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Issue No. 5

January 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome to a New Year and the first edition of CLEAN SHEET in 2011!

Thanks to your support, the SWMRT ended 2010 on a high note with greater momentum than ever before. Our Facebook page alone has grown to more than 3,400 'fans'.

Our members are constantly being asked to speak on the topic of waste management at seminars, answer media inquiries, meet with government officials, and, of course, help Bangaloreans manage their waste!

The SWMRT really is becoming the voiceof authority on all things 'waste management' in the city, and the State.

Let's all make it our New Year's Resolution to continue to play our part in the cleaning of Bangalore by practicing the 3 R's - reduce, reuse, recycle - and segregation at source. And commit to spreading the word to our family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors, about how simple and effective these methods are.

Here's to all of us having a great year in 2011 and to a cleaner, greener, Bengaluru!

Waste Manager of the Month

This month we feature Vani Murthy who as a member of YIMBY - Yes In My Back Yard - and active composting advocate wins herself the title of Waste Manager of the Month!

Vani became involved with solid waste management in Bangalore in September 2008 when she campaigned with kids from her building to convert it into a zero waste building. By making it a fun and entertaining activity, the message about segregation at source spread and soon they were converting other buildings on their street and schools in the area. Vani's real passion is composting and her 'black gold' is the best compost in Bangalore, made possible with three sets of Daily Dump composters and a healthy supply of earth worms! When asked about her wish for Bangalore in 2011, Vani said: "SWMRT has started a movement and my only wish is that it spreads like wild fire! Every Bangalorian should feel proud that he has done his bit to save this world from being trashed and leave it a better place for our kids." Vani is a shining example of how one person can make all the difference by taking responsibility for managing their own waste - and spreading the word among fellow citizens how simple and doable this is.

If you have a nominee, please email editorcleansheet@me.com with their name, role, and why they deserve the title, in 100 words or less. We will select just one winner each month who will receive a t-shirt for their efforts and a write up in CLEAN SHEET to share with their friends and family. So what are you waiting for? Send us a mail today!

Month at a Glance

So, just what has the Solid Waste Management Roundtable Bengaluru been doing this month?

Platinum City Hits the Headlines

Congratulations to the Platinum City Clean Up team who featured in the Bangalore Mirror this month not only for their commitment to cleaning up the complex, but for earning around Rs.40,000 in the past few months for the benefit of their housekeeping staff. Inspired by the SWMRT, they make nearly Rs.9,000 per month since teaming up with ITC and their local scrap dealer to sell their waste after it's been segregated at source. Platinum job, Platinum City!

And kudos to Geetanjali Sridharan of Cox Town, who, like our Waste Manager of the Month, is an avid composter and advocate of waste management. In the last five months, she has converted close to 200 homes and institutions in her area to segregation of waste at source. She has also inspired residents of 65 homes to compost. Geetanjali's efforts were rewarded by being featured in the Bangalore Mirror as well!

SWMRT on the Road

Members of the SWMRT have been all over the city this month in a series of visits designed to learn more about waste management in Bangalore and spread the word of segregation at source.

Dr. Meenakshi Bharath and team visited Terra Firma, the composting and recycling unit at Dobespet, Doddabellapur, where eight tons of daily waste comes from Bangalore International Airport for recycling. They saw of garbage being converted into manure and then filled into bags for sale. More than 60 percent of the mixed waste that arrives at the site is converted into manure and sold onto local farmers, while thin plastic waste is washed, recycled, and made into pellets to be added to the bitumen for road surfaces. Dr. Meenakshi shared a key learning from the visit: "While an amazing job is done at Terra Firma, lots of man hours and fuel are wasted transporting the garbage so far and then dealt with. If segregation-separation of waste can happen at the primary level it will ensure that the maximum amount of waste can be recycled with the minimum of effort and expense."

Waste Manager of the Month, Vani Murthy, pictured at the Mavillipura Landfill Site.

Yelankha New Town Visit

Pinky Chandran and SWMRT members headed off to the Solid Waste Processing Unit at Yelankha which was set up around 15 months ago and handles two or three tons of waste per day from the new town. It was started as a pilot project by City Clean Services Pvt Ltd and the BBMP to study the feasibility of a zero waste/segregation centre. Of the two-three tons of waste arriving each day, there is about 700kg of organic waste from which they recover about 200-250kg of final compost. By using the aerobic decomposition method, the waste is aerated in crates for 15 days, then dried for 30 days outside before sieving. Aside from compost, there is a Plastic Pellet Unit where about 100kg of pellets are made per week. Plastic bags are also segregated into three categories and converted into items such as agricultural pipes, pellets which are made into plastic buckets, and plastic for small gift articles. Look out, you may be receiving your own garbage back in the form of a gift!

Members of the SWMRT also made a trip to a landfill site at Mavallipura, a village about 20 kms north of Bangalore where 600 tons of garbage are delivered per day. The site began in 2003 when a local landowner H. Bailappa agreed to lease his land to the erstwhile Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (now known as BBMP) to dump solid waste from the city on his farmland. Vani Murthy commented: "The leasing out of land becomes an easy money-spinner for certain land-owners and the dumping goes on unmindful of the shameless abuse of natural resources and inevitable impacts on the health of local communities. Leachate streams running directly into the aquatic environment have both an acute and chronic impact on the environment which may be very severe and can severely diminish bio-diversity and greatly reduce populations of sensitive species." Let's hope we see less of this in 2011.

STOP PRESS

Congratulations to SWMRT Members Radio Active who won the Manthan Award South Asia 2010 for Community Broadcasting!

Radio Active reaches out to Bangalore’s masses on issues concerning health, environment, development, scientific awareness, women, social issues etc, in turn seeking to inform, educate, while entertaining the public. Well done guys!