There is some confusion over BBMP's rule of 10 kilos or 50 units rule. Some apartment owners in Somasundrapalya are saying that they are using a commercial service provider even though they are less than 20 units. BBMP sources in HSR Ward say that such cases are happening in the neighbouring 190 ward of MG Palya.
Resident activist Kavitha Reddy believes that this idea of having separate vendors for commercial and domestic users by the BBMP is a money-making racket to inflate costs of waste collection. "It's a totally stupid idea. My point is if two vehicles are coming on the same road, one to collect from houses and another to collect from apartments, it sounds silly."
"We have to wait and see the final proposal," says resident S Sankar. "Earlier, it was considered as 50 units and above. But again at ward wise, 20 units and above is given to an exclusive vendor by the corporator. I am not sure if this will be continued or do we have to opt for approved vendors from BBMP. If that’s the case, the apartment owners might have to pay more."
"In HSR, apartments that are close to 40 or above units are categorised as commercial if the garbage generated is above 10 kilos every day," said HSR health inspector Vinodh GM. "This is only where the entire building is owned by one person as the garbage generated will be considered bulk. However, we do take garbage from flats independently owned by people."
Apartments like 60-flat Aakruthi Silverline in Sector 2 are giving the waste to Hasiru Dala as they are categorised as bulk generators. Many more surrounding apartments like Mahaveer, Manar, and DSR Rainbow are also handing their waste to commercial garbage vendors, and have had no problems with them.
However, there is still some issue with the neighbouring Ward 190. "In apartments, no daily collection happens anyway. The wet waste and reject waste collection is only once in 2-3 days and dry waste is once a week," says Sankar. "Sometimes, all goes together in the same vehicle. This is the state for the last one year. Much discussion was done and supervisor Vasu said that it’s corporator's decision to have different vendors for 20 units and above. Either go with that or go with BBMP-approved vendor which is expensive. This is the state in many of the wards, and there is nothing new."
BBMP officials say that if certain apartments are being categorised as commercial, it could also be because the segregation has not happened. "Commercial vendors take non-segregated waste and apartments find them more convenient," said a BBMP official.
BIOGAS AND FERTILISERS
Is the commercial vendor sending the waste to Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC)? No, they send it to Carbon Masters, a city-based waste to energy startup in Doddaballapur & Malur. The Malur plant was shutdown due to some political interference, but it should re-open soon, according to our sources. "We send 5 tonnes of garbage every day from Ward 174 to the Doddaballapur unit," says Vinodh.
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