After cleaning up nearly 200 garbage black spots across the city and beautifying them with rangolis, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is shifting its focus to secondary pick-up points. These points are often perceived to be black spots, as it is here that collected waste is dumped so that it can be picked up by compactors. Unsegregated waste is often segregated by the pourakarmikas at the spot, which leaves the area dirty.
The civic body has identified nearly 150 such spots across the city, and will spruce them up under the ‘Clean 150 Challenge’.
According to D. Randeep, Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management), BBMP, the civic body has been able to successfully monitor 200 black spots. “We now want to focus on the secondary pick-up points. We want to convert them in such a way that once the compactor moves from the spot, there will be no trace of garbage having been there at all,” he said.
To achieve this, the civic body is working towards reviving the ‘No Garbage On Ground’ and ‘Leave No Trace’ concepts. Waste management experts had proposed these concepts many years ago. However, the civic body was not able to implement the same on the ground due to various reasons.
“Now, with improved segregation levels and greater awareness among citizens, we hope to implement this, apart from developing standard operating procedures,” said Mr. Randeep.
Explaining the need for this second round of cleanup, he said after the door-to-door collection of garbage, the pourakarmikas dump it at the secondary pick-up points to be picked up by compactors. “As waste is dumped there, the place stinks and leachate is left behind. Even after the compactors leave the spot, citizens often dump the waste there, and the place transforms into a black spot,” he said.