With multiple collection centres, Roca’s fifth e-waste and clothing collection campaign has taken on a truly pan-Chennai character, spanning from Mylapore to Perumbakkam.
Everything that is seen will be seen again and again and again: sometimes only in the mind, and sometimes as a concrete reality. Call it a positive case of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, with resident groups ‘seeing’ e-waste more often; And they’re also seeing the need to watch these hazardous wastes carefully, from where they won’t make an insidious return. The fact that e-waste requires careful handling means it was consistently placed as a footnote in recycling initiatives promoted by residents’ groups in Chennai. Over the past three years, the scene has changed with a handful of groups – residents of Kasturbnagar Association (ROKA) being a prominent among them – starting to look at e-waste as a category that deserves attention , which involves large-scale collection of waste. by residents and leaving the recycling and disposal part to the experts.
This group of residents in the neighborhood of Kasturba Nagar has organized five e-waste drives in three years, with the fifth one (on February 11-13 at Bala Vidya Mandir in Gandhi Nagar). Initial skepticism was replaced by the belief that it could only be transcended by the experience of repeated juxtaposition, with Roca beginning to combine e-waste collections with vintage clothing collections, and later mattresses and pillows and shoes. Disappointingly they have outlived their usage date.
The more significant achievement is that it has sought to continuously increase the surface area of this initiative by separating it from its hyperlocal moorings.
what to expect from the drive
- stopped. by west drive
- Where: This campaign is being held at Bala Vidya Mandir School Auditorium, 4th Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar.
- When: 11, 12 and 13 February (10 am to 5 pm).
- WhatA press release from residents of Kasturba Nagar (Roka) said the items to be collected include e-waste, old and torn clothes (socks and undergarments to be washed and packed separately), old and torn shoes, old mattresses , pillows and cushions are included. E-waste includes electronic products that are not working, at the end of their usefulness, or are unwanted, the note reads.
- Who: Residents of Kasturba Nagar (ROKA) are organizing this event as their fifth waste collection and recycling campaign. Roca has collaborated with World Scrap Recycling Solutions Pvt Ltd. Ltd., and Doomed 360 Solutions for the event. World Scrap is a GCC-empaneled recycler and is based out of Tirupati, where it has its own e-waste processing plant. Waste 360 Solutions recycles zero-value waste by reusing, reclaiming and recycling waste instead of landfilling. The release further said that the campaign is supported by ‘e-source’ – an initiative of IIT Madras.
- For more information call on 73972 34613.
Residents of other parts of Chennai will discard the e-waste and return to the forest with the spark of an idea to take similar initiatives. Roka has worked on the spark and so a few months back the residents of Manapakkam got a similar drive in their locality.
This fifth campaign – which focuses on e-waste discarded, used clothing clothing, mattresses, pillows and shoes that are too perishable for mass reuse – is the uncharted territory of being a “multiple collection center.” Step in, each operating with a great degree of autonomy. Only that on the last day of the drive, they would have collected all equally recyclables and had them ready to be picked up. Janani Venkatesh of Roca notes that all the groups are involved with the exercise selfless Base. Given the situation that even recyclers do not charge a fee for the collection of waste, there are inevitable questions about whether the community in one of the participating areas of the campaign will eventually be able to collect it for collection by the recyclers. How would recycling at a general point. In Perumbakkam, where several communities have warmed up to the practice, this logistical question is grappling with.
Assuming that such wrinkles can be ironed out in later versions, organizers can pat themselves for the initiative’s increased surface area.
On 4 February, Janani Venkatesh shared that together, during the ROKA exercise, Rani Meiyammai Towers in RA Puram is running a campaign for its residents; And for yourself Trellis South in Vadapalani. She also notes that residents of Kotturpuram and Kottur Garden are figuring out how they can participate in the exercise.
Janani elaborates: “In fact, we decided to put it down in Tambaram as well, but realized that we don’t have the bandwidth to try and support the residents of Tambaram if they organize a campaign this time. I have a contact in Chitlapakkam – someone who is active in the Chitlapakkam Rising community – and they said it was very short notice and they have demanded to know if Roka can support them if they do it in March. As far as this initiative is concerned, Tambaram is one of the areas waiting to pass through. In the last two-three years there were many calls from the residents of the neighborhood of Tambaram area, but Unfortunately we could not go there.
