TIRUCHY: After distributing about 3,000 QR code stickers to households and commercial establishments in the city as part of a pilot project to better waste segregation at source, the corporation is now mulling over assigning it to every street as well. As the first phase of the project found the scanning of codes at each house to be time-consuming, the civic body decided to allot QR codes to every street on a pilot basis in the second phase.
A senior corporation official said, "As earlier decided, sanitation workers have to scan the QR code of each house and commercial establishment and enter details about the source segregation undertaken on the mobile application. But this method was found to be consuming time. Hence, we have decided to paste QR codes at each street's signage. As per the current plan, every sanitation worker has to scan the QR code before entering a street. Individual QR code will be scanned only if a household or commercial establishment gives waste without segregation."
Another sanitation officer said, "With the new plan, we can gather data on source segregation in on a street-wise basis. If complaints about sanitation workers missing out on particular houses emerge, we can direct the workers to scan the QR code of the respective houses next time they visit the area." Meanwhile, residents urged the corporation to expedite the distribution process.
"Since it (distribution process) is eating up too much time, the civic body may opt for an alternative by which the residents themselves could generate QR codes," said L Thirukumaran, a resident of Ponmalai. Officials said the distribution process is taking time as it is being carried out on a pilot basis across the state to formulate a foolproof system.
"When the first phase was carried out in Thillai Nagar, an issue was flagged, and we decided to assign QR codes to every street. We may come across another issue when we complete the second phase's distribution this month. But we have to follow the strategy to ensure the best system suitable for the city," a senior official said.