The Hindu            13.11.2013

Corporation to compost wet waste in R.S. Puram

Close on the heels of launching the segregated waste collection system in a few streets in R.S. Puram (Ward 23) under the ‘Shunya’ zero waste management scheme, the Coimbatore Corporation has made the next move: processing wet waste.

According to Corporation Commissioner G. Latha, the civic body had identified a vacant plot west of Thadagam Road in R.S. Puram to process the wet waste — kitchen waste and other degradable items. The waste the workers collect from residents who have begun segregating wastes will go to the compost yard, where it would be turned into manure. The Corporation was in talks with an NGO in this regard.

This would help the Corporation in more ways than one — reduce the quantity of waste taken to the Vellalore dump yard and also reduce fuel expenditure. Plus, the waste generated locally would be processed locally.

As and when the Corporation perfected the model, it would extend it to other wards. At present, the civic body was keen on strengthening the zero waste management model in Ward 23. As part of the strengthening measure, on Tuesday the Corporation had honoured residents of T.V. Samy Road (West), Ponnurangam Road (West), Venkatasamy Road (West), Periyasamy Road (West) and Bashyakarulu Road (West). Thirty residents from the aforementioned streets had segregated the wastes as per the Corporation’s instructions.

The civic body also honoured the conservancy workers who played their part in ensuring that the residents of the aforementioned streets segregated their wastes, a Corporation release said.

The workers sold the recyclable dry wastes they collected to the ITC under its Wealth Out of Waste (WOW) project and made money at Rs. 3 a kg.

Ms. Latha said that a few dedicated workers like Nagaraj have thus far collected around 1,000 kg plastic and paper waste.

The Hindu            13.11.2013

Waste segregation programme gains momentum

Karthik Madhavan

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.