The Greater Chennai Corporation will soon begin to collect and dispose of sanitary waste separately. Preliminary sensitisation and awareness programmes will be conducted for the residents and conservancy workers in the coming week, said N. Mahesan, chief engineer, solid waste management department.
According to the Municipal Corporation of Chennai Solid Waste Management Rules of 2019, sanitary napkins and diapers should be segregated from other waste. The residents must hand over sanitary waste in a separate bag for dry and non-biodegradable waste to the drivers of battery operated vehicles. Used napkins and diapers will be sent to the incinerators at Manali and Kodungaiyur, which had a capacity of 10 tonnes and 50 tonnes respectively, he said.
Residents are requested to securely wrap used napkins and diapers in the leak-proof pouches provided by the manufacturers to enable hygienic handling of the waste. However, if these pouches were insufficient, the used napkins could be wrapped in a newspaper, the officials said.
Used napkins and diapers are at present disposed through deep burials and marginal incineration. The civic body wants to adopt incineration method for the entire sanitary waste.
Awareness activities will continue till the end of the month and will include audio messages from battery-operated vehicles and Clean India animators, the officials said.
