The Times of India               11.06.2013

Corporation to rely on college students to collect data on waste disposal

COIMBATORE: The city municipal corporation has decided to rely on student power to tackle garbage collection and disposal issues within its limits. The civic body will deploy more than 100 college students who will volunteer their time to conduct a survey on the issue.

These student volunteers will collect information on the type of waste generated from both residences and commercial establishments along with problems faced by the public in ensuring source segregation methods. Feedback and suggestions will also be taken from the people, which will be incorporated in future corporation projects.

"The students will be sent to each of the 100 wards for the survey. They will interact with people and distribute a questionnaire to collect information. The format will be finalised in the coming days," said G Latha, Commissioner, Coimbatore corporation.

The exercise is expected to begin during the first week of July and will last for about a week during which volunteers will collect comprehensive data that will be utilized to tweak the existing waste collection and disposal system. The volunteers will also be asked to collect details about e-waste, dry solid waste, plastic refuse materials generated at both commercial and residential sources. The civic body does not have proper baseline data on ward level garbage generation and quantity of e-waste, construction debris and plastic waste generated on a daily basis.

"In addition to the 850 tonnes of garbage received at the solid waste management plant at Vellalore, we have a rough estimate of 50 to 150 tonnes of garbage consisting of construction debris, solid waste like poultry waste, e-waste and other junk discarded in the city," said a senior corporation official.

The survey is expected to be carried out with the help of Karunya University students who will be given instructions from the city corporation. Officials say there has been a spike in the quantity of construction debris and other forms of waste generated in the city during the last 10 years.