Electronics City Industrial Township Authority (ELCITA) organised a workshop on Waste Management on 16th February 2016 at Hotel Radha Regent, Bangalore. The event brought together industry experts and solution providers to explore opportunities for collaboration.

Ramdas Kamath, Head of Infrastructure, Facilities, Administration, Security and Sustainability, Infosys, Ramachandran R, MD, Customized Technologies, Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, Wipro, Almitra Patel, member, Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste Management, N S Ramakanth, Member, Expert Committee on SWM, BBMP, Dr. SR Maley, expert on landfill restoration, Nalini Shekar, Co-founder, Hasirudala were the key speakers.

Dr.Maley spoke on how landfill sites can be restored systematically using bioremediation techniques without which there could be fires and leachate discharge, as well as spread of disease causing vectors, occurring at these dumpsites. He also showcased his landfil restoration work using bioremediation techniques at dumpsites at Pahalgam, Gorai and Nashik. He brought our attention to the urgent need to restore the Bingepura dumpsite as it is a ticking timebomb.

There was a very useful panel discussion on best practices in waste management by speakers from Infosys, Wipro, ITC, Infoactiv, 3M and moderated by Meera, Co-founder, Citizen Matters.

Mr. Lingaraj Dinni, Group Manager, Sustainability at Wipro spoke on the next steps, going forward from the conference. Topics that took predominance were landfill restoration, waste pickers livelihood, handling E-waste and C&D waste, the need to take waste management to each persons home, and also the SwachaGraha campaign for composting organic waste.

ELCITA also awarded companies who have taken initiatives within their campuses to handle waste responsibly.

• 3M – With about 500 employees, 3M has completely eliminated the use of single use disposables and follow complete segregation of waste.
• Pradot – They handle garden waste and food waste in situ. The garden area is used for composting. No use of disposables anywhere in the campus including for drinking water and beverages.
• XSYSYS Technologies Pvt. Ltd – They segregate their waste at source into wet (including garden waste), dry and reject waste. They also further segregate their mixed dry waste as plastic, paper and tissues since they are sent to different recycling agencies. No disposables within their campus

ELCITA encourages more and more companies to set examples on waste management.

ELCITA has created a SWM forum comprising representatives from various companies and communities, including the nearby Panchayats. A notification on SWM for companies is also in the works. ELCITA is also exploring how we can support the landfill restoration at Bingipura.