The Times of India               20.08.2013

Chennai corporation to conduct lucky draw from September

CHENNAI: Starting this September, the Chennai corporation will conduct a lucky draw every month and offer a half-gram gold coin to one resident and watches to five people of each ward where garbage is segregated at homes.

The civic body's council in June approved this pilot scheme for three months to promote source segregation and also to reduce the amount of plastic going to the dump yards.

Corporation officials said that they were planning to collect at least 48 tonnes of thin plastic across the 200 wards. "The residents can hand over plastics to the respective zonal ward offices between 9am and 5pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays and get a token for each kg of thin plastics," said a corporation official.

"We will conduct a lucky draw on the first Wednesday of the next month once a ward reaches the target of 500kg of thin plastic," he added.

The city generates nearly 5,000 tonnes of garbage, including 429 tonnes of plastic, every day. According to a June 2012 Central Pollution Control Board report, the city's generation of plastic is more than that of Mumbai (421 tonnes). It is second only to New Delhi (689 tonnes).

Many residents in the city are excited about the plan. "It's good that the civic body is giving gold for garbage. I am planning to purchase a bucket to collect plastic waste in my house from September to try my luck in the draw" said Jayanthi S, a homemaker in Anna Nagar.