CHENNAI: With Diwali cracker waste often accumulating outside residential complexes and getting washed away during rains, residents’ welfare associations along Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) are organising a separate collection drive to ensure recyclable material is recovered instead of being mixed with regular garbage. 

“Last year, a few communities came to us the day after Deepavali saying there was so much cracker waste in their driveways and outside their premises. When it rains, the waste gets washed away and leaches into the ground. We thought we should organise this ourselves rather than leave individual communities to deal with it,” said Harsha Koda, Federation of OMR Residential Associations (FOMRRA).

The collected material will be picked up on November 10 and sent to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) for processing. The initiative is being coordinated by FOMRRA and SIMPLE, in collaboration with Bisleri’s ‘Bottles for Change’ recycling initiative.

The drive will focus on two categories of waste: plastic, cardboard and carton packaging from firecrackers, including hollow cylinder packaging from burnt aerial shots, and metal remains of burnt sparklers. Residents have been asked to segregate these materials separately and store them in designated areas within their communities.

Organisers have formed a coordination group where residents can clarify doubts about what can be handed over for collection and how the materials should be segregated.