Despite formal policy frameworks mandating authorised disposal of large volumes of bulk waste, enforcement remains weak across India’s tech‑hub city, leaving apartments, offices and commercial complexes reliant on unregulated collectors and undermining solid waste governance. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and its implementation arm, Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML), have flagged that sanctioned processors are largely bypassed, pushing waste into municipal compactors and landfills without any accountability.
Under India’s Solid Waste Management Rules and recent civic orders, developers and establishments generating high volumes of waste — defined as “bulk generators” — must tie up with empanelled waste processors that are authorised, traceable and capable of scientific processing. In Bengaluru’s North and East City Corporations, only one such vendor, Mukka Protein Ltd, is currently recognised, with the capacity to treat up to 1,000 tonnes a day. However, compliance has been minimal. According to BSWML officials, apartment bodies, tech parks and malls still hand waste to longstanding informal collectors rather than authorised firms, even weeks after the empanelment process was publicly notified. This compliance gap is not trivial. An estimated 700–800 tonnes of bulk waste — predominantly wet organic material — is generated daily in these zones, with roughly 60–70% remaining inadequately segregated or illegally collected. When faithless contractors dump mixed waste into Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) compactors, the material invariably reaches landfills without pre‑processing, eroding decentralised waste strategies and inflating environmental costs.
City officials highlight multiple barriers to effective policy implementation. Apartment associations have resisted change, partly due to longstanding relationships with informal operators and uncertainty about service charges. “Many say the same unauthorised operators have been collecting their waste for years and they are afraid to change,” an empanelled vendor representative said, illustrating the inertia confronting reform efforts. Political interference and enforcement fragility complicate the picture further. There are complaints that illegal collectors enjoy backing from influential figures, stymying attempts by BSWML and municipal officers to dismantle entrenched networks. Without stronger collaboration between civic agencies and empowered inspectors, these parallel systems are likely to persist. The disconnect between paper rules and on‑the‑ground practice also risks undermining broader goals of sustainable and climate‑resilient urban waste management. Urbanists note that decentralised processing hubs, digital tracking and transparent tendering systems are essential — but insufficient when user compliance and civic enforcement lag. Lessons from integrated waste platforms being contemplated in other Indian cities show that technology plus accountability is essential for cleaner, healthier cities.
For residents and real estate stakeholders, the stakes are practical and economic: poorly managed waste degrades neighbourhoods, deters investment in urban precincts and transfers environmental costs onto landfills and vulnerable communities. As authorities prepare to expand authorised processors to West, Central and South corporation areas, strengthening enforcement, clarifying penalties and building public confidence in legal collection pathways will be critical to closing the gap between policy design and delivery.
