Bengaluru: Members of the legislative sub-committee on local bodies and panchayati raj institutions, who Wednesday inspected secondary waste transfer stations operated by Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML), said they would suggest to govt that all such facilities be equipped with automated waste segregation (AWS) systems.The committee, headed by Srirangapatna MLA Ramesha Bandisiddegowda and comprising Basavanagudi legislator Ravi Subramanya and MLC PH Pujar, was given a demonstration of the working of the secondary transfer stations, where domestic waste collected by auto-tippers is transferred to trucks in a semi-automated setup.The transfer stations are intended to replace roadside waste transfer points, where garbage is currently shifted from auto-tippers to larger vehicles, often blocking footpaths and forcing pedestrians onto carriageways. The new facilities are expected to prevent waste from being transferred on roadsides and in open spaces near lakes and stormwater drains.The committee first inspected the new station at Vasanth Nagar in Shivajinagar assembly constituency, which is currently on a trial run. It then inspected an operational station next to Kacharakanahalli Lake in Sarvagnanagar assembly constituency. The latter is equipped with an AWS facility that segregates wet and dry waste using density, magnetic and pneumatic (air-pressure) methods.“While we have inspected the transfer stations, we will also have to look at other aspects like stormwater drain pollution from domestic waste as well as how this waste gets processed at the endpoint once transported from here,” Subramanya said and added that the committee would examine these aspects and submit its report to the govt.The committee is currently reviewing the urban development department’s action on the recommendations of its 38th report, tabled in both Houses of the state legislature in 2023. The report was based on CAG’s 2018 performance audit of solid waste management in urban local bodies.Following the inspection, committee members said they would suggest to the govt that all transfer stations be equipped with AWS systems to ensure uniformity in waste management across the city.However, a BSWML staffer, on condition of anonymity, said the AWS system was not cost-effective and had therefore been excluded from newer transfer stations, including the one in Vasanth Nagar. “The AWS system costs an additional Rs 10 crore and needs several personnel to manage. We tried it here and found that the setup was not worth the high cost,” he said, adding that segregation at source was the only effective way to prevent waste from getting mixed.TOI had recently reported that the upcoming stations would not have AWS systems, with officials citing budget constraints and the technology’s limited processing capacity. Each new transfer station is expected to cost around Rs 11-14 crore. The city is expected to have a total of 30 such transfer stations in a year.
