With more than a month into the initiative, the Tiruchi Corporation’s pilot project, The Money Bin, which encourages residents to segregate recyclable waste and hand it over to volunteers in exchange for money, is is set to be expanded to more areas in the city.
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The initiative was launched in association with a Tirupur-based waste management start-up in ward 27 covering the Tennur area with about 5,000 households.
According to the founder of the start-up, Mohan Ramasamy, the effort was a success as they were able to collect around 5,700 kg of recyclable waste in a month. “The collection has been completed twice thus far, and the third round is underway. In the first and second rounds, we collected about 2,500 kg and 3,200 kg, respectively. The volume of waste collected has significantly increased, which is a good sign,” he added.
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With the help of the initiative, the civic body can now focus exclusively on collecting, transporting and disposing of degradable waste. “After receiving a positive response from the residents, we have planned to expand the drive to ward 25 and other zones in the upcoming weeks,” a senior official of the Corporation said.
Under the initiative, the start-up has provided a waste collection bag to every household in the ward, which holds about three kg of waste. To collect recyclable waste such as papers, books, plastic bottles, wrappers, containers, cardboard boxes, metal, electrical, and electronic equipment, they send their truck door to door once every 15 days. Residents receive ₹12 for every kg of waste after the recyclables are weighed.
The start-up has two mini-trucks and a team of 15 women Self Help Group (SHG) members to collect the waste and sensitize residents about the drive. The women SHGs are paid ₹5 per kg. “The waste collected from the residents is segregated in categories and sold to the recycling agencies based on its nature,” Mr. Ramasamy said.