Chennai's Pongal Holidays Cleaning: 34,000 Tonnes Garbage Collected by GCC

The Greater Chennai Corporation and its agencies have collected an enormous 34,000 tonnes of solid waste during the extended Pongal holidays that started on January 11 and ended in just five days.

Door-to-door collection of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste continued uninterrupted at GCC, where the highest collection of waste was on January 14 with 6,233 tonnes, followed by January 13 with 5,958 tonnes, and 5,851 tonnes on January 15. GCC Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said that the clean-up would continue through the weekend with extra manpower being put in place.

The other focus of the GCC was cleaning the city's beaches. By Friday afternoon, most of the city's beaches, such as Marina, Besant Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, Injambakkam, and Neelankarai, had been cleaned, and around 45.5 tonnes of waste had been collected.

Public Participation

Before Bhogi, the company organized a drive asking people to give their unused items, like plastic, old clothes, and tyres, to sanitation workers instead of burning them. The result was that residents' welfare associations collected 87.3 tonnes of materials, including old clothes, plastic, and tyres.

Effective Waste Management

Mahmood Sait, CEO of Urbaser Sumeet, GCC's waste management operator, pointed out that though the volume of waste was not low, the size of waste was bigger, which included paper cups, plates, and plastic wrappers. Sait also emphasized that the cooperation of children who were seen putting litter in bins made cleaning easier.

The GCC's efforts depict the city's commitment to efficient waste management and community participation. In a growing city, it is very important to maintain such initiatives for a cleaner and healthier environment for its citizens.

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