The Coimbatore Corporation is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to clean up the city.

It all began more than a year ago when a few NGOs and corporate houses came together to support the Coimbatore Corporation’s waste collection and management efforts. For the past few weeks, hundreds of Corporation workers are collecting wastes in a segregated manner from across the 100 wards in Coimbatore city.

Waste management does not stop with just collecting the waste in a segregated manner. Conservancy workers from all the wards in the city segregate waste into categories namely biodegradable, non-biodegradable, market waste, food waste, and garden waste.

Recently a meeting for sustainable solid waste management and resource recovery championship for workers was called for by the Commissioner Dr. K. Vijayakarthikeyan.

The meeting brought together Deputy Commissioner, ZSOs and SIs of all the zones, NGO organizers, and ITC representatives. A request was made to the Commissioner to provide basic necessities for resource segregation. The concerned officials were given official orders to fulfil the requirements for resource segregation.

Steps on how to strengthen the Vellalore composting yard, which processes 100 tonnes of biodegradable waste everyday, were also discussed. Corporate houses and NGOs expressed their willingness to adopt wards in solid waste management.

Championship competition that was held between August 6 and 13 saw good response from the public and the conservancy workers. The pushcarts for waste collection have been designed to simplify the process of waste collection and segregation. The segregated wastes are transported to the respective places. We were told that plastic and paper are sold scrap dealers.

The Coimbatore Corporation gives incentives to conservancy workers based on their performance in segregation and resource recovery. The five zones have sent 557.45 tonnes of biodegradable waste to Vellalore during the championship campaign.

Biodegradable waste:
East zone – 14.14 tonnes, West Zone – 12.8 tonnes, North Zone – 17.10 tonnes, South Zone – 33 tonnes, Central Zone – 20.20 tonnes

Non-biodegradable waste:
East zone – 18.3 tonnes, West Zone – 42.23 tonnes, North Zone – 65.87 tonnes, South Zone – 20.19 tonnes, Central Zone –60.74 tonnes

Hotel Waste:
East zone – 1.94 tonnes, West Zone – 10.36 tonnes, South Zone –4.4 tonnes, Central Zone –7.4 tonnes

Market waste:
East zone – 4.9 tonnes, West Zone – 20.9 tonnes, North Zone – 10.6 tonnes, Central Zone – 60.7 tonnes

Garden waste and others:
East zone – 29.45 tonnes, West Zone – 8.24 tonnes, North Zone –9.8 tonnes, South Zone – 9 tonnes, Central Zone –25.4 tonnes

Best performing wards:
West Zone – 23rd Ward is a Bin Free Ward for the last one year

Central Zone – 51st Ward has done the highest non-biodegradable waste collection

East Zone – 67th ward has done the highest non-biodegradable waste collection and segregation activity.

South Zone – 90th Ward has done best source segregation

North Zone – 44th Ward has done composting with collected biodegradable waste

Prototype Wards

East Zone – 60, 37, 57, 32 Wards, West Zone – 9, 12, 15, 17, 22 Wards, North Zone – 47, 39. 46. 4, 26, 28 Wards, Central Zone – 83, 51, 71, 25, 54 Wards, South Zone – 95, 79, 85, 94, 91 Wards are performing well as prototype wards.