Representative image of garbage collection.
Credit: DH File Photo
In a major development, Bengaluru’s civic body has proposed to collect user fees for the disposal of waste from the city’s 46 lakh households and commercial establishments.
Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML) — an offshoot of the BBMP — plans to introduce the user fee from the 2025-26 financial year, hoping to earn an additional Rs 600 crore per year.
In a recent proposal to the government, BSWML has considered the built-up area to determine the monthly charges households will have to pay for the service.
BSWML has sought the government’s approval as it wants to include the new fee as a separate component in property tax.
Over the last year, the proposal has undergone revision multiple times. Initially, BSWML had linked the solid waste management fee structure with power consumption of each household. The proposal was shelved after certain MLAs suggested introducing a uniform fee of Rs 200 per month for all domestic users, except those living in slums.
BSWML is confident of getting the government’s approval this time as the revised proposal – linked to built-up area – was finalised after consultations with Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
For domestic waste generators, depending on the built-up area, the user fee varies from Rs 20 per month (less than 600 sq ft built-up area) to Rs 400 (above 4,000 sq ft). In all, there are six categories. However, the proposal does not offer clarity with respect to fee structure for non-domestic users such as hotels and offices that produce less than 100 kg of waste.
For bulk waste generators such as apartment buildings and office spaces, which do not have an empanelled agency to process the waste or do not follow in-site waste processing, there is a provision to avail the services of BSWML by paying Rs 12 per kg with an annual increment of Rs 5 per kg. The fee will cover collection, transportation and processing of bulk waste.
The civic body will offer a 50% rebate on user fee (impose only Rs 3 per kg of waste generated) for bulk waste generators that adopt in-situ composting.
Officials said the BBMP had the legal backing to collect user fees as it is part of the Solid Waste Management Bye-laws, 2019, as well as the BBMP Act, 2020. The civic body has also banked on the National Green Tribunal’s 2018 order, which emphasised the ‘polluter pays’ principle in its several judgments.
The solid waste management cess presently collected as a separate component in property tax is for the purpose of maintaining cleanliness in public places. The user fee is for managing the expenses incurred for the collection of door-to-door waste and processing it scientifically,” a senior BSWML official said.
Pinky Chandran, Trustee of Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Round Table, said the user fee concept was an important component of solid waste management but should not be just about making money and dumping waste on landfill sites. “We face the problem of inadequacy in service delivery. The infrastructure has not kept pace and the basic three-way segregation of waste has not been enforced,” she said.