The Hindu 21.10.2013
Residents show the way in waste segregation
Without much fanfare and publicity residents of Radhika
Avenue and Radhika Avenue Extension in P.N. Pudur in Ward 16 have been
segregating waste for quite sometime now. The residents collect the wet
and dry wastes in two bins, handover the same to the conservancy worker,
who dumps them accordingly in the two partitions of his or her
pushcart, says K.V. Thirumal, the area sanitary supervisor.
Even
if the residents fail, the conservancy worker, R. Murugan, segregates
and dumps the waste when he collects the same from the residents.
The
segregation process started by chance a few months ago when Mr.
Thirumal was holding a meeting with conservancy workers in the area. A
few residents who passed by took interest to enquire what the meeting
was all about.
After exchange of basic information,
the Corporation workers and the residents had a verbal duel after the
latter started complaining about lack of basic amenities.
During
the course of complaints and counter-complaints, Mr. Thirumal threw a
challenge to the residents: he asked if they were ready to segregate the
waste.
To his surprise, the residents accepted. “The
residents were interested in keeping their surroundings clean and the
challenge served as an opportunity,” says P. Muruganandam, a resident.
Soon
the residents convened a meeting that Mr. Thirumal addressed. He told
the residents the types of wastes generated at houses, how the wet and
dry waste had to be segregated and stored and how the wastes had to be
handed over to the conservancy worker.
After the
meeting, almost all the residents began segregating waste, Mr. Murugan
says and adds that even if a few residents fail to segregate the waste,
he does so. And when residents handover wet waste in plastic covers, he
dumps the waste in the appropriate container and the cover in the other
container meant for dry waste.
The wastes Mr. Murugan
collects goes to the two bins in the area – green and white. The green
holds the wet, degradable waste and the white the dry, recyclable waste.
And from there the waste goes to Vellalore.
The impact of the segregated collection is that the quantity of solid waste in the drain has come down, says Mr. Thirumal.
