CHENNAI: Taking yet another step towards realising the ‘Zero Waste Chennai’ concept, Tiruvottiyur Zone of Greater Chennai Corporation is now refurbishing discarded school bags into brand new ones.
Refurbished bags are given to Corporation school students for free while public too can get them.
Being the first zone to take up this initiative, three refurbishing points have been set up in the area, one being the zonal office itself.
“Sanitary workers collect the discarded bags and take them to the refurbishing points. The main aim is to reduce any waste going to landfills,’’ a Corporation official told Express.
The sanitary workers collect between 50 to 100 bags daily from the 14 wards of the zone. Then these bags are brought to the refurbishing points where they are washed with soap and dried for the rest of the day.
“To refurbish the bags, we have engaged three women from Self Help Groups, who work from 6 am to 1:30 pm,” the official said. Once these bags are dried, they add paint coatings to them so that the bags look new. “The three staff are also specialised tailors. They fix the zips and refurbish them as proper bags which students can use,’’ added the official.
Every day, the civic body refurbishes around 25 bags and the next day itself, they are sent to Corporation schools. “This not only helps the Corporation school students but also sends a message to people that nothing has to be discarded and a zero-waste city is possible,’’ the Corporation official further said.
According to current data, about 5 to 10 tonnes of waste like leather and rexine materials is collected by the Corporation from every zone in a month. Besides school bags, they have refurbished lunch bags and travel bags too. The Corporation has designed a poster inviting people to come and take the bags from them. Officials are hopeful that this initiative can be implemented in all 15 zones.Apart from this, the Corporation has also been converting waste cloth into carry bags and giving them to people free of cost.
To get one of these refurbished school bags, the public can either visit the Tiruvottiyur Zonal Office or contact 9445190511.