In a campaign organized by RK Nagar Residents Association. Photo: Ragu R
Janani notes that due to the pandemic, the bi-annual recycling initiative has been derailed in terms of its timing. She calls it sad, “We’ve seen these three years that even two drives a year isn’t enough.”
RMT. initiative by
Last month, the Rani Meiyammai Towers in RA Puram shut down idle electrical parts that had accumulated to a ratio that could not be shone as a smoky haze over Escutcheon. The community bundled it up as scrap, only to find an uncomfortable thought creeping in. There were doubts as to whether Discards were recycled sufficiently, notes Neela Govindraj, who is part of the managing committee at RMT.
“Probably, some parts were recycled and the rest went to landfills.” It was not a good idea to carry around in anyone’s mind. They found a way to overcome this forever: the decision to have certainty about the recyclers leaving the community. Therefore, when they came to know about the Roka campaign, RMT had no hesitation in participating, indirectly, spreading the idea among residents about the “responsible disposal of recyclables, especially e-waste”. For”.
Neela notes, “The assurance that what we collect and give isn’t going to landfills is a great thing.”
Perumbakkam on the Recycling Map
Still the loose ends are tied. There is a sense of uncertainty and it is audible: there is also the excitement of having a mega e-waste and clothes collection drive in Perumbakkam. This is a summary of the current status of Srividya Giridharan, a member of the solid waste management volunteer team at Cherry Pick, a 380-unit gated community. Perumbakkam is a village panchayat whose face is undergoing realignment surgery, transforming it recognizably from rustic to urban. In some parts of the locality, gated communities are crowded, which are largely home to IT professionals. A gram panchayat has to answer a huge garbage question in a densely populated area.
However, eager to see Perumbakkam participate in the drive, Srividya is in a tizzy as she tries to take in its logistics on the evening of February 4.
“Janani Venkatesh from the residents of Kasturbnagar Association (ROKA) wanted to know whether the collection can be done at a central location in Perumbakkam. Somebody was talking to the panchayat whether any help could be given with respect to keeping the collected waste. The challenge lies in the fact that Roca Drives everything it wants to do: It’s not just e-waste, but also old clothes, mattresses and pillows and shoes. If we get a good response, the material collected will be huge, and getting it to a central location will be a challenge,” explains Srividya.
On the evening of February 4, it was clear that Urban Tree Oxygen, Radiance and Cherry Pick, sizable communities located on the same lane, would go for it, first collecting garbage in their respective communities, and then working together. Garbage collected in a common place.
Srividya notes: “If the collection is not overwhelming, of the three of us, we can use our cars to move the material to a common point. As we send word, many other communities are likely to join in, and the logistics of that situation could be formidable. However there is a lot of positive thinking which is encouraging. A temporary WhatsApp group was created for Perumbakkam communities, and participants feel that there is nothing to worry about and that even though the common gathering point for the collected waste is a bit too far for their liking, the logistics can be managed “
Amidst the uncertainty, Srividya outlines two factors that make exercise invigorating. “One, that the drive has come to Perumbakkam on the outskirts of the city via Roka. And two, the fact that the drive is focusing on things that are beyond redemption and cannot be reused Because those are the things that make it to the landfill.”
‘TSR Initiative’ in Vadapalani
Trellis South practices “Corporate Social Responsibility” – the home version of Trellis Social Responsibility (TSR).
There is nothing modestly corporate about Trellis South’s structure: it’s a gated community in Vadapalani that plays the role of enticing apes, channeling its initiatives following best CSR practices. TSR – called as a group of resident-volunteers in this community – swings this philosophy into action every time with the efficiency of a cheval glass, the first time around last Diwali when the community organized an old clothes donation campaign. was organized.
While being interviewed for this article, Ravi Swaminathan, a management professional and resident-volunteer who can successfully claim patent rights for this period, led the TSR team on an e-waste-cum-fabric collection campaign. Were rallying around, held in synchrony with a roka – on 11,12 and 13 February.
In addition, in the weeks leading up to this campaign, the community will also focus on “increasing the percentage of residents who practice source-segregation efficiently.” Ravi remarks that the drive will focus more on unusable items among used items, as “these are things people don’t know what to do with”. In the week leading up to the collection drive, TSR volunteers will talk about this among residents through written material and WhatsApp communication.
On a related note, Ravi points out that TSR is primed for two roles: helping the underprivileged and two, helping the environment.
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