LIFE WITHOUT LANDFILLS Almitra H Patel Member, Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste Management in Class 1 Cities in India almitrapatel@rediffmail.com www.almitrapatel.com

BANGALORE HAS TWO CHOICES FOR WASTE MGT Immediately start cleanup of Mandur and Mavalipura & Unload all new waste in windrows to STABILISE it, or Manage all waste within the city as no new village will allow it and KSPCB won’t allow fresh open dumping at a new site. So Blr must SHOW it can manage its existing sites properly.

REDUCING BLR WASTE IS A FIRST STEP FOR BOTH OPTIONS 3500 tons/day mixed waste will reduce to 2800 t if dry waste is collected Wardwise. 2800 tpd reduces to 1960 tpd wet if bulk generators manage their own waste Blr must follow its 2 good notifications at once: Weekly collection of clean Dry Waste (and Daily for Wet waste) + Decentralised mgt by bulk waste generators

NO NEW ‘LANDFILLS’ ARE NEEDED 1960 tpd wet waste can be easily handled by existing area This will need only 16-20 hectares as GoI norms are 4 ha land for 500 tpd composting. Why should BBMP acquire a few hundred more acres, far from city? Why ‘police protection’? To open dump again? New villages will & must object, as leachate from open dumps pollutes village ground-water, + flies, smell, pests, smoke.

BBMP’S CRISIS IS TOTALLY SELF-INFLICTED Caused by open dumping of mixed waste, violating MSW Rules & Env Protection Act. Compost plants awarded to private parties are not monitored by BBMP. BBMP already has enough land for proper composting of waste for next decades: Even 3500tpd needs only 28 hectares (70 acres)

CORRUPTION IS AT THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM BBMP pays private parties (and someone shares?) ‘Tipping Fees’ to open-dump waste transported by BBMP to BBMP’s own land given on long lease at trivial cost. (Tipping fees abroad are compensation for massive capital investment in private lands) Buffer zones were suddenly reduced to allow development close to the waste-sites.

DO NOT CLOSE EXISTING SITES ! This proposal only rewards land speculators who want dumps to be dirty so as to buy cheap plots and then demand closure to raise land values . That is why MSW Rules require a Buffer Zone of NO NEW DEVELOPMENT. Restore Buffer Zone, freeze all work in it ! Compensate farmers within Buffer Zones. Make host villages partners with private parties in waste mgt and site cleanup.

IMMEDIATE URGENT CLEANUP OF EXISTING SITES IS A MUST ! Technologies are available . Work should start from many points at once, allotted in multiple packages, giving pref-erence to local youth & wastepicker SHGs. Leachate treatment : allot each pond to a different agency and compare results. Further works can be given to the best performer, not just to lowest bidder.

MSW RULES REQUIRE CITIES TO MINIMISE WASTE TO LANDFILL Just begin now! Don’t await perfection. ‘Wet’ food wastes free of plastics can go to farmers @ 20 tons per farmer or acre. Collect Dry Recyclables weekly in separate trip: 15% less waste by wt, 30% less volume. Specify Plastic Roads in BBMP contracts. Only 10% of collection will need landfill !