World Environment Day: Segregate, initiate; work towards better tomorrow
Chennai: The poor ranking of Tamil Nadu in the Swachh Survekshann Survey 2017 brought to the fore the ugly state of solid waste management in the city, making the Greater Chennai Corporation shift focus to waste segregation as part of the World Environment Day on June 5.
“We have been conducting door to door awareness and demos to educate people on segregating waste. On Monday, tricycles will be given to conservancy workers of all zones. Wet waste will be put in green bins and dry waste in blue.
This move can better the solid waste management in the city,” said an official from Solid Waste Management department adding that the wet waste will be sent to decentralised compost plants.
Environmentalists say public must also take an initiative and must take up source segregation as an everyday practice.
Ram Narayanan from Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI) told DC that mixing all kinds of waste can have adverse effects on the environment. When wet waste gets leaked and is mixed with plastic waste, methane gas is produced. Moreover, it gets mixed in the drinking water as the waste ultimately ends up in water bodies.
The public need not just depend on the civic body for disposing of waste. There are organisations across the city that collect plastic waste from your home and recycle it. In turn, they give money. “For sorting wet and dry waste, Kamba pots can be bought online. Madambakkam, Perungalathur and Perungalathur panchayats give manure for a very nominal amount. The manure must be put in the pot and later filled with dry waste. The whole thing becomes manure in a very short period of time which can be used for terrace gardening and similar purposes,” said environmentalist P.K. Kumar.
Turning waste into manure
Greater Chennai Corporation's (GCC) campaign to segregate waste generated in housing colonies and turning it into manure is gaining support of the residents across the city.
Participating in the campaign started by GCC to utilise the waste generated in their housing colony, some residents of Ambattur Industrial Estate and Adyar have followed suit.Responding to the piling garbage in their apartments, about 200 families from Ambattur came forward to turn waste into worth.
“Within the housing colony, four burial sections have been created for collecting green waste from the residents. Every house generates around 100 grams of green waste per day, and with more than 400 houses in the apartment, all the recyclable waste will now be turned into compost,” said Meena Chaubbria, President of Panchsheel Apartments. Green waste collected in the burial sections will be mixed with cow dung and water and be used as manure after 40 days, she said.
Residents of Prime Terrace Apartments in Adyar are segregating waste in four bins - household waste, earth filling, recyclable waste and non-biodegradable electronic waste. President of the apartment complex, P.V. Rangarajan has taken up the responsibility of monitoring segregation within the apartment. The manure generated can be used in gardening at the park in the premises.
Increasingly, resident associations in other areas are also planning to follow segregation. GCC took up this initiative last year under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and was implemented in 15 zones of the Corporation. Under this initiative, the green waste collection was carried out in burial grounds in Mylapore, Nungambakkam, and Teynampet, said a senior corporation official.
Corporation officials say this move can help reduce a lot of solid waste generated. “As many more apartments are planning to join hands for the same, the Corporation can purchase and resell the manure if produced in increased quantities,” an official said.
