It’s a month since the Clean City Movement, a solid-waste management initiative of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) took off.
The initiative is aimed at sensitising communities to the need to dispose of waste responsibly. Residents are requested to segregate waste into biodegradable and non-biodegrdable before handing it over to the conservancy staff of Credai. The biodegradable waste will be converted into manure.
To begin with, Credai has chosen Besant Nagar, covering 17 lanes (from 16th Cross Street to 32nd Cross Street), for the project.
“Around 100kg of waste is collected from around 750 houses every day,” says S. Keerthi, who is in-charge of the Clean City Movement operations in Chennai.
Credai has set up its composting unit within the premises of the crematorium of the Greater Chennai Corporation in Besant Nagar.
There are six drums at the composting facility; each drum is 4 feet wide and 7 feet long and 3 feet high. A few days ago, around 120kg of manure was collected from this facility. The manure is not meant for sale but will be handed over to the Corporation, which in turn will use it in its parks.
“Clean City Movement was first launched in Kochi in 2007 and was well-received by its residents, who extended their cooperation. Eight months ago, the drive was introduced in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Indore and Ahmedabad. We hope to get support and encouragement from Chennai residents as well.
Credai has plans to extend this initiative to Thiruvanmiyur, T. Nagar and Shenoy Nagar,” says Keerthi.
