CHENNAI: Do garbage bins on your street corner spill more garbage than they collect? Garbage strewn around could be a thing of the past if a project of the corporation
works out. The corporation is doing a pilot project in ward 141 (parts
of T Nagar), where it would collect garbage from households.

Conservancy workers will collect the garbage from the households every
morning. Residents have welcomed the move, provided the clearance is
regular. “The worker should come regularly. The clearance now is
irregular, which is why garbage spills out of bins,” said Rajeswari J of
T Nagar.

The corporation says workers will come in small trucks and tricycles to
collect garbage. “Each worker will dump the garbage collected into a
common bin which we will clear,” said an engineer in the solid waste
management department.

The civic body plans to install six to seven garbage bins each in seven
to eight places in every zone. A larger garbage collection vehicle will
come once a day and empty the bins.

The civic body is also
mulling options of introducing source segregation and alternative
methods of garbage disposal. “People can start separating biodegradable
and non-degradable items. We could collect non-degradable waste once a
week, and other waste daily,” said an official. Protests against dumping
yards, seems to have finally got the corporation to consider other
options.

“Once the garbage is segregated, we can think of other
means, or at least reduce dumping in Kodangaiyur and Perungudi,” said a
corporation official. Activists and waste disposal experts found it
promising. “It’s a positive step that should have been taken 10 years
ago, but we believe that segregation and decentralization of garbage
should go hand in hand,” said Swetha Narayan, an activist who has been
campaigning against the Kodungaiyur dumping yard.

The
initiative is mayor Saidai Duraisamy’s pet project for a clean city. The
project will be studied till the end of February, and if successful
will be extended to three other wards and later to other zones.

Corporation officials say the contract with Ramky Enviro to clear the
garbage in three of the city’s 15 zones will not be disturbed by the
project.

“Once we are sure of this initiative’s success in many
zones, we may probably request them to shift to this method,” an
official said.