Infra dig? Bengaluru's elite in posh flats aren't separating waste

BENGALURU: A new five-storeyed apartment complex on the fringes of Indiranagar with over 25 houses is state-of-the-art, complete with chim neys and power backup. But behind its parking lot is a large container reeking of unsegregated garbage.

It is an accepted fact that BBMP's garbage collection vehicles do not come to the buildings here. The standard procedure is to pay the road sweepers to clear the garbage when ever it gets out of hand. To these residents, the rule to segregate waste makes no difference.

Residents in a gated community in he posh lanes of Victoria Layout segregate their waste but there is no standard colour coding or identification. Everything is dumped into a single large bin at the gate. Their segregation ends there.

Even though waste segregation is compulsory, a good number of residents, even in Bengaluru's richest localities, are still not completely in the know of the city's garbage plans.

"It is definitely happening with more rigour but the implementation has to speed up and has to be visible.Unless people can see the change happening, they won't change their ways," says Dr Meenakshi Bharath, a member of the Solid Waste Management Round Table. By not segregating our garbage, we are putting everybody at risk, she says. Rodents proliferate in them, dengue and other insect-borne diseases increase. If we continue to be irresponsible with our garbage, "we might reach a tipping point when there is an outbreak of plague," she cautions.

Pourakarmikas, the people who are left to deal with garbage, are at a greater risk.

In her 21 years as a pourakarmika, Ponamma, who now cleans up 13th cross in Indiranagar has had to deal with a variety of harmful garbage stuffed inside knotted plastic covers and dumped on the street. "I open these bags to pick up paper and plas tic. Maybe because of it, I often get a fever," she says.

Starting with backaches caused by prolonged bending to pick and separate garbage, pourakarmikas are open to several health risks. The most common among them being injuries caused by broken glass and metal pieces. Add infectious substances such as medical or sanitary waste and they are at the risk of contracting dangerous diseases.

Not segregating at source also reduces the amount of recoverable dry waste. "Clean wet waste and clean dry waste can be great resources.Only because we are mixing it up, our garbage becomes unusable and toxic," says Dr Bharath.