Waste Management

Come June 5 and all eyes across the world will be on India, the global host of World Environment Day, 2018. A country with a recycling economy predominantly driven by informal waste-pickers, India has imposed a complete ban on plastic in several states so far, setting the stage for this year’s theme, “Beat Plastic Pollution”. In March 2016, the erstwhile Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 were replaced by the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016, notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC). This provides a regulatory framework for management of plastic waste by urban…

The fervour gripping the nation during the IPL cricket season is about to die down as it draws to a close on May 27. While the ups and downs for cricket teams get publicised, what generally goes unnoticed is how the trash generated is managed. Bengaluru has led the way in showing other cities and cricket match organisers how waste can be handled in a scientific, sustainable manner. The seven matches played and hosted by them this summer at Chinnaswamy Stadium drew an audience of minimum 40,000 people on all days with each match generating garbage of 6.5 tonnes, according…

The Annual Panguni Thiruvizha is here again! The festival will begin with Dhwajarohanam (flag hoisting) on March 22 and conclude with Thirukalyanam - the celestial wedding of Kapaleeshwarar and Karpagambal, on March 30, 2018 The annual festival takes place in the month of March at the Mylapore Kapaleeshwarar temple. The highlights of this very prestigious temple festival are the Thiru Ther (temple chariot) and the Arubathu Moovar day, when the divinity of the aura around Mylapore multiplies with the 63 Nayanars being carried around in a procession in colourful palanquins. Thousands of people come from all over and outside Chennai to behold the Arubathu…

I am a mother, daughter, wife, sister, friend, animal-lover, community advocate, and victim of having a sweet tooth. I clearly do not mention these roles in any particular order of priority since “victim of a sweet tooth” is at the end. All my roles are incredibly important to me because each one feeds a part of my being. But, reflecting on it, I realized that seven of them can be described as being a part of the broadest one in there: community advocate. Being a mother, daughter, wife, sister, friend, dog-lover, and victim of having a sweet tooth all lead…

Have you walked around your city lately, and observed the collapsed Electricity Board wires and mounds of garbage near various government departments? Or the remnants from so called developmental work undertaken by the state or the various parastatal agencies? Even as we talk about waste and what can be done to manage household/industrial waste more effectively, piles of unattended debris and confiscated vehicles dumped by various government departments stand as testimony to the inaction by the Tamil Nadu Government. While the Chennai Corporation is frequently under fire for being unable to check dumping of unprocessed waste near water bodies or…

Come November, along with swollen waterways and flooded streets, another prominent image flashed repeatedly on television screens is that of mountains of mixed garbage. Chennai’s solid waste headache is by no means entirely monsoon-related. But the issue manages to capture the media’s attention around this time of the year mostly because unregulated dumping tends to disrupt waterways in many parts. Intensified waterlogging and heightened public health concerns closely follow. The city has two dumping grounds spread across 400 plus acres in Kodungaiyur and Perungudi, both of which have been in existence for over 25 years. These dump yards handle anywhere…

So October 2 has come and gone. We duly remembered Mahatma Gandhi on his birthday, and went about our usual business. A few people also speak about cleanliness in our public spaces, since it is also "Swacch Bharat" Day. From this day, source segregation of waste will be mandatory in Chennai -  the city that generates the largest per capita amount of garbage in the country. The Greater Chennai Corporation has been reaching out to all the different categories of waste generators – residential, commercial and industrial- with suggestions, recommendations and guidelines. It is no doubt a great start, but…

A few days ago, I read on an online news website, that the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) was planning to make source segregation of waste mandatory for all residents, beginning October 2, 2017. If this was true, it was music to the ears of citizens like me – segregation maniacs that have been trying to get their family members, neighbours etc to segregate household waste at source – but with very limited success. Chennai reportedly generates the highest per capita garbage among the large metros in India – 750 gms per person per day, and we send about 5000 tons…

In the late 1980s, when the term “waste management” had not gained much currency in Indian cities, a banker-turned-environmental activist M B Nirmal started a cleanliness movement in Chennai. Called the Civic Exnora, it was considered as one of the largest environmental and civic movements having happened in the urban India. Civic Exnora was founded in 1989 by M B Nirmal who was then an officer with the Indian Overseas Bank. Exnora was started in an attempt to create awareness about cleanliness. Back in the 90s, the organisation played a major role in motivating and involving neighbourhoods in systematic waste…

It has been a year since Dr D Karthikeyan took charge as the Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation. Within a few months of him taking charge as the commissioner, he was accorded the additional responsibility of holding the Special Officer’s post in the absence of a council which ended its term last October. GCC is not new to Karthikeyan. It is for the third time that he is serving as the Commissioner of the Greater Chennai Corporation. In a quick chat with Citizen Matters, the Corporation Commissioner speaks about some of the significant issues bothering the city. Excerpts from the…