Time to take garbage seriously

Being in Chennai, one would certainly remember the massive dump yards in Velachery, Perungudi and Kodungaiyur, which make us cringe with its foul stench every time we pass by them. 

However, seldom do we realise that these are the lifesize examples of the environmental damage induced by the people which in turn is poisoning our soil.  

To provide a solution to this life-threatening scenario, a city-based societal welfare group, has come up with an initiative Kuppai Matters that endeavours to bring to the fore such burning issues. The initiative aims to propagate the concept of Zero-Waste management among the citizens. 

Kripa Ramachandran, a member of Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group and the brain behind this initiative says, “Every time the Chennai Corporation comes up with any waste management scheme, citizens turn a deaf ear to it, ultimately ending up in blame games. 

As, taking up responsibility is counted here, we decided to reach out to the 15 different wards of the city and discuss its own unique set of challenges regarding waste management. 

Kuppai Matters proposes a Kuppai Thiruvizha in each of these zones as a last-mile effort to gain a common understanding of factors that affect waste management and help the city become Solid Waste Mnangement (SWM) Rules compliant.” 

Recently, their first Kuppai Thiruvizha was organised at a private school in Anna Nagar, where a huge display of plastic bottles was mounted on poles and area surrounding them to make the children realise the magnitude of the waste we generate and its effect. 

Apart from sensitising people to the idea of waste segregation, the festival also sold eco-friendly materials of daily use. 

The fete was lined with stalls selling compost pots, recycled decors, degradable accessories and even reusable sanitary napkins. The event was designed to give participants an opportunity to use affordable, eco-friendly fashion accessories and cutlery. 

When we ask her about the reason why they came up with such a plan, she says, “It has come to light that, despite the various schemes set up by the Corporation, Chennai remains one of the few least SWM compliant cities. 

Effective and honest public participation is key to achieving the goals set by the government. So, we came up with this initiative that involves bringing together spirited individuals, resident welfare associations, volunteering groups to actively take part in activities organised to fight poor non-degradable waste management,” adds Kripa. 

The group is planning to organises zone-level public meetings with interesting live demos, videos and plays to effectively penetrate the magnitude of this issue. 

“We strive towards making citizens realise that their waste is their responsibility. Unless the citizens accept responsibility and commit to bringing about change, the issues will keep mounting like the garbage pile in the dump yard,” says Kripa. 

On the response from the public, the activist says, “We have been receiving an overwhelming response from the ward where we conducted our campaign. It is great to see that people are coming forward with queries to manage their domestic waste. 

This assures us that we are going in the right direction of making people socially responsible, in turn making the work of our corporation easier.” 

The group will be conducting one event per zone between November and March where any resident welfare associations, educational/cultural institutions are welcome to co-anchor this initiative in their own neighbourhood or wards.