A new solid waste management learning centre has opened in Bengaluru’s Koramangala, combining public training with waste-processing facilities including a 13-tonne wet waste biomethanation plant, a 25-tonne mini transfer station and textile and thermocol recycling units.
The centre was inaugurated on Monday by Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Ramalinga Reddy. It will provide practical training in scientific waste segregation and disposal to school and college students, apartment residents, commercial establishments and pourakarmikas, according to the Bengaluru South City Corporation (BSCC).
The initiative is being implemented with support from RV Educational Institutions, BSCC Commissioner KN Ramesh said. The centre is intended to promote the treatment of municipal waste as a resource rather than as material destined only for disposal.
The biomethanation plant will process wet waste and generate biogas, which is to be supplied as fuel to nearby hotels. The facility is among the centre’s principal operating components and is designed to demonstrate how segregated organic waste can be processed for productive use.
A 25-tonne mini transfer station has also been made operational at the site. Transfer stations are used to consolidate waste before it is moved onward for processing or disposal. The BSCC said the centre would also host recycling activities for several categories of discarded material.
A textile recycling unit will process fabric scraps from garment factories and tailoring shops into bags, mats and bedsheets. The corporation said the activity would generate local employment. Thermocol waste will be compressed into blocks and sent to Delhi, where it will be converted into products such as photo frames, earrings and decorative items.
Work is also underway to convert discarded mattresses into reusable fibre, according to the BSCC. The range of activities at the centre covers wet waste, packaging-related material, textiles, thermocol and bulky household discards.
The corporation has also begun collecting bulk waste from the BTM Layout assembly constituency. Residents can inform their local residents’ welfare association groups when they need to dispose of furniture such as sofas, cots and tables. Non-governmental organisations, including Saahas, will collect the material from doorsteps and transport it to the Kasa Rasa centre for recycling, Ramesh said.
The centre’s programme therefore links public education with processing capacity and doorstep collection. Its training component is aimed at improving segregation practices among residents, institutions and businesses, while the processing units are intended to recover value from specific waste streams.
The BSCC said the Koramangala centre would work with educational institutions, apartment communities, commercial establishments and sanitation workers. The next phase of the initiative will involve operating the announced facilities and expanding collection and recycling activity across the areas covered by the corporation.
