Bengaluru garbage mess: MLA seeks waiver of ‘SWM Cess’

Bengaluru, Oct 3: Bengaluru MLA from Malleshwaram constituency Ashwath Narayan CN on Tuesday urged the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to waive the Solid Waste Management Cess imposed on households which compost organic waste on their own.

The Malleshwaram MLA started a Change.org petition and said that removing the cess will encourage sustainable measures like in-situ composting and recycling, thus bringing down the burden on the BBMP.

The petition is addressed to Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Bengaluru Development Minister and Deputy CM G Parameshwara and BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad.

"It is increasingly getting difficult to find a solution to the city's growing waste. If the BBMP and Govt of Karnataka waives off the 'SWM Cess' for individual households and apartments, who manage and compost their 'Wet Waste' in-situ, it would incentivise more households and apartments to start composting in their own homes and premises. This will greatly reduce the quantum of waste the city has to manage daily and the financial burden of waste management (sic)," he argued.

"The BBMP must facilitate buyback of the compost generated at homes and apartments at subsidized rates and set up a proper channel for collecting and distributing it to the farming community. This will further encourage households and apartments to start composting in their own homes and premises," he said.

He also urged the government of Karnataka and the BBMP to help communities make composting a self-sustaining activity.

Garbage is a paradox in Bengaluru. The Karnataka High Court had asked the BBMP to create ward-level micro plans to ensure management of garbage since neither processing plants nor landfills have turned out to be a viable solution for waste management but the ward committees have made very little progress in establishing local composting plants.

Only 16 wards have identified a site for establishing a local plant while establishing them is still a long way away.