A legislative committee reviewing Bengaluru waste management found mixed garbage and banned single-use plastic at two newly constructed transfer stations during an inspection on Wednesday, while directing officials to protect a stormwater drain adjoining one of the facilities.
Bengaluru | September 3, 2026
Three members of the legislature committee on local bodies and panchayat raj inspected garbage transfer stations in Sarvagnanagar and Shivajinagar to assess their functioning and review the city’s waste management system. They were accompanied by senior officials of Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML), including its chief executive officer Karee Gowda.
The committee members found that much of the waste arriving at both transfer stations was mixed instead of being separated at source. They also observed single-use plastic in the incoming waste, despite the material having been banned several years ago, according to the report of the inspection.
Basavanagudi MLA Ravi Subramanya, Srirangpatna MLA A B Ramesha Bandisiddegowda and MLC P H Pujar took part in the inspection. Subramanya said the committee had instructed BSWML to increase public awareness about source segregation, under which waste is separated before collection and transport.
“We found single-use plastic, even though it was banned several years ago. The waste finally ends up in landfills and will never be decomposed. We asked officials to crack down not on shops, but on places where it is manufactured,” Subramanya told Deccan Herald.
At the Shivajinagar transfer station, the committee instructed BSWML officials to fence the adjoining rajakaluve, or stormwater drain, to prevent garbage from falling into it. The direction links the operation of the waste facility with the protection of nearby urban drainage infrastructure.
The committee expressed satisfaction with the Sarvagnanagar facility, where an automatic waste segregation machine has been installed. The report did not provide details on the machine’s processing capacity, operating schedule or the quantity of waste handled at either station.
The findings place source segregation and enforcement of the single-use plastic ban among the immediate issues identified during the inspection. The committee also plans to assess the functioning of sewage treatment plants in the coming days, according to Subramanya. No timeline for the proposed public-awareness measures or the fencing work at Shivajinagar was provided in the report.
