The Hindu 13.11.2013
Waste segregation programme gains momentum
On Tuesday morning, a few conservancy workers and residents of R.S. Puram — Ward 23 — will receive certificates of appreciation from the Coimbatore Corporation’s top brass. The appreciation is for a seemingly insignificant work they have done every morning in the past few days: segregation of waste. Sources in the Coimbatore Corporation say the residents chosen have done exceedingly well in segregating the waste and handing it over to the conservancy workers. And the workers identified have collected the maximum plastics waste.
The appreciation is part of the Corporation’s ‘Shunya’ zero waste management project, which it implemented in association with the Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC), Siruthuli, ICLEI, an NGO, and a few other organisations.
The sources said that since the start of the programme on October 2, the conservancy workers had collected nearly three tonnes of plastics and recyclable waste. The workers take the waste to the Corporation’s ward office in the area, where the Corporation officials weigh the same, record the weight of waste collected by each worker and pass on the information to the ITC WOW programme managers, who deposit money — calculated at Rs. 3 a kg given — into the workers’ bank account.
R. Raveendran, Honorary Secretary, RAAC, said that a few workers have earned up to Rs. 1,000 in the recent past because of their enthusiastic participation in the programme.
B. Nagaraj, a conservancy worker, said that since the start of the programme he had been picking up all the plastics and recyclable waste that he found in his area of operation. Though satisfactory, their workload had increased, said A. Murugan, another worker. The work that earlier got over at 10 a.m. now extended up to noon and sometimes even beyond, for they would have to further segregate the dry waste collected.
The residents said they were only happy to segregate the waste. It was not a difficult job at all — all that the residents had to do was dump them into two different containers, said Manjula Shankla, a resident of Bashyakaralu Road.
She added that she was happy that the Corporation had initiated the programme.
