Arrangements made to collect plastics from students too

From next week, Wednesdays will be plastic collection day in the city. Every Wednesday conservancy staff on tricycles, who collect door-to-door garbage, will specifically ask for plastic waste, especially thin carry bags and covers in which commodities such as pulses and condiments are packaged, for use in laying roads.

New system for conservancy inspectors and assistant executive engineers launched

As part of its efforts to improve and streamline garbage collection in the city, the Chennai Corporation has launched a new system for its conservancy inspectors and assistant executive engineers. Deputy Commissioner R.Anandakumar said that the over 200 CIs and 45 AEE will have to send text messages with details of garbage collection by compactors and by conservancy staff to a common mobile number.

1.43 lakh units for economically weaker sections: R.Vaithilingam

The State will get an additional 1.85 lakh housing units in the next five years at a cost of Rs.17,230 crore. Of these, 1.43 lakh units would be for the economically weaker sections, R.Vaithilingam, Minister for Housing and Urban Development said on Monday.

A draft plan listing out the measures required to improve the air quality in the city, including the equipment need, has been prepared by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).

From regular cleaning of roads to preventing burning of garbage and garden waste, the measures suggested are many. The draft plan is expected to be submitted to the State Planning Commission soon for its consideration, TNPCB Member Secretary K. Karthikeyan told The Hindu recently.

Residents of Perungudi, Madhavaram and Tiruvottiyur have voiced concern over the use of dumpyards in their localities to dispose of solid waste from many of the new areas of Chennai Corporation too.

As the city celebrated Deepavali on Wednesday, few among those merrily bursting fire crackers would have realised that air pollution rose to unusually high levels, noise exceeded permissible limits and thick smog shrouded residential areas and roads.

Respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) touched 1423 microgram/cubic metre at Arumbakkam. The permissible limit is 100 microgram/cubic metre.

In an effort to prevent e-waste being broken down by rudimentary hazardous methods by people in the informal sector, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has asked local bodies, including the Chennai Corporation, to set up e-waste collection centres.

Let out by residents living along banks and even government agencies

Buckingham Canal is the most polluted of the three major waterways in the city with nearly 60 per cent of the estimated 55 million litres of untreated sewage being let into it daily, including by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) will soon take action against wholesalers and retailers stocking and selling plastic bags less than 40 microns thick, said Member Secretary K.Karthikeyan.

Experts in SWM call for measures to promote segregation of waste at source and efficient disposal system
In the past few weeks, conservancy workers have been working overtime to clear garbage that has piled up across the city. Apart from being an eyesore, the overflowing waste bins pose health hazards. Garbage is clogging canals and choking stormwater drains in parts of Pulianthope, Adyar, Kodambakkam and Triplicane zones.