Bengaluru South City Corporation pilots evening waste collection in five wards

The Bengaluru South City Corporation has introduced evening waste collection on a pilot basis in five wards to address roadside garbage blackspots and make it easier for residents to hand over their waste, Commissioner K.N. Ramesh said on Wednesday. Under the pilot, vehicles collecting wet and dry waste will operate from 5 p.m. to midnight. The initiative covers four wards in the Bommanahalli Assembly constituency and Hongasandra ward.

Mr. Ramesh inspected the evening collection system and said the initiative was aimed at helping residents who are unable to hand over waste to collection vehicles during morning hours because of work and other commitments.

While 160 waste collection vehicles operate in the mornings across the five wards, 20 to 25 autos have been deployed for evening collection. In Hongasandra alone, six vehicles, three each for wet and dry waste, operate in the evening, while 31 autos are deployed in the morning, he said.

Long-standing demand

The pilot initiative may come as a relief to hundreds of residents, as evening waste collection, or twice-a-day collection, has long been a demand across the city.

Residents’ Welfare Associations in south Bengaluru have repeatedly flagged the increase in garbage blackspots in the area. Initially, many argued that households that had previously handed over unsegregated waste to collection vehicles were resorting to littering after Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML), under the new solid waste management rules, directed collection vehicles not to accept unsegregated waste.

The issue was flagged in localities such as Adugodi, S.G. Palya and along Siddapura Road, where new blackspots were reported recently.

Many residents had also taken to social media, highlighting the need for waste collection during evening hours while pointing to the emergence of garbage blackspots. Similar requests had been made repeatedly to Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who had rejected the idea, arguing that accommodating residents’ convenience would effectively require civic authorities to collect garbage throughout the day. He had also said it was not feasible to ask sanitation workers to collect garbage twice a day or appoint additional workers for the purpose.