BBMP officials have denied these allegations.