It plans to build three large modern secondary transfer stations to process the city’s waste.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is planning to upgrade the secondary transfer of waste by introducing new technology in the process. Waste from auto-tippers will now be compacted using machinery and then sent to landfills. Currently, a large part of this process is manual.
BBMP has issued tenders to construct three big secondary waste transfer stations in three locations in the city: BTM Layout, Mahadevapura and Chickpet. The total cost of the project will be around Rs.35 crores and is estimated to be completed by the end of December, 2022.
Dr Harish Kumar, Special Commissioner in Solid Waste Management (SWM) said that the new plants will be around one acre large. Technology will be brought in for “regular monitoring of auto tippers with Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) card and CCTV cameras,” he said. The facilities will include weigh bridges, deodorising of waste, leacheate tank, and automated transfer machines. The waste will be stored in 14 big containers of 20 tonne-capacity each. Proper parking spaces will be created for auto tippers and compactors. This will ensure minimal human contact.
BBMP follows the three tier system to transfer the waste. First, they collect waste from households with the help of auto tippers, who then, transfer the waste to compactors- a process known as the secondary transfer of waste, and at last, compactors dump the waste in landfills.
Mr. Madhu, a BBMP engineer said, “This technique violates the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2016, which say that there should be least manual and no multiple handling of garbage to ensure the security of workers.” He added, “because of this, big garbage black spots take place in many areas and people complain about smell.” He said that because of the lack of a dedicated Global Positioning System (GPS), a lot of corruption happens in the first transfer system.
The drivers of the auto tippers are unhappy with this proposal. The technique of secondary transfer of waste will allow BBMP to pay each auto tipper on a daily basis for the garbage they collect. Pradeep, owner of an auto tipper said, “This will decrease our income as our areas are decided and we will not get the same amount of garbage every day.”
Mr. Vinod Reddy, a solid waste contractor said, Cities like Indore, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Surat have been using the technique of secondary transfer station for a long time and have been very successful. We are going to follow the same technique.
BBMP officials said that this would improve the waste collection in the city. Dr Harish Kumar said, “The concept of secondary transfer station is very important and new. It is going to be beneficial for the city as it will increase the accountability, transparency and efficiency in collection of waste.”
This order came after Justice Subash B. Adi, Chairman of State Level Committee visited Indore, Madhya Pradesh to assess the efficiency of secondary solid waste management technique.
A BBMP official said that the tender of the project has been given to two different companies: Parishuddh Venture and Sadhana Enviro Agency.
