One of the consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown on the city is that the quantity of waste generated had come down.
The quantity of waste that the Corporation had collected during the lockdown was around 850 – 950 tonnes a day, down from the 1,050 to 1,150 tonnes a day it used to collect prior to the lockdown.
The quantity of waste started going down gradually and never fell drastically as the Corporation used the lockdown opportunity to clear accumulated garbage in various parts of the city. The impact of the reduced garbage was also felt by the Coimbatore Integrated Waste Management Company Pvt. Ltd., which manages up to 500 tonnes a day in Vellalore.
The sources said the company had received over 11,000 tonnes in January this year at an average 372 tonnes a day. In February, it increased to over 12,000 tonnes before falling to 11,500 tonnes in March and around 9,600 tonnes in April.
A sanitary officer said with commercial establishments shut, the quantity of dry waste came down and since restaurants too were shut, the quantity of wet, organic waste also came down. The only waste that the civic body collected was from houses.
But during the lockdown, the Corporation was getting used masks and gloves in waste and it treated those the same way it treated the waste from containment zones by isolating and burying those.
Now, with the State Government easing restrictions, the quantity of waste generated and collected was slowly inching towards the pre-lockdown levels of 1,050 to 1,150 tonnes a day.
In containment zones, though, the Corporation collected and separately disposed of the waste by disinfecting first and then burying it in local burial grounds.
