MADURAI: The Madurai Corporation has said that it has increased the efficiency of its garbage collection in the past one year, which has led to the daily collection of garbage increasing from 550 tonnes to 810 tonnes. However, plastic waste floating on waterbodies and thrown around the dumper bins continues to be a common sight.
Daily garbage collection has increased from 550 tonnes to 810 tonnes per day over the last year, which is a sign of more efficient collection, says the corporation’s social media page. It also said that wet waste collection done with the help of members of SHGs has also improved, as the daily collection, which had been about one to two tonnes per day in the past, has now increased to 70 to 80 tonnes. “This is being converted to manure in the micro composting centres in the wards. This also showed that people have been segregating waste at source, which would go a long way in making the city clean,” said city health officer Dr S Raja.
However, unsegregated plastic still piles up on roadsides and waterbodies, including the Vaigai. The check dam constructed across the river near Kalpalam looks like a garbage dump rather than a riverbed because of the sheer amount of garbage that is dumped into it.
In a representation to Madurai district collector Dr S Aneesh Sekhar, the coordinator of the Vaigai Nathi Makkal Iyakkam, M Rajan, has said that the authorities should remove the multiple layers of plastic waste that has accumulated on the Vaigai river bed and construct the new check dam at Arapalayam. When the retention wall was constructed, there were 15 feet of plastic layers, preventing it from being dumped on the bed. Check dams would not be of use if plastic continues to be thrown into it.
In many places where the garbage collection is done by construction staff, segregation is not done properly and people dump mixed garbage in many of the extension wards, said S Kamala of Athikulam.
The use of plastic bags is rampant in all the markets, including the farmers’ markets, flower market and shops. A strict and continuous ban on plastic bags is the need of the hour, says S V Pathy, founder of the Centre for Environmental Services.
