Spanning an area of 709 sq. km, divided into 198 wards and with a population of over 10 million, Bengaluru is the third most populous city in India. It has seen rapid urbanisation with its population doubling in a span of just 20 years. Though the city grew to embrace a successful and thriving IT economy, it led to urban chaos, pushing the waste system close to its breaking point. The new waste management approach of the city has been focused on setting forth a plan that builds towards a 3R economy.
143 Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs) were built by BBMP in 2012, to facilitate the streamlining of the dry waste management system in the city. They are an integral part of the city’s strategy to decentralize solid waste management and processing. These centres were set up for manual sorting on the floor, and the largest ones can handle ~1 Tons of dry waste per day.
In 2016-2017 when we started our work in India, one of our first projects was upgrading one of these DWCC as a pilot. We implemented equipment for sorting and compacting materials, a more efficient site layout including a storage platform, new processes focused on more efficiency and Quality, Health and Safety, and a KPI dashboard to monitor operations. This enables the centre to handle up to 3x more waste. Based on this model, we won a contract with BBMP to upgrade 10 more centres, of which we have now finished 6increasing handling capacity from 1500 tonnes/year to 5200 tonnes/year and the remainder to be finished soon.
We deliver them a turn-key solution, from design to installing the equipment and supporting the construction works, until training the workers to operate these centres. It has been a great pleasure to work with one of the most forward-looking municipal organisations in India.
Stay tuned for more interesting updates soon!