Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Solid waste management: Thindal shows the way

Karthik Madhavan

Source segregation followed; roads look spic and span

EARNING MORE: The income from selling non-biodegradables is pocketed by the Meenakshi Amman Self-Help Group. - Photo: M. Govarthan

ERODE: Thindal, a panchayat 10 minutes drive from Erode on the Perundurai Road, looks spic and span. The roads are clean, sans litter. "The streets are cleaned and garbage collected from houses on a daily basis," says T.S. Kumarasamy, panchayat Chairman.

Two bins

"Every morning, seven tricycles - handled by a man and woman each - are taken to every street in the panchayat for cleaning. The 2,200 houses are given two bins each - one for biodegradable and another, non-biodegradable - for segregation of waste at the collection stage itself."

It is then brought to the waste management shed, where it is divided into biodegradable and non-biodegradable.

The non-biodegradable is further categorised as 27 items such as thick plastic, pet and glass bottles, paper, batteries, milk packet covers etc.

The categorised non-biodegradables are sold, the income from which is pocketed by the Meenakshi Amman Self-Help Group. The Group, with its 16 members and seven male employees, is responsible for cleaning the panchayat.

The biodegradables are dumped into nine cement tanks perforated for preparing compost.

"This again is taken care of by the Group, which at the end of the mandatory 45-day period for the preparation of the compost, sells it to farmers," says Mr. Kumarasamy. This conservancy work has been going on since it was entrusted with the Group in October 2004, he says.

Sand covers garbage

However, things are not rosy. Last week, a newspaper carried a picture showing a conservancy worker from the panchayat dumping waste along the Perundurai Road. "That was an isolated incident. One of the tricycles suffered a flat tyre, because of which the waste spilled off on to the road," says the Chairman.

On Thursday, at the same site, a coat of red sand covers the mound of garbage!

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