COIMBATORE: Inspired by newspaper reports, residents of Ramalinga Colony near Bharathi Park here took ownership of the solid
waste management in their area.
Professionals and retired government employees in the area were fed up with the stench emanating from the garbage bins located in the streets in front of their homes. The state of the park was even worse. Roads were not cleaned up regularly.
Vijaya Raghavan, secretary of the Ramalinga Colony Welfare Association, and Krishnamurthy, a retired school headmaster, read about waste segregation in newspapers. They contacted some experts and realised that it was not a herculean task.
"There are about 150 houses in our area. The garbage bins were always overflowing due to which there was stray dog menace. The stench from the streets was becoming unbearable," said Krishnamurthy.
The residents began the initiative by cleaning the park and removing the weeds on the roadsides.
Then, they approached R Raveendran, secretary of the Resident Awareness Association of Coimbatore, and Suresh Bhandai of the Clean Cities Foundation to train them on
source segregation.
The residents went door-to-door and taught each household member how waste was segregated. They even held workshops on how to manage waste at home. Slowly, when residents in the area began segregating the waste, sanitary workers were informed. Truck drivers of the corporation were also informed.
"Sanitary workers come every day and pick up the dry waste alone. This way, they easily earn some good money every month. The truck drivers come on Thursday night every week to collect garden waste and other waste from the road," said Krishnamurthy.
The bins in the area disappeared last week. The residents have begun tree planting drives in the streets. Now, they also plan to set up a compost site on one of the reserve sites located in the area.
"Currently, volunteers come and collect biodegradable waste from us every day. But if we set up a compost site inside the colony, we can use the compost for the garden. We do not want to send any waste to landfills," said a resident.
However, the residents did face their set of challenges. "There were some senior citizens who had some issues with this. Also, a few residents were against the removal of bins from the roads. But when all residents united, the concept was understood and received acceptance. We also promised to help the senior citizens in the area," said a resident.
Corporation commissioner
K Vijayakarthikeyan appreciated the work of the residents and said that he was happy that source segregation has turned into a people's movement. "If more residents come forward and adopt this model, the city will not need any landfills," he said.
(Representative image)
