Citizen wardens, ward-level planning proposed to strengthen solid waste management

Updated - September 24, 2026 09:35 pm IST - Bengaluru

Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda interacting with participants during a public consultation on solid waste management, in Bengaluru on Thursday. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) will explore the feasibility of introducing citizen wardens for solid waste management in the city along the same lines as the Bengaluru Traffic Police’s “traffic warden” initiative.

The idea was floated during a public consultation meeting organised by the GBA’s Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd. on Thursday, where a series of possibilities were discussed to enhance source segregation, improve garbage collection, and manage waste.

The wardens, as suggested by stakeholders, could assist marshals in planning and monitoring waste collection while also being involved in awareness campaigns to improve source segregation. While stakeholders suggested that wardens could also be provided an honourarium, the GBA was not on board with the idea.

Insufficient installed capacity

Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda elaborated on existing problems, stressing that the major problem was that the installed capacity for waste management had remained the same for several years, while waste generation in the city had grown exponentially. Besides, the absence of a system for tracking waste collection, leading to irregular collection, was also listed as a problem.

A key problem, he said, was the capacity of the existing collection system. “Bengaluru currently generates around 6,500 tonnes of waste a day, while approximately 5,200 auto-tippers are operating with an average capacity of about one tonne each,” he said.

He added that several auto-tippers were unfit for collection, while all the tippers had lost their original capacity of one tonne, widening the gap between waste generation and collection.

“The city’s population, number of households and waste generation have increased substantially over the years, while the collection system has continued to operate within the capacity of older contractual arrangements,” Mr. Gowda said.

The Minister said these problems were now being addressed through new garbage collection tenders, under which contractors would be mandated to have higher-capacity vehicles. This is expected to take the installed capacity to over 9,000 tonnes.

While the stakeholders’ discussion focused on establishing a roadmap for waste management in the city, a major missing link highlighted was ward-level planning.

The primary fix suggested was increasing accountability by nominating ward in-charges and nodal officers for communication. Next, stakeholders stressed the need to collect ward-wise performance data and evaluate waste collection so that the data could be used for future upgrades to the system, while also incentivising the collection system.

The participants demanded generator-level mapping to obtain micro-level data and the installation of GPS devices on all collection vehicles to ensure that a tracking system was adopted.

The meeting discussed that ward-level planning should include diversifying the size of vehicles to ensure that smaller roads and areas with limited road infrastructure were covered. Further, the plan includes strategically establishing waste transfer stations, conducting segregation capacity studies, and establishing Reuse-Repair-Recycle centres, among others.

The stakeholders also demanded a task force to implement the roadmap, including volunteer participation and communication.

Concluding the meeting, Mr. Gowda said another meeting would be called after four months. Meanwhile, the suggested roadmap would be reviewed and discussed, and the feasible aspects would be implemented, he said.

Mr. Gowda responded to the controversy over his recent comments on pourakarmikas and said, “Now, if I question attendance, even that is an issue. In some wards, the absenteeism is nearly 40%.”

He defended himself, stating that he was not targeting anyone, citing that he was also questioning chief engineers and the ranks that followed. Mr. Gowda also noted that he had worked as “labour with dignity” during his college days.

Published - September 24, 2026 09:34 pm IST

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