Sugar factory owners ask for mixed waste from city

Bengalur

Sugar factory owners ask for mixed waste from city

Bengaluru generates nearly 4,500 tonnes of garbage per day, of which more than 2,500 tonnes is unsegregated, mixed waste.

Bengaluru generates nearly 4,500 tonnes of garbage per day, of which more than 2,500 tonnes is unsegregated, mixed waste.   | Photo Credit: File Photo

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BBMP considering proposal so as to ease burden on Bellahalli quarry pit

With the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) setting itself an ambitious target of achieving 100% waste segregation by the end of the year, there is a proposal that may help the civic body ease the burden on quarry pits.

Many sugar factory owners have proposed to use mixed waste generated in the city as fuel for their incinerators. It is said that the sugar factory owners, many of whom are politicians, made the proposal before the Legislature Committee on Public Undertakings.

The civic body is now considering the proposal, which will be discussed by the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) State-level Monitoring Committee and the Karnataka State Pollution Board (KSPCB).

BBMP officials said the city generates nearly 4,500 tonnes of garbage per day, of which more than 2,500 tonnes is unsegregated, mixed waste. The entire quantum of mixed waste is presently being dumped in the quarry pit at Bellahalli on the outskirts of the city.

Such proposals exploring new destinations for city’s waste is not new. Earlier, the BBMP had proposed to send refuse-derived fuel to cement factories to be used as fuel. However, the cement factories were apprehensive of taking up the proposal, given the high cost of transporting the waste from the city.

But BBMP officials said as per the proposal made by the owners of sugar factories, which are mostly in the north Karnataka districts, the transportation cost would be borne by them. “The mixed waste will be leaving the city at no cost to the BBMP. This will definitely ease burden on the landfill and quarry pits,” an official said.

They also said factory owners had claimed to be using state-of-the-art technology to remove moisture from the mixed waste. This would help improve the calorific value of the waste. “They have claimed that by removing moisture, the calorific value of the mixed waste will go up to around 3,000 to 4,000 kcal. This is optimum calorific value for use in incinerators,” they said.

The NGT State-level Monitoring Committee headed by Subhash B. Adi and KSPCB officials are expected to meet with the sugar factory owners soon.

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