Come June, the Coimbatore Corporation will implement the Zero Waste Management project, Shunya, in Ward 23.
In the run up to the implementation, sources said, the Corporation would hold a workshop-cum-meeting for conservancy workers, the Ward councillor, the non-government organisation concerned, and activists and representatives of residents’ welfare association.
After taking on board the stake holders, the Corporation would implement the zero waste management project by first segregating waste at source.
Rag pickers
And when the Corporation scale up the project to cover all the wards, it would also involve rag pickers and waste handlers in the informal sector.
The sources said that towards awareness creation and roping in the stakeholders, the Corporation had received Rs. 85 lakh under the Shunya project from AIFORIA, a German agency engaged in the project.
Coimbatore is one of the cities chosen for the project by AIFORIA and funding agencies and NGOs in the European Union.
The sources said that the civic body chose Ward 23 because it had the right infrastructure, a market, restaurants, and very good commercial activity. And also households, giving the right mix to try and learn waste management.
Investment
The sources reasoned that in many cities the local body concerned invested heavily and publicised source segregation of waste without the necessary backend infrastructure in that the waste collected would end up as composite waste in the dump yard.
The Coimbatore Corporation on the other hand had started addressing the waste management issues by first building the necessary infrastructure to process the collected waste, strengthening the logistics and then going in for door-to-door collection of waste.
The sources said that the Corporation had improved infrastructure by investing close to Rs. 96 crore – the funds it obtained from the Union Government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
In Ward 23, the Corporation after training the NGO – in this case, Hand-in-Hand – would tell them what was expected of them. And the NGO would take complete care of the ward.
The sources added that the civic body was implementing the Shunya project in association with ICLEI, an international NGO. On Tuesday, Andrea Burzacchini of AIFORIA and Abbu Venkata Niroop of ICLEI, South Asia were in the city to review the progress made and suggest ways to improve the implementation.
The Coimbatore Corporation collects nearly 800 tonne waste a day, which is collected and transport to the transit stations and then the Vellalore dump yard.
