Civic body may use burial grounds for composting waste

Chennai: Greater Chennai Corporation’s aim to compost wet waste in the city’s burial grounds was a far reality until now but the phenomenon is set to change now as the city, which is just taking baby steps in waste management,  is mulling options of utilising burial grounds to compost organic waste. Following the success of Nochikuppam model, which involved segregating the waste at source and composting it at Mylapore burial ground, Chennai Trekking club (CTC) now aims at Triplicane to implement the same.

Triplicane, which is already following the ‘no-bin waste’ model for the past eight years is roped into the one-year project of zero waste management. Waste collected is being planned to compost at Triplicane burial ground. “An organisation called Pasumai Amaippu along with civic body has been involved in door to door collection here. Bins were placed in just four points, thus stressing on non-dumping in dustbins,” said S. Shyam Kumar, a volunteer from Chennai Trekking Club.

CTC has joined hands with Pasumai Amaippu to sensitise 116 streets of Triplicane in a year. As an initial step, tree plantation will be conducted near Parthasarathy temple, following which awareness programmes are planned. The process is a replica of Nochikuppam model wherein households are given a kit consisting of two bins and a bag for segregation. While organic waste is filled in the green bin, rejected waste (biomedical stuff) is dumped in red bin; recyclable waste including plastic and papers are to be filled in the jute bag.

Members, however, may face major challenges at Triplicane, a settlement with a majority of individual houses unlike the slum settlement of Nochikuppam. “Nochikuppam is a community based set up, so gathering the waste is not a tough task. The presence of individual houses makes the collection difficult. Residents’ cooperation is necessary,” said Shyam.