Bengaluru Chicken Shops Announce Two-Day Shutdown Over Solid Waste Service Fee

Chicken shops across Bengaluru affiliated with the Karnataka Poultry Traders Association (KPTA) will shut down for two days starting September 3 to protest against a new waste collection charge. The strike comes in response to a ₹5-per-kg service fee that Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd. (BSWML) is set to impose on meat shops for collecting poultry waste.

The association has opposed the fee and demanded that the government instead fix a minimum support price for poultry waste. Traders argue that the discards have significant commercial value because private companies process them into animal feed and various by-products, which are then sold for profit in the commercial market.

According to the KPTA, materials such as intestines, feathers, skin, and bones are collected by middlemen and supplied to processing companies. These private firms convert the waste into powder to manufacture pet food, including products for dogs and cats. The association pointed out that while intermediaries and processing companies profit from the finished goods, the raw material is being sourced directly from chicken shops that are now being asked to pay collection charges.

Rather than paying ₹5 per kg, the association stated that private firms should purchase the waste from shopkeepers at a guaranteed minimum support price. On average, an individual chicken shop in the city generates between 32 kg and 35 kg of such animal waste each day.

The controversy stems from a tender notification issued by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA). The notification confirms that an authorised service provider has been appointed by BSWML to handle the scientific collection, transportation, and processing of poultry, fish, pig, and other animal waste, including bones, across GBA limits.

Under the GBA framework, all meat, poultry, fish, and pork shops, alongside other animal waste-generating establishments, are mandated to hand over their waste exclusively to BSWML-appointed service providers. The rules require these establishments to pay a mandatory service fee of ₹5 per kg for general animal waste and ₹3 per kg for animal bone waste.

The association warned that the compulsory fee structure would substantially inflate operational costs for retail meat vendors. Traders cautioned that if the government does not accept their demand to institute a minimum support price, shopkeepers across the city will be forced to raise chicken prices to recover the additional expenses.