Gated communities in Chennai that took green initiatives beyond its gates

As the year 2024 draws to a close, The Hindu Downtown features two initiatives, one related to waste management and the other to fitness, that have gone beyond the communities they originated in 

Every Saturday, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., a tempo trundles down the streets of Thalambur, stopping by gated communities and by the end of this tour, it carries a heavy load of dry waste on its back. The dry waste largely consists of plastics of various thickness, shapes and colours.

These are carefully segregated plastic waste by environment-conscious residents of these societies. With each community influencing another to engage with the vendor, Spreco Recycling Pvt. Ltd., the initiative has covered considerable ground.

What started with one community seven months ago has now expanded to cover at least six other villa and gated communities in the region, so much so that recently, the tempo started visiting these communities twice a week.

Each of these communities has brought something of a pioneering spirit to the table. While Casa Grand Elan took the lead in ensuring dry waste was sent to an authorised recycler, Casa Grande Pavilion was early in setting up community composting of biodegradable waste. Arihant Heirloom Apartments took the first step in finding a reliable recycler for e-waste and followed it up with regular drives in the community before passing on the contact to their neighbours in the region.

“In the ewaste and plastic waste initiatives, there was an incentive given by the vendors for the segregated items which was an advantage for the management community members to bring them on board,” says P. Navaneethan, an active resident of Arihant Heirloom.

While many of these gentle nudges are through WhatsApp messages and calls, in some situations, residents also visit each of their neighbours to be more forceful influencers.

“Our community has launched a pilot programme in composting wet waste with four composters, so we visited Casa Grande Pavilion to take lessons from them,” says Navaneethan.