Two large waste-to-energy plants to be set up in Bengaluru

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has started work on establishing two large waste to energy plants within the city’s confines in a bid to deal with Bengaluru’s increasing mixed waste issues and to reduce landfill dependency in the process.

Bengaluru generates around 2,800 tonnes of mixed waste daily. Subsequently, this waste is dumped in extremely unsustainable and unhygienic landfills, putting them under the direct scrutiny of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) as well as the Karnataka High Court. As per officials, a minimum of one year has to transpire for the plants to be ready for waste processing.

In the waste-to-energy method of waste disposal, the waste is first incarcerated to be subsequently harvested for electricity to facilitate eventual distribution to the people. Bengaluru’s first plant is to be set up in Bidadi in Ramanagara district and is expected to have a capacity of around 11.5 MW. The plant will be a joint venture of both BBMP and the state-run Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL). The city’s second plant is expected to be erected around Kannahalli in a year from now.

Although the union government’s 2016 solid waste management rules allow for WTEs, unlike landfills, India has not played witness to any success story as such largely on account of the nature and type of the waste that is generated in the country. Experts have often alluded to the environmental pollution that is caused by the cost of running these plants and generating electricity in most cases.

Earlier, plans for setting up a WTE plant in Electronic City in the southeastern part of the city by the end of the current year on the back of an Indo-French government deal were dropped on account of the French firm 3Wayste. It was deemed financially unviable to operate the plant without any economic support from the BBMP as per their deal.