Two years ago, at the height of one of the city’s many garbage crises, a group of Bellandur residents decided it was time that the practice of waste segregation, that their own apartments followed, was scaled up to other complexes in the ward.
“All we had to do was separate kitchen waste from dry waste and biomedical waste, and yet no one was doing it,” said Lalitha Modreti, a member of Kasa Mukhta Bellandur (garbage free Bellandur). After a survey of the ward, the group realised that in order for waste segregation to become a daily habit, it has to be made simple.
An inexpensive segregation kit – comprising colour coded bins – the group figured, might just be the solution for these “bulk generators”.
Today, as many as 10,000 families from 70 apartment complexes in Bellandur ward have begun segregating their waste, armed with two bins and a bag each, courtesy Kasa Mukhta Bellandur.
The wet waste is sent to Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) where it is turned into manure; the dry waste is collected by an NGO that works with waste collectors, and “only five per cent of our garbage (i.e. biomedical waste) goes to the landfill,” Ms. Modreti says.
Together, these residents save Bangalore's over-stretched landfills 10 tonnes of garbage a day. “It isn't rocket science. But you need the means — and yes, some determination,” she says.
‘Venezian’ way
At the other end of the city, in Yelahanka, the sprawling 1,332-flat Purvankara Venezia is equally serious about segregation. Every new ‘Venezian’ is handed an instruction video that spells out where the last match stick goes.
In the lobby of each block is a collection point for e-waste. And the apartment’s organic waste converter (OWC) is amply fed — 850 kg of wet waste a day. It produces enough manure for their in-house landscaping and a small surplus that is sold, says resident Padma Patil. “We can’t see it as a feat. We just stick to the rules.”
“Apartments are bulk generators. They have to realise that they really do not have a choice but to get systems in place. Bangalore’s landfill will soon not be able take the 4,000 tonnes of garbage we all generate a day," says Ms. Modreti.
