According to the solid waste management department officials of the Corporation, 18.67 tonnes of cracker waste was collected from 15 zones of the civic body in the past three days.

A day before Deepavali, 1.32 tonnes of cracker waste was collected in the city and on the day of the festival, 15.55 tonnes was collected. On Sunday, 1.79 tonnes was collected, taking the total to 18.673 tonnes.

As per the data from the Corporation, sanitary workers had collected around 82 tonnes of cracker waste after last year’s Deepavali.

While the rest of the city celebrated Deepavali with their families, nearly 20,000 conservancy workers employed by the Corporation spent the festival collecting firecracker waste and urging residents not to dispose of it along with their domestic waste.

“Firecracker waste contains heavy metal toxins, which can reduce soil fertility and also seep into the groundwater and affect the health of residents,” said a senior official in the Solid Waste Management department. Firecracker waste would be disposed of at Industrial Waste Management Association facility at Gummidipoodi, which handles hazardous wastes.

Among the zones of the Corporation, 7.94 tonnes of waste was collected from the zones in the southern region, followed by 5.575 tonnes in the north.