Underground bins: 5 yrs after city plans, Surat implements

Five years ago, in November 2013, the Chennai corporation had passed a resolution to set up mechanized underground bins across the city to manage garbage piling up on streets, but the plan never took off.
Today, setting an example for Chennai and other big cities, Surat's municipal body has installed 43 underground garbage bins, each of which can contain up to 1.5 tonnes of waste as a part of the Smart City Mission and these are fitted with sensors to send alerts to the control room as soon as 70% of the container is full.

These underground bins have been placed on footpaths and each of them have two inlets for throwing waste - one for individuals and the other for municipal carts bringing collected waste - to help people avoid littering. "We will be placing 75 such bins. After this started in a limited area, more and more municipal councillors are making similar demands. We will be expanding this to other areas," said M Thennarasan, commissioner of Surat Municipal Commission. He is also the chairman of Surat Smart City project. At Dumbhal, which falls in the textile market area of Surat, this correspondent saw how huge metal bins were lifted using cranes and the waste was emptied mechanically without any individual touching it.