While basic garbage segregation, which requires citizens to separate their waste into dry and wet before disposal, is yet to be fully implemented in the city, scientific disposal and treatment of hazardous and e-waste remain a long way off.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has given itself time till May-end to float tenders for the safe disposal of e-waste. “We expect hazardous waste to add up to 20 to 30 tonnes,” said BBMP Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) Subodh Yadav. He said ward-level officials have been told to keep track of the quantum of waste collected from each centre.
“Colour-coded bags for putting hazardous waste are provided by companies free of cost,” he said. As of now, the agencies offering their services are those who handling commercial hazardous waste from healthcare services. This third type of waste is segregated at the dry waste processing centres, and whatever is not recyclable is sent to landfills.
BBMP is looking to discontinue this practice. “We are trying to make this the third tier of segregation, something which has not been tried out in any other city so far,” Mr. Yadav said.
Citizens’ groups are pushing for more awareness campaigns on this. Nitin Sheshadri of the Koramangala Residents’ Association said, “We will have to educate residents. We can do this. But residents might not be able to accumulate enough of this sort of waste to send it separately. One or two items of medical waste might simply get mixed into the other kinds of waste.”
Waste management expert S. Ramakanth said citizens in the 11 wards in Yelahanka zone were already segregating their medical waste, which was being collected and deposited in a red bin outside the dry waste collection centre. From there it is collected by the company empanelled by BBMP.
Importance of scientific disposal
Disposal of hazardous waste by incineration leads to emission of toxic fumes comprising dioxins and furans, mercury and heavy metals, causing air pollution and health problems
Disposal in waterbodies or in municipal dumps leads to release of toxins, in turn causing degradation of soil and water quality
Without proper protection, workers might be more susceptible to neurological disorders, skin diseases, genetic defects, cancer, etc.
