Waste management is a critical challenge in India, driven by rapid urbanization, increasing waste generation, diverse waste types, limited space for processing facilities, constrained financial resources, and inadequate infrastructure. According to Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban, India generates 161,919 tonnes per day (TPD) of municipal solid waste and 80% is being processed. Inadequate waste collection, transport, treatment, and disposal have become major causes for environmental and public health concerns in the country.

Karnataka with its growing population and rapid urbanization has been facing drastic increase in per capita waste. About 11,044 TPD of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated in the state, of which 50–55% is wet/organic waste, 30–35% is dry waste, and 10–20% is construction and demolition (C&D), and inert wastes. By 2031, the MSW generation in Bengaluru alone is projected to exceed 13,000 TPD.

Current Situation: solid waste management of Bengaluru

Spanning an area of 709 sq. km, divided into 243 wards and with a population of over 10 million, Bengaluru stands as the third most populous city in India. The waste generation rate in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) area is approximately 564 grams/capita/day. The waste generated is approximately 5760 TPD which includes 64% wet waste, 28% dry waste, 3% domestic hazardous waste, and 6%
inert waste.

The city has adopted a 3-part strategy for its solid waste management system:

Strategy 1: Decentralized processing of waste by stream

Strategy 2: Bulk generators to manage their own waste

Strategy 3: Creating a ward micro plan for management and execution of SWM services.

In order to reduce the burden of unscientific handling of large volumes of MSW, the city has opted to shift from a centralized single stream collection and landfill disposal system to a decentralized multiple stream collection and scientific processing system.

Defining the Problem

The wet waste generation of Bengaluru is 3687.19 TPD. Bengaluru has seven wet waste- processing plants established with a total capacity of 1,570 TPD.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), organic waste decay is responsible for 5% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. In an effort to combat this concern, there has been a lot of impetus on decentralized management of waste through composting. Hence, there has been an increase in a demand for urban home composting kits as well as community composters like lane and temple composters.

About the Project

Bengaluru is the one of the NAMA Supported Project (NSP) cities for the implementation of the Mitigation Action Facility, formerly NAMA (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action) Facility funded Waste Solutions for a Circular Economy in India project. The objective of the project is to focus on source segregation and adopt low-carbon waste management solution.

Installation of lane composters and temple composters is one of the approaches towards zero-waste initiative for the segregated wet waste (organic waste) taken up under this project. A zero-waste approach entails maximizing diversion from landfills and reducing waste at the source. By composting the wet waste at community level, we are able to close the loop at source itself.

Case Study

Community Composters: Bengaluru

With the support of BBMP, the project has installed lane composters in BBMP owned park, common spaces in residential areas and private apartment with support of Residents Welfare Associations and volunteers. The details of the lane composters are given in Table 1.  At every location two-lane composters have been installed so that once a lane composter is filled to its maximum capacity, it is left closed for 45 days until the compost is ready to be harvested.

Overall, a total of 8900 kg of wet waste has been composted from these four localities and approximately 1500 kg of compost harvested through eight cycles, reflecting a small yet significant impact on waste management and sustainability.

The project has installed two temple composters in Bengaluru as mentioned in Table 2.

Key Recommendations

In India, waste management is still considered as the sole responsibility of the government. Citizens’ disinterest and reluctance to participate in waste management is a social problem, as much as a compliance issue. While decentralized waste management through initiatives such as community composting have multiple benefits, if systemic changes are introduced, and if there is more stringent application of waste management regulations. 

Promote source segregation through long-term behaviour change campaigns using success stories, peer-to-peer training, identifying local champions, involving public representatives and regular monitoring by sharing outcomes.

Ensure compliance with SWM Rules, 2016 by engaging BWGs for on-site wet waste processing and designating public spaces for community composting in city plans.

Train waste management staff and workers on segregation, decentralized waste rules, data monitoring, and conducting awareness campaigns and composting demonstrations.

Bibliography

Bengaluru’s SWM Information Manual Part 1 (2017) Karnataka Economic Survey 2021-22, Chapter 20

Web Resources

https://sbmurban.org/#section4

https://site.bbmp.gov.in/departmentwebsites/swm/

https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/resource-efficiency/what-we-do/cities/solid-waste-management#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20an%20estimated%2011.2,solid%20waste%20are%20collected%20worldwide #

Chandreyee Mitra is Junior Consultant, GIZ India, Mohammed Idris is Advisor – Climate Change, GIZ India, and Jai Kumar Gaurav is Senior Advisor - Climate Change, GIZ India. The views expressed in this article are authors’ personal.