Chennai, Sep 12 (IANS): The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has made segregation of municipal waste at source mandatory across the city, as part of its efforts to strengthen waste management and reduce the volume of garbage reaching landfills.
The directive applies to all waste generators, including individual households, apartment complexes, shops, commercial establishments, educational institutions, government offices and bulk waste generators.
The civic body has warned that failure to comply with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, could result in penalties and other action under municipal laws.
Residents and establishments must divide their waste into four categories before handing it over to conservancy workers engaged in door-to-door collection.
Food scraps and other biodegradable or wet waste must be deposited in green bins.
Paper, plastic, metal, glass and other recyclable dry waste should be placed in blue bins.
Sanitary waste, including used diapers and sanitary napkins, must be wrapped securely and deposited in red bins.
Domestic hazardous and special-care waste, such as batteries, electric bulbs, electronic waste, expired medicines and chemicals, must be kept separately in black bins.
To prevent segregated waste from being mixed during transportation, the battery-operated vehicles used for door-to-door collection have also been equipped with four colour-coded containers.
Conservancy workers across all 200 wards have been directed to collect only waste that has been properly segregated at source.
The citywide order follows an intensive awareness initiative launched by the corporation in southern Chennai.
On August 22, the GCC introduced its 40-day ‘Segregate Waste–Save Tomorrow’ campaign, involving door-to-door visits to educate residents about the importance of separating biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials.
During the initial stage, the programme covered 1,000 households in each of five zones.
Participating families were supplied with bags to collect non-biodegradable waste separately.
The civic body planned to gradually extend the campaign to 50,000 households across the five zones.
Corporation officials said effective segregation at the household and institutional levels would improve the recovery of recyclable materials, facilitate composting of biodegradable waste and make subsequent processing more efficient.
It would also reduce the burden on Chennai’s dumping grounds and prevent recyclable and hazardous materials from becoming mixed with ordinary garbage.
The GCC urged residents, institutions and businesses to cooperate with cleanliness workers and follow the colour-coded disposal system consistently.
Violators may face fines or additional proceedings under the applicable solid waste management regulations and municipal legislation.
