Dry public well in Ambattur put to novel use

It was built during the British era. It has now been converted into a plastic shredding centre.

Ambattur zonal officials of the Chennai Corporation inspect the plastic crushing machine at the Plastic Grinding Centre in Mogappair.

In the late 19 century, the 30-feet-deep public well on Seventh Cross Street in Mogappair Eri Scheme, near Ambattur, was one of the few public water sources that was available in the area. With the help of the local British officers, a group of residents created the facility.  

A century later, it continues to serve the residents but in a different way. Now, it is a plastic shredding centre from where plastic is broken into pieces to lay roads in the neighbourhood.

After nearly three years of working in a make-shift accommodation, the civic officials of Division 91 in Ambattur Zone of the Chennai Corporation led by its assistant commissioner M. Murugan have managed to convert the unused, dilapidated dry public well into a plastic shredding centre for the neighbourhood.

“For more than a decade, the public well remained dry and damaged as most of the households in the neighbourhood got water connection from the Chennai Metrowater or by the Ambattur Zonal office. So, we decided to use it in this manner,” said a Corporation official.

Spread around 3,600 sq. ft, the plastic shredding centre has two rooms for around 20 conservancy staff, who work in shifts. One room for the workers to take rest and the other for plastic shredding machine to be kept along with its raw material, the segregated plastics.

With a compound wall and a garden, the centre also has water and toilet facilities. The centre is monitored by the assistant executive engineer for Division in Ambattur zone, N. Vaithiyalingam and assistant engineer (AE) for Division 91, V. Muthukumar.

“Earlier, the unused public well was a favourite spot for anti-socials. They’d often loiter there after sunset and create trouble.

In fact, beat policemen had to often chase these anti-socials from the spot to ensure that the neighbourhood was safe. Now, the presence of civic workers at all times gives us a sense of safety,” said B. Varalakshmi, a resident of Mogappair.

Under the guidelines of Chennai Corporation’s Bus Route Roads Department , the usage of plastic along with bitumen for milling and re-laying work on the roads and street lanes in the city was started three years ago, first at Valluvarkottam High Road and then at Nelson Manickam Road. Simultaneously, such experiments with plastic was done in Anna Nagar West School Road, Perambur High Road, Greams Road and Taluk Office Road.

At present, of the total of 2,900 street lanes and roads within the Ambattur zone, at least 1,200 stretches have been laid with plastic and bitumen.

“Adding plastic makes the roads durability. While a bitumen-topped street can be expected to last three years, one with plastic-bitumen lasts four years,” said a Corporation official. Around 10 kilograms of plastics is shredded for each hour here on a daily basis. On a day of eight working hours, around 80 kg of unused plastic, collected from households, are shredded.