MADURAI: Growing resistance from residents against garbage transit centres across the city has pushed the corporation to step up its door-to-door waste segregation drive.
Officials say the opposition stems largely from fears of foul smell and health risks near residential clusters.
To address these concerns, the corporation is planning to close transit centres, intensify awareness campaigns, and enforce stricter household segregation rules.
Over 850 tonnes of waste is generated in a day from 100 wards in the city, which is collected and placed in transit centres for segregation and later transported to compost centres in Vellakkal.
Though the corporation introduced the transit centre initiative to reduce frequent garbage vehicle movement, it has been receiving opposition from the residents.
Last week, Koodal Nagar residents staged a protest opposing the garbage dumping in the locality, alleging that it causes sanitation issues.
S Vishwa, a resident of Zone 5, said, “The collected waste from the area is dumped outside, which often causes foul smell and attracts stray animals.”
A senior official from the health department in the Madurai city corporation said transit centres were established only after consulting with local residential associations but following opposition, all centres have been closed.
“In improving solid waste management, the corporation plans to spread awareness and enforce house level waste segregation. Out of the 850 tonnes of waste generated in a day, more than 50% are wet waste which could be sent directly to Micro Compost Centers (MCC) and remaining waste could be taken to Vellakkal for processing. Action will be taken to improve door to door collection,” said the senior official.
Officials further added that the move could improve source, segregation as well as waste processing, three categories in which the city corporation secured poor performance in Swachh Survekshan 2024-25.