The Karnataka High Court on Thursday made it mandatory for residents of Bengaluru to segregate waste at source.
Passing an interim order, the HC said that both citizens and bulk generators, including educational institutions, government and semi-government offices, places of religious worship and commercial establishments, should adopt the two bins-and-one-bag method for segregation of waste at source, TheTimes of India reported.
This method includes a green bin for biodegradable or wet waste (kitchen waste), a red bin for non-biodegradable or domestic hazardous waste (sanitary waste) and a bag for dry waste (bottles, paper items), states the report.
A special division bench comprising Justices N Kumar and B V Nagarathna said that citizens "shall not throw the waste generated by him either on streets, open space or drains".
The court also directed the BBMP to penalise, those who violate the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2015, under Section 431A of the KMC Act (Penalties for failure to comply with the Solid Waste Management Scheme).
Section 431A of the Act states,
(1) It shall be the duty of every owner or occupier generating of solid waste to comply with any notification issued by the State Government, Bye-laws framed by the Corporation, Order, Circular or Public notice issued by the Commissioner or other authority regarding the manner of ensuring cleanliness, sanitation, handling, Transport, processing and disposal of Solid Wastes.
(2) Whoever commits any act of commission or omission which is likely to obstruct, impair or fails to comply with the provisions of sub-section (1) or the Solid Waste Management Scheme for the time being in force or commits any offence specified in column (2) of Schedule XIII shall on conviction be punished with fine as specified column (3) of the schedule XIII and on continued offence with fine as specified in column (4) thereof or which may extend to rupees one thousand.
The court also asked the BBMP to spread awareness and educate citizens about segregation of waste at source.
The TOI report further states, "The bench also directed the Palike to ensure that vehicles used to transport waste are appropriately cov ered, so that no garbage spills out. “No waste shall be visible on the streets,“ the bench observed, asking authorities to ensure there's no mixing of waste during collection, transportation or disposal stage. The Karnataka high court noted that the BBMP alone cannot handle the issue on its own; cooperation of citizens, corporators and pourakarmikas is needed. Corporation officers and local corporators will be accountable."
As per directions from the bench, persons appointed by the BBMP will collect the waste everyday at a specific time and that the waste should then be directly transported to the respective waste processing units, Deccan Herald reported.
The DH report adds, "The bench ordered that the authority should ensure that after segregation of solid waste collected from the doorstep, under no circumstances should they be mixed and transported and that the segregated waste shall be transported only in the segregated form to the processing facility. Only in the absence of such arrangement, secondary storage can be used and it is only an exception."