Community in Chennai takes baby steps towards a giant goal

A 2500-unit community in New Perungalathur in Chennai, it has started a process to tackle the plastic crisis in its quiet corner

At the time of these pages going to the Press, a routine activity was unfolding at SSM Nagar in New Perungalathur. A truck trundled into its premises and when it left, it did so, sightly heavier — heavier by a few bags of dry waste, largely plastics of various thickness, shapes and colours.

It is a Saturday, post-noon activity, one that the community is getting habituated to. However, as with every good habit, developing it took time, some restarts and at times, staying power and a push of the will.

“The community’s initiative to ensure recycling of dry waste began around seven to eight months ago, with the help of Bisleri’s Bottles For Change initiative. Through Bisleri, the recycling agency Spreco Recycling Pvt. Ltd., came on board,” begins P.S. Jayaraman, a resident who set the ball rolling, a ball that has gained some momentum, but needs to be kept rolling and harder. “With 2,500 houses, our community is a bulk waste generator. According to my calculation, every month, we would be generating 4,000 kg of soft plastic every month. Last month, we collected around 100 to 150 kg of soft plastic, way below what should get into those collection bags. We are running a door-to-door campaign and this campaign is driven by children in the community. We have created placards about plastic segregation and recycling, and through regular drives, these children take those placards and knock on doors. They also take about the dry waste collection vehicles that arrives every Saturday.”

Here is the math of the recycling initiative

“Currently, only two to three per cent of the households at SSM Nagar are handing over dry waste for recycling. These are the numbers for July — around 100 to 150 kg of soft plastic, around 100 kg of hard plastic and cartons also around 100 kg. Old clothes are also collected, but they are not weighed. The concern is around plastics, hard and soft. The local kabbadiwalas do not take black-coloured plastic bottles and packaging material for the challenge they pose in the recycling effort. Even if they collect black-plastic bottles and packaging material from households, the local kabbadiwalas would dump them somewhere as this does not fetch them any money from the recycler. The recycling agency we have tied up with picks up all kinds of plastic, even black plastic. Even glass bottles of all kinds are collected, as they have a tie-up with a major glass-manufacturing company.”

Getting where they have now, which is clearly only a short distance into the long journey that needs to be completed, required generous words of motivation.

“During the Saturday collection, I would take photos of those who brought dry waste to be handed over to the collection agency. I would then post their photos in a collage in a community group (created for dry waste recycling) and urge others to follow their example,” elaborates Jayaraman.