Citizens Refuse to See India's Garden City Reduced to Waste

A truck dumps solid waste at Okhla Landfill in New Delhi, India. Photo by Anil kumar Shakya. Copyright Demotix (5/6/2014)

A truck dumps solid waste at Okhla Landfill in New Delhi, India. Photo by Anil kumar Shakya. Copyright Demotix (5/6/2014)

The Garden City of India, Bangalore, is experiencing a trash management crisis vivid enough to warrant a “Trash Trail” tour of the city. The city generates about 4000 tons of waste per day, all of which is landfill bound, since most of the waste sent to garbage processing centers is unsegregated

The BBMP (Bangalore's municipal corporation) has dealt with the problem by transporting and dumping waste outside the city. However, villages near the landfills suffer when waste is deposited, with water, air and soil quality compromised by toxins in the trash. The problem reached a head last year with Mandur, a once verdant village blocking trucks carrying trash and demanding closure of a nearby dump.

Screenshot from the 2bin1bag Facebook page

Screenshot from the 2bin1bag Facebook page

One solution to the problem is to segregate waste at source so that appropriate portions may be transported for composting, recycling and landfill. To this end, a citizens advocacy group has started a an initiative called 2Bin1Bag, where households are educated on waste segregation at source.

As per Bellandur Buzz:

All it requires is two different colored bins- a red one for reject waste and a green one for compostable waste, and reusable plastic bag for recyclable waste.

A short video explains the concept:

A group of students in collaboration with Fields of View, a game design company, created a board game to discuss and understand the intricacies of waste management.

The waste management problem in Bangalore is large and hairy, but with citizens acting to deal with the problem, it may be solved before long.

Start the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.