COIMBATORE: At a time when Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) is striving to streamline source segregation of waste at the household-level, the Madukkarai Special Grade Town Panchayat now has seven years of success to its credit in this department.
A tiny town panchayat with about 12,000 households and a population of around 35,000 people, Madukkarai also holds a place in Guinness Book of Records for the largest recycling lesson in the world.
| In numbers: 35,000 people 12,000 households 18 wards 7.39 tonne of household water generated every day 2.8 tonne organic waste 750 kg of organic manure produced by panchayat per month |
Daily waste amounting to over 7.3 tonne, collected from Madukkarai locals, is being converted into organic manure at the Resource Recovery Park and later sold in the market for an affordable price. The non-biodegradable waste -- particularly single-use plastics, used leather, and e-Waste -- are safely disposed of at the furnace of ACC Limited, a cement manufacturing industry in Coimbatore.
It all started in 2013 when Madukkarai town panchayat officials organised an intensive awareness programme on source segregation for the residents, welfare groups, and traders' associations.
They also helped the residents to adopt the waste management methods by distributing multi-coloured bins (green for organic and blue for non-biodegradable waste) for free.
All these efforts paid off, helping the panchayat achieve 100 per cent source segregation. Sanitary workers have been collecting only segregated waste for the seven years now.
With the successful working model of Resource Recovery Park, the panchayat is now expanding the facility to another location in Madukkarai with many added features, including a nursery and sewage treatment plant. This is also to meet the increased demand for the organic manure produced at the park.
| Work at the Resource Recovery Park: 1.Organic manure production 2. Vermicompost production 3.Waste segregation 4.Vegetable garden |
"As organic manure and vermicompost are rich in energy and nitrogen content, the demand from the customers in recent times has increased. Meanwhile, we are expanding the Resource Recovery Park to another location in Madukkarai to meet the requirements," said Sanitary Officer M Thiruvasagam.
Thiruvasagam said that nearly 100 sanitary workers, with nearly 70 of them being employed by Imayam NGO, visit every household in Madukkarai to collect daily waste.
Executive Officer of the Panchayat R Parthiban said that they are aiming at zero-waste generation. "Several sanitary works are being carried out in Madukkarai to maintain the panchayat clean," he added.
